High-stakes innovation: When collaboration in teams enhances (or undermines) innovation in professional service firms

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-26
Author(s):  
Johnathan R Cromwell ◽  
Heidi K Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Innovation Process ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Contextual Condition ◽  
Innovation Project ◽  
Develop Theory ◽  
The One ◽  
Selection Stage

Abstract Professionals need to develop increasingly innovative solutions to complex problems, which are often cocreated through client–professional collaborations, but this demand creates a theoretical and practical tension. On the one hand, professionals need to establish long-standing relationships with clients so they can deeply understand their client’s business and develop more effective solutions. On the other hand, such strong relationships can breed similar perspectives that undermine their ability to develop more innovative ideas. To resolve this conflict, we introduce a new contextual condition to the literature that is fundamentally associated with innovation in organizations—the stakes of an innovation project—and develop theory explaining how it creates conditions under which familiarity either enhances or undermines innovation in teams. Using a mixed-method approach to study an innovation contest held in the legal industry, we found that under lower-stakes conditions, collaboration in new teams was positively associated with innovation and produced significantly more innovative outcomes than collaboration in long-standing teams. But under higher-stakes conditions, these effects reversed. When exploring the mechanisms underlying our results, we found that familiarity was valuable for innovation under higher-stakes conditions primarily because teams with shared perspectives took greater risks on more innovative ideas during the selection stage of the innovation process.

Knowledge management and business strategy

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 25-28
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Architectural Practice ◽  
Competitive Edge ◽  
The One

Purpose – To investigate attitudes towards knowledge management (KM) in creative professional service firms (PSFs) and explore the role of communities of practice as a way to leverage expertise within the firm. Design/methodology/approach – Presents a single-firm case study of a medium-sized architectural practice in New Zealand. Findings – There is an old country saying along the lines that “muck and money should be spread around if they are to do any good” – and the same could very well be said about knowledge. Knowledge is an essential tool for PSFs. In areas like architecture, software development or media, being able to bring together expert creative knowledge is what gives PSFs their competitive edge. Research limitations/implications – Suggests opportunities for further research to extend the generalizability of findings by extending the study to a greater number of creative PSFs in a range of countries. Practical implications – Proposes a framework linking KM strategies based on codification and personalization with the overall business strategy of the organization through the use of communities of practice (CoPs). Social implications – Highlights the importance of CoPs as a potential source of competitive advantage for creative PSFs whose success depends on shared expertise and leveraging the knowledge contained within the business. Originality/value – Demonstrates that personalization and codification strategies for KM can be combined, focusing on the one most appropriate to the overall business strategy and using the other in a supporting role.

scholarly journals Segmentation of quantity surveying professional services for focus strategy and diversification

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-308
Author(s):  
Michael Adesi ◽  
De-Graft Owusu-Manu ◽  
Frank Boateng
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quantity Surveying ◽  
Focus Strategy

Purpose Notwithstanding that numerous studies have focused on strategy in quantity surveying (QS) professional service firms, there is a paucity of investigation on the segmentation of QS professional services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the segmentation of QS services for diversification and a focus strategy formation. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the positivist stance and quantitative approach in which a simple random sampling technique was used to select participants. In total, 110 survey questionnaires were administered to registered professional QS, out of which 79 completed questionnaires were returned for analysis. Findings The paper identifies three main QS service segments characterised by low, moderate and high competition. In addition, this study found that the concentration of traditional QS services in the building construction sector is due to the unwillingness of QS professional service firms to diversify into the non-construction sectors such as oil and gas. The diversification of QS services in the low competitive segment requires the adoption of agile approaches. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to numeric analyses and so would be complemented by qualitative research in the future. Practical implications This paper is useful to QS professional service firms interested in diversifying their services into the non-construction sectors to enhance the pricing of their services. Originality/value Segmentation of QS services is fundamental to the formulation of focus strategy for non-construction sectors such as oil and gas and mining to enhance the pricing of QS professional services.

scholarly journals Fragmented fields: Professionalisms and work settings in Italian management consultancy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Maestripieri
Keyword(s):  
Professional Service ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Management Consultants ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Management Consultancy ◽  
Professional Service Firm

Abstract Management consultancy has long been a contested terrain in the sociology of the professions. Although the professionalism of management consultants has always been emphasized by practitioners themselves, the lack of a strong community of peers has been an impediment to their professionalization. In this article, I argue that professionalism is not the outcome of a process of regulation and institutionalization but that it has to be conceived a discourse comprising norms, worldviews, and values that define what is appropriate for an individual to be considered a competent and recognized member of this community. Given the diversity characterizing the field, there are multiple discourses surrounding professionalism of management consultants, and these discourses are shaped by work settings. Work settings are a combination of the type of organization professional partnership or professional service firm and the employment status (employee or self-employed). Drawing on the empirical evidence from various work settings (professional service firms, professional partnership, and self-employment), I investigate four clusters of practitioners identified in 55 biographical and semi-structured interviews conducted with management consultants in Italy. Four types of professionalism emerge from the clusters. Organizing professionalism is the sole professionalism that appears in all work settings. Other discourses (corporate, commercialized, and hybrid professionalism) are context-dependent and more likely to be found in specific work settings.

How do non-innovative firms start innovation and build legitimacy? The case of professional service firms

2021 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 614-625
Author(s):  
Elisa Villani ◽  
Christian Linder ◽  
Christian Lechner ◽  
Lina Muller
Keyword(s):  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Innovative Firms
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