How successful organizations strategically manage their analytic talent

Abstract

Purpose

Because analytics are increasingly becoming a key source of competitive advantage, attracting, engaging and retaining analytical talent and building an organizations' analytical capability is now a key skill top management needs to learn. This paper aims to investigate this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Given that analytics is a relatively new management discipline and that only a few leading companies manage the talent it requires as a strategic resource, the authors collected their best practices.

Findings

The paper specifies the four main practices that top executives need to follow to create and develop a talent‐powered analytical organization.

Research limitations/implications

The authors offer anecdotal research on leading companies.

Practical implications

What distinguishes talent‐powered analytical organizations is their ability to unleash their analysts' talents to maximize and continually expand the company's analytical capabilities.

Originality/value

By building and aligning the four key talent management capabilities revealed in this paper, organizations can maximize the strategic impact of their analytical talent and continually expand the organization's collective analytical capabilities.

Citation

Harris, J., Craig, E. and Egan, H. (2010), "How successful organizations strategically manage their analytic talent", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 15-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/10878571011042069