Chaba Ult 2012

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Organizational Dynamics (2012) 41, 327—335

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/orgdyn

Talent management in clusters


Denis Chabault, Annabelle Hulin, Richard Soparnot

INTRODUCTION period. For their part, the clusters successfully demonstrated


the success of the initiative, in that more than 2500 collec-
Since the mid 1990s there has been a marked increase in the tive innovation projects — covering a wide spectrum of
number of cluster policies in various different countries technologies and applications — were started during this
throughout the world. In Europe, Spain was one of the first same period.
countries to take up the practice, and it is often held up as an In order to boost this collaborative innovation, the French
example of success. Sweden, Denmark, Germany and France government extended its investment to provide funding for a
followed, but also emerging countries such as India, Brazil further four-year period from 2008—2012, during which it
and China were quick to follow and develop very strong encouraged the clusters to become involved in inter-organi-
clusters of their own. zational human resource management practices. In fact,
The increase in cluster policies has been shown to have a these inter-organizational innovative projects are based on
positive impact on employment, organizational perfor- the knowledge, skills and competencies of the individual
mance, regional economic growth and particularly competi- organization members. Even though a substantial mass of
tive advantage globally between country states. Clusters human capital is considered a necessary resource, one spe-
play an important role in reinforcing links between business cific category of individuals — those with ‘‘talent’’ — con-
entities and universities in order to produce incremental tribute even more significantly to the innovation process.
innovation but also disruptive innovation — with global Innovative organizations driven by the economics of knowl-
impact. Companies in Silicon Valley, such as Intel, Google, edge and talent need individuals with original and varied CVs
Apple and Facebook, have benefited from the ‘‘cluster (curriculum vitaes) to bring creative flair. In this context,
effect’’ and been able to develop synergies linked to high talent management becomes a matter of strategic and cri-
performing ecosystems, which have enabled them to flourish tical importance — something directly linked to market
within their competitive environment. position and performance.
In this article we focus specifically on the French type of The main aim of this article is to identify good talent
clusters, known as competitive clusters. Contrary to the management practices currently operational within French
experience of some clusters — such as those in Silicon Valley clusters so that they can be shared with other clusters
that developed naturally as a result of links between the throughout the world. In fact, we believe the experience
University of Stanford and certain local businesses (‘‘bottom- of French clusters is useful to other clusters on several
up’’ approach) — French competitive clusters have come different levels. First, more and more countries are introdu-
about as a result of voluntary economic policy introduced cing ‘‘top down’’ policies without prior knowledge of the best
by the government (‘‘top-down’’ approach). The aim of the way to manage such cluster organizations. Second, French
competitive clusters is to lay the foundations of a new indus- clusters have been encouraged to formalize their talent
trial policy based on the economics of knowledge and talent. management practices in order to help identify relevant
This initiative was launched in 2005 by the French government; talent and learn how to better measure its potential benefit.
as of 2012 there are now 71 competitive clusters in existence. Finally, clusters worldwide have a vested interest in optimiz-
This policy, which is still very new, is beginning to produce ing inter-organizational management of their individual
results. The government monitored progress carefully members in order to promote innovation. This is by no means
throughout the period 2005—2008 to assess the merit and a ‘‘fait accompli,’’ because individual cluster members are
success of the initiative, particularly since it had committed still in competition with each other and find it difficult to
itself to an investment of 1.5 million euros throughout this collaborate on this issue.

0090-2616/$ — see front matter # 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2012.08.008
328 D. Chabault et al.

