Keeping Human Capital Research Pure
Leading research organization enters fourth decade of operation free of vendor influence or consulting services
Seattle, WA (June 20, 2013) - The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), a research organization that focuses on the people practices that drive market performance, continues its unique commitment to a long and proud history of conducting vendor-free research—a history that extends back to 1982.
As the human capital research industry evolves with recent high-profile acquisitions and the big push among marketers at human capital vendors to offer data-driven content to capture the attention of prospective buyers, demands are increasingly coming at the high cost of research quality and business model integrity.
To avoid sacrificing research integrity, we:
- Do not accept vendor-sponsored or commissioned research. Our research initiatives are driven solely by member organizations, a large majority of which are Fortune 1000 companies.
- Purposefully do not have a consulting business, to avoid biasing our research toward a consulting agenda.
- Do not allow vendors or consultants in our member network, to protect the collaborative community that allows practitioners to share ideas, strategies and applications free of concern about being sold to.
"Our members can rest assured that the research we produce is not tainted by vendor money or a consulting agenda," said Kevin Martin, i4cp's Chief Research Officer. "I would venture to say that outside of academic institutions, i4cp is the only ‘pure’ research firm in the human capital space.”
i4cp conducts 30 distinct research studies annually. Each study looks at the workforce (and human resources) through a business lens by comparing specific practices against four market indicators: profitability, revenue growth, market share and customer satisfaction.
“Not only do we reveal the people practices that have the highest impact on business performance, we actually help our members implement these practices—without doing consulting," said Martin.
“We conduct numerous interviews, case studies and webinars with our member organizations to illustrate how specific practices are developed and implemented in the real world. We also actively connect our members—the real experts—to each other rough our annual conference, regional events, online Expert Network and phone discussions.”
“We switched from another provider to i4cp because it provides more services that are more relevant to us," said a vice president of HR at a Fortune 1000 company. "i4cp encourages us to call in and leverage the networks, the conversation, the research, and its ability to bring the research together. i4cp is much more customized and intimate.”
Considering switching or want to discover why companies are embracing a pure research approach? i4cp is making a limited-time offer to organizations that want to join its member network but may be contractually committed to another research provider. Contact i4cp at https://www.i4cp.com/contact for more information.
About i4cp
i4cp focuses on the people practices that drive market performance. Years of research make it clear that top companies approach their workforces differently. In recognition of our status as the largest and fastest-growing network of its kind, i4cp was named to the prestigious 2012 Inc. 500|5000 list. We work with our network of organizations to:
- Reveal what high-performance organizations are doing differently
- Identify best and next practices for all levels of management
- Provide the resources to show how workforce improvements have bottom-line impact
Through our exclusive, vendor-free network―in which practitioners drive the research agenda and peers collaborate to share tools and insights—i4cp provides a unique, practical view of how human capital practices drive high performance. For more information, visit https://www.i4cp.com/
Kevin Martin is the chief research officer at the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp); the leading research firm focused on discovering the people practices that drive high-performance.
In addition to guiding i4cp’s research agenda and deliverables, Kevin also advises corporate and human resources leadership teams on best- and next-practices in a broad range of topics that range from talent risk management and corporate culture, to human capital strategy and organizational agility. He also serves as executive sponsor of i4cp's distinguished Chief HR Officer Board.
Prior to i4cp, Kevin worked for several years at research firm Aberdeen Group where he built one of the industry’s leading human capital management (HCM) research practices and then held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility which included SVP of Research Operations with general management oversight of the company's 17 research practices, and SVP of International Operations where he led the firm’s expansion efforts in to Europe.
A highly sought-after international keynote speaker on all aspects of human resources and talent management, Kevin has been recognized as a “Top 100 HR Influencer” by HR Examiner. His and his team’s research have been cited in leading business media, including Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, CFO Magazine, CIO Applications, and on CNBC.
He is also an occasional contributor for the Financial Times.
Kevin currently serves on the advisory councils for the University of Dayton's school of business administration and school of engineering. He also serves on the board of advisors for Bullseye Engagement. From 2005 to 2014, Kevin served on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Massachusetts, which included a two-year term as board chairman (2009-2011). In 2006, Kevin was awarded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's "Big Brother of the Year".
Kevin earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Dayton. He resides in the Massachusetts with his wife (Laura) and their three sons.