Talent Management and Global Competition for Top Talent: A Co-Opetition-Based Perspective

In an age of competition for top talent, lateral hiring or personnel poaching has flourished not just between rivals, but also among allies transcending across national borders. This article integrates the literature on lateral hiring and co-opetition to develop a “novel” perspective of the co-opetition-based view of lateral hiring. A conceptual framework was developed to account for conditions under co-opetition setting in different markets. Contrary to the popular belief that poaching from rivals is more beneficial, the present research demonstrates that poaching from allies may be more beneficial in mitigating the “winner’s curse”. Indeed, poaching in the collaboration domain is characterized by greater access to information about the target employee before job change. Lateral hiring from allies in foreign markets can also be more beneficial given the potentially moderate stigma attached compared with those from domestic markets. The implications for firms and strategic human resource management literature are examined.