Therefore the aim of this article is twofold: first, it First and foremost, talent is individual and not collective.
seeks to promote the benefits of inter-organizational talent Talent is ‘‘boasted’’ about, whether it is the talent of a well-
management, and to demonstrate the difficulties and chal- known comedian, architect, composer, or sports
lenges involved; second, it seeks to identify the best personality. . . It is invested therefore within a particular
operational practices and what would best suit specific individual who is differentiated from other individuals as a
clusters. In order to do this we need first to re-examine result. Talent is first and foremost about the distinction to be
the notion of talent. We will then discuss the challenges made between those who have a particular talent and those
and issues arising from the notion of talent in the context who do not. Talent boils down to the particular style of an
of organizational clusters. Finally, we will move on to individual that allows him or her to succeed better and more
examine certain talent management techniques currently easily than others. It is that little bit extra which is often very
in operation amongst the French clusters in order to difficult to quantify — the demonstration of individual excel-
extract the best practices. lence in a given sphere of activity. Talent contains the notion
of excellence, to which is added the notion of something
TALENT AT THE HEART OF COMPETITIVE different; in combination, those traits provide a source of
competitive advantage for the organization that employs
ADVANTAGE
such an individual. Gifted and talented individuals are
endowed with exceptional personal qualities and can play
Studying Talent a very controlling role in the decision-making processes for an
organization (in relation to concept creation, manufacturing
The development of the notion has come about as a result of
and increased prestige and status of a product).
globalization and increased market competition, both of
In the case of IBM, for example, talent management is all
which were features of the late ‘90s and coincided with
about four main issues. First, it’s about fully meeting client
the increase in new technological advancement. Faced with
expectations and providing satisfaction. Since IBM’s income
the uncertainty of how long they could maintain competitive
derives mainly from its service activities, the quality of its
advantage and optimum organizational performance, com-
product depends on the skill of its collaborators. Second,
panies needed individuals who could ‘‘make a difference.’’
another challenge is the fight against apathy within the
So, the notion of talent first appeared in 1997 in the manage-
organization — a huge issue, given the size of the group
rial sphere in a study carried out by the Mc Kinsey research
and the fast moving pace of technological change in the
team, who coined the term ‘‘the war for talent.’’ Since this
sector. Next, there is the matter of identifying and shaping
study, the concept of talent has expanded and is now widely
future managers, which is a major issue given the group’s
used in the professional workplace. Since 2000, a profusion of
development plans. Finally, perhaps the ultimate challenge
management articles and theses have been written on the
in terms of talent management for IBM is its attractiveness as
subject.
an employer — set against a backdrop of the war for talent
Not only has the issue of talent management taken the
and stiff competition in the labor market.
world of management by storm, but the subject has had a
The special characteristics or attributes a talented indi-
similar reception in the world of academia. There has been a
vidual may possess are, however, difficult to identify and
huge increase in output of articles on the theory of the
measure formally.
subject over the past few years. Nonetheless, the notion is
the subject of intense criticism. Some say it lacks clarity and
theoretical basis and has brought nothing but failure in  Talent represents a whole group of resources
practice. One of the main criticisms is the difficulty in
differentiating talent management from management of Talent is a specific personal resource configuration. Some
traditional competencies. Others believe that there is con- authors distinguish certain specific resources belonging to
fusion as to whether an individual might be talented, highly talented individuals: cognitive resources (the ability to deal
promising or an expert. For others talent management boils with information, and to seek out, select and decide which
down to a highly individualistic concept of human resource bits are of use), emotional resources (an ability to empathize
management, which goes against the more currently and get on with other people, an ability to handle difficult
accepted collective notion of management. According to situations and demonstrate good coping mechanisms, the
the latter, talent is defined as ‘‘genius,’’ and thus confined ability to be one’s own person. . .), and instinctive resources
to a small elite with the potential for discrimination within an (the ability to deal with emergency situations, and to ener-
organization. According to this school of thought, talent is gize others. . .). It is all these factors combined that make up
just a particular notion of management that happens to the character of an exceptional individual.
currently be in fashion. In order to understand the concept According to the director of human resources at Vinci — a
more fully, we believe it is beneficial to go back over the global group specializing in public facility concession and
fundamentals involved. construction, with 2000 operational business units spread
across a hundred or so countries, employing some 183,000
Understanding Talent staff — talent is all about ‘‘men and women who are com-
mitted to action and making a difference. These people are
The term talent can be defined by several particular char- creative and design staff who bring their imagination, their
acteristics. curiosity and their passion to the job; inventors who bring
their foresight, client responsiveness and rigorous standards
 Talent is individual to the task at hand — they are all entrepreneurs who
Talent management 329

