Human Resource Planning in High Technology Entrepreneurial Startups

Most human resource planning (HRP) research has been conducted in Fortune 500 firms in the US. A recent study focused on HRP practices in high-technology entrepreneurial startup firms (HTESU) in Israel. The results suggest that while owners and managers of such firms are generally favorably disposed toward HRP, they actually do relatively little of it. Further, their attitudes are more influential than characteristics of the firm or environment in determining the amount and types of HRP they actually do. The amount and types of HRP are largely unrelated to their firms' performance, at least as measured by innovativeness and sales growth. Overall, it would appear that some tempering of entrepreneurial enthusiasm toward HRP is in order unless and until researchers can document that such planning has positive payoffs in HTESUs.