Opening the black box of PSF network internationalization: An exploration of law firm networks

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rany Salvoldi ◽  
David M Brock
Keyword(s):  
Black Box ◽  
Peer Networks ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
International Strategies ◽  
Limited Duration

Abstract This article advances our understanding of network internationalization by professional service firms. We address gaps in the literature concerning the various kinds of networks; their role in international strategies, including learning, and knowledge transfer; and their structural and governance mechanisms. Concentrating on the network dependency of 177 European law firms, we analyse and summarize their structural and governance tendencies. Then we develop a typology of seven international peer networks. The seven types identified are: ‘Loose’, a network of disconnected actors, where exchange is mostly limited to referrals; ‘Constricted’, referral-based networks aimed at optimizing exchange flows and cooperation; ‘Focused’, networks aimed at a specific sector or specialty; ‘Friends’, informal, non-exclusive networks; ‘Exclusives’, formal alliances or cooperative relations; ‘Monogamous’, well-established, broad, longstanding, and close relationships; and ‘Isolated’, project-related alliances of limited duration. We conclude with a discussion that considers this typology in light of possible intangible outcomes of membership and proposes how this might be extended in future research.

scholarly journals Internal Strategies for Assessing Organizational Communication Channel Effectiveness

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin E Murphy ◽  
Douglas G Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Internal Communication ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Indirect Assessment ◽  
Informal Assessment ◽  
Assessment Strategies

Evolving communication technology, the increased volume of information needed by businesses and the intensified competitive environment have made internal company communication more critical to business success. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies for assessing the effectiveness of internal communication channels used by managers and leaders of three law firms in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The participating firms were recognized by their peers as being exceptionally well managed. Data from interviews and company documents were analyzed through the conceptual lens of channel expansion theory and the use of software coding to identify patterns and themes. Three important themes emerged: informal assessment strategies, indirect assessment strategies, and efficient versus timely assessments. The first theme suggested the effectiveness of an informal assessment strategy, depending on the size and complexity of the organization. The second theme reflected the effectiveness of an indirect assessment for organizations that lack the resources to support a more direct and specific assessment process. The third theme reflected the participants’ perceptions of informal and indirect assessments may be more efficient, the feedback from the assessments are often less timely. Managers may consider these themes in formulating communication policies. Small professional service firms, such as legal firms, provide important services to individuals, families, and businesses in their community.

Professional Service Firms and Identity

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Alvesson ◽  
Dan Karreman ◽  
Kate Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Professional Workers ◽  
Elite Identity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Multiple Actors

This chapter examines the relationship between individual and organizational identity in PSFs and the significant but tenuous nature of elite identity in this context. The authors identify four main identity-related issues for management control in PSFs: autonomy/conformity tensions, the client conundrum, ambiguity saturation, and intangibility. They explore three main modes of identity-focused control in PSFs: positive image, homogenization of the workforce, and anxiety-regulation. The chapter examines contemporary challenges to elite identities and the increasing critique of concepts of professionalism in this context and highlights key areas for future research on identity in PSFs and among professionals. These include: the need to acknowledge the homogeneity of professional service firms and professional workers; how professionals regulate their identity to respond to identity challenges; the roles that multiple actors play in a professional’s identity construction; and the depth of identity construction with regard to both organizational and professional identity.

Client-Related Factors and Collaboration Between Human Assets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Mawdsley ◽  
Philipp Meyer-Doyle ◽  
Olivier Chatain
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
The Individual

Collaborations between individuals in firms have important implications for the development of relational and human capital. In knowledge-intensive contexts where collaborations are formed to deliver services to clients, collaboration decisions can involve nontrivial tradeoffs between short-term and long-term benefits: individuals and firms must carefully manage the tradeoffs between leveraging existing relational and human capital for the reliable performance of repeat collaboration and creating new relational and human capital through new collaboration. Building from the premise that servicing clients is central to collaboration decisions in human asset–intensive firms, we examine how client-related factors shape collaboration decisions among lawyers (partners) in UK law firms providing M&A legal advisory services. We focus on three key client-related dimensions that we predict govern collaboration decisions: the depth of individual- and firm-level relationships with the focal client, key client attributes that reflect the client’s status and its use of different firms to undertake its outsourced work, and client-driven individual- and firm-level resource constraint. Our empirical findings support our proposition that client-related factors influence the pattern of collaborations between individuals in firms. We also reveal how client-related factors at the individual level can have opposite effects on collaboration decisions from those at the firm level. Overall, our findings contribute to research on relational capital, strategic human capital, team formation, professional service firms, and the microfoundations of strategy.

Strategic Human Resource Management and Performance Management in Professional Service Firms

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juani Swart ◽  
Nina Katrin Hansen ◽  
Nicholas Kinnie
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Hrm Practices ◽  
Human And Social Capital

This chapter draws on previous research to consider how HRM practices are used to manage human and social capital to generate superior performance in professional service firms. Previous research indicates that PSFs rely on both human capital (knowledge and skills) and social capital (relationships inside and outside the PSF) to manage their performance outputs. In this context the authors review the existing research on strategic HRM practices in PSFs which is predominantly categorized into expertise- and efficiency-orientated HRM systems. They draw on their own research to outline two models of HRM practices which are used to manage human and social capital and discuss the link to innovation. The first of these emphasizes the protection of human capital and therefore has centripetal properties, whereas the second is more client-focused and therefore displays centrifugal properties. Finally, they consider the managerial challenges that these models present and point to avenues for future research.