demonstrate their conviction and drive in the results they We subscribe to this latter, more strategically oriented school
achieve on behalf of their clients’’. of thought, and we believe that talent is a resource that is
managed. In line with this thinking, organizations can there-
 Talent exists at every level within an organization fore make global provision for talent management (Fig. 1).
Two factors are involved here. First, organizations need to
Talent can exist at different levels of an organization, but attract and recruit talented individuals on the employment
this is not something the majority of individuals within an market. So what they need to do at this point is to increase
organization are necessarily aware of, nor is it applicable to strategic capacity through the use of various specific human
all organizations. It follows therefore that although some resource practices (attraction and recruitment). This phase
academic research has concentrated on those ‘‘at the top of presupposes that a particular talent has already been recog-
the pile,’’ and/or those in ‘‘top management positions,’’ the nized and identified. As an example, the Allianz group —
talent is actually not necessarily invested in directors or the leaders in the field of insurance and provision of financial
leaders of the organization. In this context, the notion of services, aims to recruit 25 talented individuals per year,
talent has to be distinguished from similar concepts, such as including those recruited onto its graduate training program.
individuals who are highly skilled or high performers or who In order to do this, the group has introduced a two-tiered
demonstrate great potential. In effect, if an individual’s selection process. First, they pre-select candidates from a
potential is the combination of individual dispositions that list of highly regarded universities. Second, they put these
he or she has not yet exploited, talent is more a question of candidates through quasi-real professional situations.
the dispositions an individual has already explicitly demon- Although this is not a completely new concept, it is carried
strated. So, talent would correspond more to the term out in an interesting way at Allianz. The recruiters receive no
‘‘highly promising individual,’’ as this term indicates corre- advance information about the candidates and evaluate
lation with the performance of an organization. A talented them strictly on the basis of objective criteria. They are
individual also has to be differentiated from an expert, who is judged therefore entirely on the results of their perfor-
expected to possess a particularly high degree of ability in his mance. In this way the consequences of network effect
or her particular area of competence. If an expert is consid- and corporatism are minimized or neutralized.
ered to be a professional who has achieved a high degree of Second, organizations are keen to identify employees with
competence in his field of specialty, this does not necessarily specific talent that could be developed in the context of their
equate to the excellence or the sense of being different that particular organization. This second phase needs the imple-
is the hallmark of a talented individual. mentation of various practices to nurture and develop the
For instance, for the majority of businesses that have set talent. What are required here are performance levers and
up specific programs for talent management, this is still resources to enable it to flourish. The hypothesis being put
limited to a certain category of personnel — namely manage- forward here is that it is the interaction between an indivi-
ment. At Pernod Ricard, one of the world’s leading players in dual’s potential and the professional environment in which he
the wine and spirits industry, individuals considered to be or she works that will assist the individual to evolve, and his
talented make up 25 percent of the overall workforce. The or her talent to emerge and develop. The environment in
category of talented individuals is often divided into sub which an individual develops professionally is, in this sense,
categories. The Pernod Ricard group in fact has isolated particularly important. The issue of longevity of service
three distinct types of talented individuals divided into the appears to be crucial here, because it is throughout an
following sub-groups — individuals whom they consider to individual’s career trajectory, through successive experi-
have ‘‘Emergent talent,’’ ‘‘Talent’’ or ‘‘Key talent.’’ Each ences, that talent is developed. To cite the same example,
category corresponds to a particular level of professional
achievement demonstrated conclusively by results in prac-
tice. There are also two other categories at a lower level,
e.g. individuals who are considered to be ‘‘Good performers’’
or ‘‘Under performers’’.
Having now defined the term talent, it is important to
come back to the theme of management of talent.

Managing Talent

 Outside and inside talent management

First we should touch briefly on the nature-nurture debate


— that is, whether talent is innate or acquired. Some authors
believe that the personal resources of an individual said to be
talented are innate, in other words a gift of nature, family or
personal history. . . On the other hand, less determinist
authors highlight the fact that talent is a collection of
different competencies that a person accumulates through
a string of experiences. This suggests that talent can be
acquired, or at the every least developed and managed. Figure 1 Talent Management Process.
330 D. Chabault et al.

