Harvard Business School researchers look to NFL

New research out of MIT and Harvard focuses on lessons that businesses can draw on from National Football League players who switch teams.

The fall issue of MIT Sloan Management Review, a peer-reviewed journal, includes an article titled "When 'Stars' Migrate, Do They Still Perform Like Stars?" Two of the article's authors are Boris Groysberg, an associate professor at the Harvard Business School, and Robin Abrahams, a research associate at the Harvard Business School. The article's third author is Lex Sant, a managing director of Persimmon Tree Capital.

The article compared the performance of wide receivers and punters who switched teams to wide receivers and punters who did not. (At right is a file photo of New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, who previously played for other NFL teams.)

The MIT Sloan Management Review said in a press release, "The authors use this research to suggest the ways that managers should view the 'portability' of talent in companies."

Among the article's findings: "Sometimes 'stars,' like wide receivers, are actually very dependent on the team around them. So their portability is limited. By the same token, bringing star talent into a company does not always yield the results that managers might hope for."

Because punters are less dependent on their team-mates than wide receivers are, a switch of teams seemed to have little effect on a punter's performance, the research suggested.

Groysberg has looked at how migrating stars have performed in other fields. To read an earlier Globe story about his research, please click here.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)