9-407-036
REV: MARCH 26, 2007

BORIS GROYSBERG
STEPHEN BALOG
JENNIFER HAIMSON

Recruitment of a Star
Stephen Connor, director of research at the New York investment banking firm of Rubin, Stern, and Hertz (RSH), was in a bind. His star semiconductor analyst, Peter Thompson, had abruptly announced his resignation; he had received an offer from one of RSH’s competitors. But Peter was not only a star analyst, he was also RSH’s only semiconductor analyst. This was certainly not a role that could be left vacant for long and, right now, RSH particularly needed strong coverage of the semiconductor industry because of an upcoming deal with the PowerChip company. (See Exhibit 1.)
Stephen examined how much money Peter generated for the firm and saw that he could legitimately raise Peter’s compensation. Then he devised a backup plan: to split Peter’s team by encouraging Peter’s junior analyst, Rina Shea, to stay at RSH. Peter ended up leaving the firm and
Stephen promoted Rina to senior analyst, assigning her to cover PowerChip and the rest of the semiconductor industry, at least temporarily, while he decided whether to offer her the position permanently or hire someone from outside the firm.
Now Stephen faced the task of finding a permanent replacement for Peter. Should he make Rina a permanent offer or hire from outside?

RSH Research Department
RSH’s corporate culture was especially strong in its research division. Senior research analysts often began as junior analysts and remained at the firm long after the research director gave them their own franchises. Instead of competing with each other, most analysts at the firm supported one another; many had open-door policies and encouraged less-experienced analysts to consult them if they had questions. Each analyst strove to become ranked by Institutional Investor magazine (II), but many considered the success of the research