at Allianz, candidates recruited onto the graduate training objectives for any individual to be increased progressively.
course follow a very specific program. They work in three By way of illustration, IBM aims to offer its employees a
different departments over a 12-month period. The aim is for workplace in which the potential of each and every individual
them to learn about the different sectors of the group, to find is able to flourish and find expression. In contrast to many
out what services are carried out in each and to start making companies operating talent management programs, IBM
an internal network of workplace contacts. As part of the believes all its employees to be talented individuals.
program they take part in specific technical and manage- The company offers each one the opportunity to ‘‘meet
ment-training sessions, meet managers and attend seminars challenges on a daily basis and step up to responsibility from
and conferences. day one’’.
Second, organizations should be in a position to offer a
 Management talent practices workplace environment that is able to encourage individual
performance (best working tools made available along with
These two dimensions are associated with a few particular expert colleagues in the field). What is required here is the
HR (human resource) practices regularly discussed in a vari- creation of a stimulating and dynamic environment for the
ety of management journals that propose tools and methods employee on an intellectual and emotional level, as well as
for talent management. These practices are essentially exciting challenges and opportunities. For example, in order
‘‘classic’’ human resource type practices documented in to encourage innovation, maintain a pioneering spirit and
previous academic literature but reformulated or reworked. enable the talent of its workforce to find full expression and
So, given that talent is a specific resource, it is necessary to fulfillment, Google has introduced the Twenty Percent time
deploy certain specific HR practices in order to develop it strategy. Every employee is allowed one day per week in
(Table 1). order to explore any project that interests him or her and to
work on something completely separate from the more usual
 Key factors of successful talent management functions of the search engine. According to David Vise, who
wrote The Google Story, this is ‘‘a way of encouraging
Throughout the above, successful talent management employee interest in new technology, which has enabled
needs to be based on an understanding of three categories Google not only to come up with a variety of new innovative
of factors (internal, external and interconnecting). products such as Google News, but also to give entrepre-
First, completely organizational approaches to the issue neurial spirit free reign in the company on a daily basis.’’
of talent management highlight the importance of workplace Eventually, talent develops as a result of interaction. In
structure and atmosphere. Collaborative creation of talent in this context, mobility allows talent to develop by increasing
this manner very much depends on the mobilization of the an individual’s exposure to an increasing range of challenges,
distinctive personal resources of an individual and his or her which in turn allow the individual to express himself and so
ability to make a difference. In this context, professional develop professionally. Talent develops through experience
development and training is particularly important, because and exposure to different workplace scenarios as well as
it encourages self-reflection, and it allows targets and competitive situations. What is required here is an increase in
the number of experimental situations an employee is
exposed to. It is largely through such experiences that an
Table 1 Examples of HR Talent Management Practices. individual’s resources develop and his or her talent evolves.
For instance, STMicroelectronics — a world leader in the
Phases Examples of Associated RH Practices
business of semi-conductors, has created an inter-business
Attraction Develop an attractive and legitimate mobility cluster that enables them to maximize use of their
reputation as a good employer best employees in different professional and cultural con-
texts. The whole company gains from exposure to this wide
Recruitment Remunerate talent
variety of experiences.
Offer good career development
These first developments illustrate that talent is an asset
which is challenging, rewarding
specifically incorporated within an individual. Management
and fulfilling
of this talent depends on a certain number of specific per-
Identification Instill a culture of success formance levers. In the next section we examine the char-
Reward exceptional competencies acteristic components of talent and the challenges that arise
360-Degree feedback in its management within the context of organizational
clusters.
Development Offer individual professional career
development
Invest in quality work conditions TALENT IN THE CONTEXT OF CLUSTERS
and ensure daily recognition and reward
Take an interest in individual employees
Clusters Foster Talent Management
Coaching, mentoring
Set targets for results and responsibilities
The issue of talent management within the specific context of
Continuous monitoring and evaluation
clusters has been explored very little to date. However,
Retention/ Have an understanding of innovative clusters constitute contexts in which talent is
fostering loyalty motivational factors both given expression and developed. In fact, several
studies have demonstrated that industries characterized
Talent management 331

by permanent innovation, principally as a result of the scale and on the other it is to expose staff to new experiences
of technological advancement, are fertile territory when it whether they are technical, cultural or sector-based.
comes to the development of talent. Those studies illus-
trate that talented individuals positively seek out environ- The Paradox of Talent Management in Clusters