Future orientation and foreign entry mode choice in the internationalization of professional service firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-156
Author(s):  
Yuliani Suseno ◽  
Ashly H Pinnington
Keyword(s):  
Joint Venture ◽  
Future Orientation ◽  
Entry Mode ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
The Future ◽  
Foreign Entry

The purpose of this study is to examine the future orientation dimension of national culture on the choice of foreign entry mode in the context of the internationalization of Australian law firms. Our findings indicate short-term orientation for the firms’ choice of entry mode to international markets, with top-tier firms preferring joint venture arrangements, while both mid-tier law firms and boutique law firms prefer ‘fly-in, fly-out’ methods of internationalization. Our study provides guidance for scholars and managers seeking to examine and reflect on firm internationalization, particularly the future orientation dimension and market entry strategies.

scholarly journals Career stage dependent effects of law firm governance: A multilevel study of professional-client misconduct

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 1497-1529
Author(s):  
Michel W Lander ◽  
J (Hans) van Oosterhout ◽  
Pursey Heugens ◽  
Jorien L Pruijssers
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Career Stage ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Governance Practices

Are governance practices employed by professional service firms equally effective in preventing professional-client misconduct for professionals at different stages of their career? Drawing upon professional-agency theory and the literature documenting professional career patterns, we develop a multilevel theoretical model to answer this question. We test our model in the empirical context of the Dutch legal profession, using firm-level survey data on 142 law firms and individual-level archival data from the 2994 lawyers working for these firms to explain 97 formally adjudicated complaints of professional-client misconduct committed by individual lawyers registered with the Amsterdam Bar Association. We find that the ‘orthodox’ distinction between informal behavioral and formal outcome-based governance practices is too course-grained to receive empirical support, and that firm-level governance practices only reduce professional-client misconduct when they are specifically targeted at the career stage of the lawyers employed. Our findings not only allow us to develop a finer-grained version of Sharma’s professional-agency model, but may also be practically useful in developing firm-level governance practices targeted at different strata of professionals.

Quality management for high-contact professional service firms: a multiple-case evidence from Indian law firms

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anupama Prashar
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Operations ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Law Firms ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Indian Law

PurposeThis paper presents an exploratory study to understand the distinctive quality dimensions of high-contact Professional Service Firms (PSFs) and develop a conceptual model for Quality Management (QM). The paper is based on empirical evidences from multiple cases in leading Indian law firms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopted an exploratory, multiple, embedded and comparative case study design. The empirical evidence from multiple case studies in 10 law firms (data includes 42 individual interviews, archival records, field notes) was used to explore the QM dimensions for PSFs.FindingsThe results showed that QM in PSFs is a multifaceted and continuous process rather than a straightforward and episodic one. The findings reveal three distinctive dimensions of QM for PSFs: managing the firm's image; managing the client-firm interaction and support processes and; managing the perceived value of service outcome. Further, the results showed a significant variation in the design of QM practices in a relatively homogenous group of PSFs (law firms). This reflected the influence of personnel and organizational characteristics on the QM.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is based on evidences collected from 10 Indian law firms and the research design is exploratory in nature. The future research is suggested in terms of extending the scope and research design.Practical implicationsThe insights obtained from the paper have implications for managers working on the design of service operations and particularly service quality in high-contact PSFs similar to law firms. While the study does not prescribe a standard design of QM systems for PSFs, it seeks to foster the thinking of managers by helping them conceptualize the broad quality-control checkpoints and quality attributes specific to PSF settingsOriginality/valueThe academic research in the management of professional service quality is dominated by conceptual/theoretical models for customer evaluation of service provider's performance and the issue of operationalization of QM in PSFs is still needs further investigation. This paper contributes to the theory of service operations management (SOM) by focusing on the structure of QM systems in PSFs.

scholarly journals Knowledge and Learning in Professional Service Firms

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Faulconbridge
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Form ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Trajectories Of Change ◽  
Research Questions

It is difficult to understand the form, management, markets, and ultimately the services produced by PSFs without analysis of the characteristics of knowledge and learning in such organizations. This chapter highlights how three fundamental lines of research about PSFs are intimately related to the key characteristics of knowledge and learning in such organizations: (a) organizational form, management, and governance, (b) the roles and effects of knowledge networking via databases versus knowing in practice through communities, and (c) the jurisdiction of a firm and claims about exclusive rights over a market. These areas of research are all contested domains in terms of optimum modes of organizing and trajectories of change due to the ambiguous and heterogeneous nature of knowledge. The chapter frames key future research questions which relate primarily to the constant dynamics that define both the nature of knowledge in PSFs, and their influence on questions of organization and management.

Making up ideal recruits

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Gebreiter
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Recruitment Practices ◽  
Ultimate Objective ◽  
Big Four

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of graduate recruitment in the professional socialisation and subjectification of Big Four professionals. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on documentary data and interviews conducted at one British university. It adopts an interpretive perspective and is informed by Foucault’s work on technologies of power and technologies of the self. Findings The paper argues that the graduate recruitment practices of Big Four firms represent a series of examinations which produce the category of ideal recruits. It moreover suggests that this category serves as the ultimate objective of an ethical process whereby aspiring accountants consciously and deliberately seek to transform themselves into the type of subjects they aspire to be – ideal recruits. Research limitations/implications The findings of the paper are primarily based on interviews conducted at one university. Future research could explore if students at other universities experience graduate recruitment in similar or different ways. Originality/value The paper highlights the constitutive role of graduate recruitment practices and shows that they can construct ideal recruits as much as they select them. It also shows that graduate recruitment is an important anticipatory socialisation mechanism that can compel aspiring accountants to learn how to look, sound and behave like Big Four professionals long before they join such organisations. Finally, the paper discusses its implications for the future of the profession, social mobility and the use of Foucault’s work on technologies of power and the self in studying subjectivity at elite professional service firms.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document