ments such as clusters that favor individual personal and
professional development. In effect, being by definition Nonetheless, the specific characteristics that highlight
open-minded organizations, clusters, in theory, offer the talented individuals within clusters also pose a conundrum,
possibility for individuals to expand their career prospects, namely that clusters, which by definition are grouped
to acquire greater practical experience, and be able to together around a specific subject, also have to deal with
update their competencies. In this context, staff turnover the fact that talent within its borders needs to be fueled by
figures are a reflection of a dynamic and exciting business exposure to other organizational contexts. Thus it would
environment, and an indication of opportunities for perso- appear necessary to push these individuals into different
nal development rather than an indication of poor job business environments in order to ‘‘cultivate’’ and ‘‘enrich’’
satisfaction. Talented individuals can thus become involved this same talent. This conflict between the need to hold on to
in situations that constantly challenge them, enable them talent and at the same time require it to circulate — also
to express and demonstrate their talent, and to develop potentially throwing up issues of confidentiality — illus-
personally and take charge of their own professional devel- trates the difficulty faced by clusters in this regard and
opment and career trajectories. Talented individuals within requires nothing short of a sea change in human resource
clusters will go wherever they are most likely to learn new management. What is required here is the need to find an
skills and develop their competencies. They seek out orga- acceptable compromise between preservation of talent
nizations that will speed up their professional learning within the area and the necessary mobility of talented
curve. individuals outside their own organizational clusters.
As an example, in order to meet the career expectations What’s more, letting talented employees go also increases
of its talented individuals, IBM makes certain guarantees to exposure to confidentiality issues. This question becomes
those it considers ‘‘Top talented individuals’’ (about 10 crucial from the moment when talent can be seen to result
percent of personnel). These relate to career progression in market advantage and thus constitute a strategic chal-
and new experiences on offer to them within the group. For lenge for companies.
these ‘‘Top talents,’’ the company maps out their next two As a result, we believe it is important to identify the
roles. These career moves are carefully monitored to provide manner in which clusters respond to the challenge of this
variety in terms of length of secondment, geographical inherent conflict and to provide examples of this in practice.
location and exposure to inter-divisional experience.
In other words, if one accepts that talent is a collection of
different competencies accumulated by a particular indivi- TALENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN FRENCH
dual over years of experience, the more talented individuals
CLUSTERS
are allowed to circulate within a cluster, the more interaction
will take place and the faster their talent is likely to develop.
Individuals within a cluster, can in fact, be persuaded to French cluster organization members evolve in a highly
change employers, to join collective R&D (research and competitive environment and are permanently on the look-
development) projects, to participate in inter-organizational out for innovation and an ability to differentiate their pro-
activities — all of which increase the opportunities for inter- duct on the market. The question of talent management
action. As a result, individually, the fact of belonging to a would seem to be of particular strategic importance for these
cluster is likely to improve employment prospects for organizations. Numerous French competitive clusters have
talented individuals. adopted practices based explicitly on talent management
Moreover, because they move around between cluster theory. In order to discuss these practices, we use the five
members — accumulating experience as they go, from an phases of the talent management process as described
inter-organizational point of view, talented individuals con- above: namely, attraction, recruitment, identification,
tribute to the performance of the whole cluster. In fact, retention and development of talent.
companies that belong to a cluster benefit from the effects of
‘‘pollination’’ as a result of the mobility of its members. Practices Aimed at Attracting Talented
Employee mobility helps mutual enrichment and exchange Individuals
between companies and assists in the innovation process
generally. In clusters, circulation of ideas and personnel Demographic changes in France have alerted business to the
energizes the innovative process like an insect moving from need to expect changes in their human resource polices. The
flower to flower. For example, Energie Relais is a French SME fact that some critical skills have become increasingly scarce
specializing in renewable energy. It belongs to a specialist has encouraged organizations to anticipate the actual or
cluster known as the Science and Systems of Electric Energy future needs in some industry sectors where demand out-
Cluster. It has set up an exchange scheme between itself and strips supply. This issue is equally relevant for the talented
overseas institutions whereby foreign engineering students individuals themselves. Study of competitive clusters demon-
come and spend time in France with similar reciprocal strates that the attraction of talent is based on several types
arrangements in place for their own in-house engineers. of practice.
The aim is twofold. On the one hand it is to motivate, reward First of all, we need to be clear that a certain level of
and encourage loyalty amongst its most promising engineers, competition between specialist clusters in a particular field
332 D. Chabault et al.

does exist, and that this competition is even international Practices Aimed at Recruiting Talent
because global clusters are in competition with each other
in attracting talent. The director of Cosmetic Valley com- Practices designed to recruit talent collectively are more
petitive cluster — specializing in the cosmetic perfumes difficult to find within the competitive clusters. The indivi-
industry — has declared that ‘‘to increase the visibility of a dual members of the cluster remain competitors in the field,
cluster and to promote its advantages with the aim of and recruitment of talented individuals tends to remain a
making it more attractive for talented collaborators is one process dealt with internally by each organization, as they
of the major functions of our cluster.’’ In this context, the wish to preserve the market advantage their key resources
internationalization and promotion of the image of a bring to them. Nonetheless, we are aware of the emergence
competitive cluster is a medium for attracting talent over the past few years of business employer groups that aim
globally. Increasing the visibility of a competitive cluster to share the need for skilled individuals. These groups aim to
is the first step to take in any drive towards internationa- recruit and employ applicants on a shared basis to meet the
lization. The perpetuation of international events, e.g. need for part-time or seasonal work in the sector. The
participation in professional salons, the organization of Cosmetic Valley competitive cluster is one of the first to
international scientific conferences, the constitution of have implemented such a practice — dating back to 1999. The
official delegations. . ., assists the creation and promotion Director of the cluster states: ‘‘we noticed that 20 to 40
of a trademark or a label. Through a variety of practices, percent of Paco Rabanne’s workforce was made up of tem-
the name of Cosmetic Valley has become a truly global porary agency workers, and that it was the same case for
trademark in the cosmetic perfumes industry. Membership Guerlain, but at a different time of year. So the training
of the cluster has enabled the company to recruit numer- offered to these members of staff was a waste of time. We
ous designers, other creative talents in the industry and therefore created an association, the aim of which is to
some of the most specialist perfumers. . . from across the recruit and employ employees on open-ended/permanent
whole world. contracts. Then we arrange things so that they are able to
Local institutional entities (Regional Councils, General work for several businesses.’’
Councils, Borough Councils and Local Authorities. . .) also Although these business employer groups aimed initially
participate in the whole business of attraction by promoting to deal with all manner of employees, some clusters such as
their geographical region or area. For instance, they are able Cosmetic Valley realized that this measure could work parti-
to comment on issues of availability of rare resources, and on cularly well with the recruitment of individuals with rare
the quality of the local context (proximity of high-tech R&D competencies, and that once found they should be shared. As
centers, the excellent reputation of local universities, the an example, the Cosmetic Valley cluster recruited a designer
physical presence of big businesses in the area, the concen- through this system, who is shared by the organizations in the
tration of industry savoir-faire, the importance of potential business employer group: ‘‘We brought an Italian designer
funding, the dynamism of local networks, and finally quality over that everyone was desperate to have, but he chose to
of life and life-style issues. . .). In Cosmetic Valley, local come here, where he can be free to live and work for as many
authorities offer some set-up assistance for some individuals, businesses as he likes.’’ This type of inter-organizational
tax exemption for certain expenses, assistance with child initiative seems to be increasingly applied in the recruitment
care costs. . . What is involved here is setting up a virtuous of talented individuals. In the same way the Sciences and
circle able always to attract new talent. As the Director of Systems of Electric Energy cluster, which concentrates on
the Cosmetic Valley cluster says ‘‘we are convinced that home automation and buildings automation, has instructed a
talented individuals attract other similarly talented peo- recruitment agency to develop a full range of collective
ple.’’ recruitment measures. This agency or cabinet named by
To attract new talent, the competitive clusters use dedi- the cluster has to sign up to a set of pretty specific rules
cated Internet recruitment tools. A case in point is the and regulations governing the recruitment of individuals with
‘‘Talents 2020’’ program run by the Arve Industries compe- profiles considered to be talented.
titive cluster. This cluster, which represents the factory
industry and the machinemanufacturing sector, has experi-
enced considerable recruitment problems over the past few Practices Aimed at Identifying Talent Internally
years because the sector is not a particularly attractive
proposition to the younger age group. The ‘‘Talents 2020’’ The practices involved in identifying talent within a business
program is designed to attract new talent able to perpetuate that belongs to an competitive cluster are not straightfor-
the sector as well as energize innovation in the sector. To do ward. We have already spoken about how hard it is to
this, the cluster uses new IT (information technology) and quantify talent. It requires certain knowledge of an indivi-
communications technology, as evidenced by the internet dual to enable his or her talent to be discovered. One would
platform it has set up with a specific section dedicated to hope that a particular cluster would be able to identify talent
‘‘Image and promotion of employment’’ — the aim of which is already within the cluster. What is important here is that the
to promote the image for excellence of its organizational individual members of the competitive cluster understand
cluster members. This has enabled the sector to increase the the importance of their live resources. The main practice
profile of career opportunities available within the cluster used by French clusters is the request for proposals. Let’s just
for talented individuals. The results of this practical mea- remind ourselves that collective innovation projects at the
sure appear to be positive, in that the number of new very centre of emerging clusters have, in the main, come
collective innovative projects increased from 7 in 2006 to about as a result of requests for proposals put forward by
19 by 2010. the clusters. These requests for proposals have given rise to
Talent management 333

the creation of a working group dedicated to deciding which audiovisual, animation and multimedia sectors. This cluster
is the best way to identify (with precision) the particular has been examining and experimenting with the role of
scarce skills required to bring a project to a successful transferable skills between the different industry sectors
conclusion. Each member of the group then tries to identify represented within the cluster. These businesses are reaching
individuals within their organization who would be best able out to professions that require similar competencies, but
to integrate efficiently into proposed new, innovative pro- where the skills may be described differently depending on
jects. The identification of talent remains the responsibility the particular specialist area: this is what is meant by
of businesses that employ talented individuals; however, the ‘‘transferable’’ skills and jobs. What needs to be undertaken
request for proposal practice constitutes a performance is an evaluation of the transferability of jobs from one
lever for the identification of talent within the cluster. industry sector to another within the same cluster. In total
out of some 250 different jobs identified as existing within
Practices Designed to Develop Talent the Imaginove cluster, 11 of them have been identified as
being transferable within the sector (3D animators, softwear
The aim of these practices is to allow talented individuals, developers. . .). This concept encourages inter-organizational
identified either internally or through external recruitment, exchange and cooperation. The aim of the measure, accord-
to flourish on their own turf. It is a question of favoring talent ing to the cluster director, is to ‘‘attract new talented
and offering talented individuals the context and opportunity individuals and to retain them in the sector by offering them
to give full expression to their talent. To achieve this, a variety of different workplace openings which they will
competitive clusters deploy fairly traditional HR methods find professionally fulfilling and career enhancing.’’ Learn-
based around training and mentorship. They try to find ways ing by doing is one of the best ways to develop talent.
to encourage autonomy and allow exploration of new fields in Talented individuals will then be attracted by career pro-
order to develop an individual’s talent. spects within their own cluster. What is also involved here is
But the most interesting practices involve the mobility of the matter of enhancing new profiles by identifying new
talent. Several competitive clusters have introduced prac- talent in different professional guises amongst cluster mem-
tices designed to facilitate mobility of talent internal to the ber organizations. As the cluster director again says, this
cluster, in order to encourage this talent to express itself, get process involves the need to: ‘‘allow businesses to see the
to know itself and lead to personal development in other career profiles of members of its neighboring industries and
contexts (private and public). thus increase the field of their investigation when it comes to
Putting employees at the disposal of other organizations, recruitment and so have access to different creative fields.’’
e.g. ‘‘secondments,’’ is an interesting example of this in
practice. It has its basis in French law: namely article 47 Practices Aimed at Retaining Talent
of the law of 30 December 2006 which permits research
establishments, colleges of higher education and enterprises Given that talent is a specific asset particular to a given
belonging to the same competitive cluster to loan personnel individual, ‘‘unleashing’’ and ‘‘exploitation’’ of talent for an
to each other by way of secondment. A business can therefore organization is therefore always temporary, and is thus a
second one or several of its employees to another business, precarious resource. The qualities a talented individual pos-
the latter then becoming responsible for payment of salary, sesses cannot therefore be separated from the person. They
national and health insurance contributions, etc. The initial cannot be extracted like a bank of knowledge or professional
aim of this practice was to respond to cyclical problems and know-how. . . Here the real challenge for the competitive
fluctuations in activity experienced by many businesses. clusters is to retain and keep talent loyal within the cluster,
What is involved here is a collaboration at the heart of the so that all the member companies can benefit from the
competitive cluster between companies that exchange and ‘‘pollinization’’ effect. We have already examined the idea
second personnel on the basis of need or increased activity or that talent needs other organizational contexts in order to
production. What’s more, some businesses have come to the thrive and develop professionally. The competitive clusters
realization that such measures could actually turn out to be thus find themselves having to deal with the pretty insur-
significant aids in talent management and innovation gen- mountable problem — namely the conflict which exists
erally. This is borne out by the case of Minalogic. This cluster between retention and mobility. The competitive clusters
specializing in nanotechnology in the health and energy and their members have to learn to let their talent go with no
sectors, as well as all aspects of the electronic component guarantee as to whether it will ever return. In order to
industry, realized that seconding personnel was particularly harness this inter-cluster mobility and ensure retention
well suited to specific time-limited R&D projects, which and loyalty in the hope that an individual will return to base,
allowed them to be innovative at minimum cost and also we have noticed the development and emergence over the
to encourage cross fertilization and technological transfer past few years of several new forms of cooperation, the aim
between public research bodies and SMEs. What has occurred of which is to mobilize talent within a space without restric-
as a consequence is a drop off in secondment of classic tion.
employees and their replacement by individuals with specific The Cap Digital competitive cluster, which deals with new
competencies: individuals with talent. technology in the video game, imaging, open-source soft-
Similarly, some competitive clusters try to identify and ware and multimedia sectors, is a case in point. To encourage
encourage inter-organizational transferable skills. This is mobility of talent and ensure retention and employee loyalty,
particularly the case for the Imaginove cluster, which the cluster has developed a workplace environment that
brings together businesses in the video game, cinema and encourages global mobility. The cluster is mostly situated
334 D. Chabault et al.

Table 2 Examples of HR Practices Associated With Talent CONCLUSION


Management Within Clusters.
As we have set out in this article, inter-organizational man-
Phases Examples of Associated HR Practices agement of talent appears to be fundamental for clusters.
Attraction Promotion of image of cluster Nonetheless, we need to remember that firms within the
Indication of resources in the area clusters remain in competition with each other. In this con-
Organization of international events, text, talent is considered to be a strategic resource to be
mobilization of local institutional entities fought over. Companies will therefore have their own indi-
Implementation of collaborative IT and vidual systems for locating, attracting and then retaining
communications internet platforms these talented individuals. The highly technological back-
ground of the French competitive clusters means that their
Recruitment Establishment of business employer groups members are extremely wary of any sharing of experiences.
Certification of recruitment agencies To allow talent to circulate freely, therefore, becomes a
Identification Initiation of collective innovation projects strategic question. The flux of R&D collective projects will
Establishment of working groups to focus depend upon whether the management structures in place
on need to identify scarce skills within the clusters are able to convince separate members of
the need to allow free circulation of talent. As a result of
Development Creation of an environment which enables
interior mobility within the cluster, this freedom of profes-
professional expertise to flourish
sional movement produces a certain ‘‘pollinization.’’ In fact,
Ensure mobility of talent within the
talented individuals within clusters tend to be more moti-
cluster (secondments, identification
vated by their ideas, and their particular projects than by
of transferable skills)
their company allegiance. These companies need to be aware
Retention/ Ensure inter-cluster mobility of talent of the need to preserve knowledge rather than the need to
loyalty Offer global career opportunities retain personnel within their own organizations: project-
based enterprises focus on knowledge retention rather than
worker retention.
This requires a change of culture on the part of companies
involved, who need to accept a certain level of uncertainty in
in the Paris region. In 2006, the cities of Paris and San relation to their talent pool. Similarly, the psychological
Francisco worked together to promote themselves as ‘‘digital contract signed between a company and its employee needs
sister cities’’ — twin cities of digital technology. The mayors to be thought through again because the professional career
of the two cities signed a ‘‘memorandum of understanding,’’ path of these individuals is not the same as for employees
in other words a partnership in which the two cities com- with a job for life; it needs to be seen more in terms of
mitted themselves to developing joint projects using the internal and external adherence to the cluster.
combined resources of their talent in the digital technology Many different inter-organizational talent management
sector. The Cap Digital cluster has been able to benefit from practices exist. Given that talent requires different contexts
this partnership in order to improve the training it offers to to be able to blossom, talent management depends more on
the most talented students at local universities, and also the ability of the clusters themselves to identify, attract,
introduce similar improvements for its existing employees. encourage, draw out and develop talent. Therefore it seems
This program — entitled the ‘‘Digital Pathway Program’’ — has that the key to success in this area is the ability to produce
been introduced in parallel by the Americans as well as the situations or conditions in which talent is able to find free
French. Mobile employees, retain strong links with their expression (infrastructure, a stimulating workplace environ-
parent organization through weekly video conferences held ment, proximity to other similarly talented individuals. . .).
every Tuesday. The program also makes similar use of e- Given that this seems to be the case, measures to retain
learning platforms. This initiative is particularly pertinent talent therefore need to be seen in a much more global
because it allows talented individuals to blossom and develop context.
professionally and personally in other organizational and
institutional contexts all the while ensuring their retention
within the cluster.
Table 2 presents a summary of best practice in the area of
inter-organizational talent management within clusters.
Talent management 335

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
This article is inspired by the articles of David G. Collings and as if Your Business Depended on It,’’ in Harvard Business
Kamel Mellahi, ‘‘Strategic Talent Management: A Review and Review, 2005, 83 (10), 63—70. We also highly recommend
Research Agenda,’’ in Human Resource Management Review, M. B. Arthur and R. Defillippi, ‘‘Live and Let Learn:
2009, 19, 304—313; and of Robert E. Lewis and Robert J. A Project Based Approach,’’ Management, 1998 (July),
Heckman, ‘‘Talent Management: A Critical Review’’ in Human 60—65.
Resource Management Review, 2006, 16, 139—154, who put In relation to discussion of the notion of talent in the
forward a generalist vision of the notion by demonstrating context of clusters, we recommend the article by Stephen B.
the manner in which it has evolved. We were also inspired by Adams, ‘‘Growing Where You Are Planted: Exogenous Firms
an article of Jeffrey Pfeffer, ‘‘Fighting the War for Talent is and the Seeding of Silicon Valley,’’ Research Policy, 2011, 40,
Hazardous to Your Organization’s Health,’’ Organizational 368—379.
Dynamics, 2001, 29 (4), 248—259, which provides a critique Finally, in relation to additional information on French
of the notion. competitive clusters and the management project process,
On the issue of talent as a source of competitive advan- we refer you to the article by Ludivine Calamel, Christian
tage for companies, we refer the reader to C. Ashton and Defélix, Thierry Picq and Didier Retour, ‘‘Inter-organizational
L. Morton, ‘‘Managing Talent for Competitive Advantage,’’ Projects in French Innovation Clusters: the Construction of
in Strategic Human Resource Review, 2005, 4 (5), 28—31, Collaboration,’’ in International Journal of Project Manage-
and J. M. Cohn, R. Khurana and L. Reeves, ‘‘Growing Talent ment, 2012, 29, 48—59.

Denis Chabault is senior lecturer of strategic management in Paris Sud University. His teaching and research
interests include cluster management, innovation and business strategy. He has published numerous articles in
academic journals (Tel.: +33 6 63 04 33 74; fax: +33 2 47 36 10 11; e-mail: denis.chabault@u-psud.fr).

Annabelle Hulin is senior lecturer of human resources management at the Institute of Management and
Admnistration at University François-Rabelais. She has published articles in academic journals and chapters
in books. Her main interests are knowledge transfer, skills management and diversity management
(e-mail: annabelle.hulin@univ-tours.fr).

Richard Soparnot is professor of strategic management and dean of research at Escem School of Business and
Management. His teaching and research interests include business strategy, change management, organizational
learning and change capacity. He has published numerous books and articles in academic journals such as Journal
of Organizational Change Management and Journal of Change Management (e-mail: rsoparnot@escem.fr).

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