scholarly journals Networks and marketing in small professional service businesses

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Menelec ◽  
Brian Jones
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Collaborative Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Management Consultancy ◽  
Marketing Activities ◽  
Service Businesses

Purpose – This paper aims to explore networks in relation to small professional service businesses. Both the structural and relational components of networks are considered to better understand what networks are and how they operate. The paper investigates the link between networks and marketing and discusses the extent to which small professional service businesses use their networks for marketing activities. Design/methodology/approach – The literature review identifies key elements of professional service businesses, networks and marketing activities. The primary research is qualitative by design and exploratory in nature and used a multi-case study approach. Data were collected from five small management consultancy businesses through in-depth interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. Findings – The study finds that small professional service businesses lack the business/marketing language to articulate their approaches and values. They are increasingly relying on collaboration to deliver changing services. Findings show that “core groups” are highly significant in the structure of their networks. Furthermore, while most connections are work-related, networks are not strategically motivated. Linkages are strong and motivations to network and networking activities are both short and long term. Generating work and developing lasting collaborative relationships is based on similar values and interests. Originality/value – The study offers insight and practical understanding on the relations that small businesses have with their networks. It also builds and adds value to the theory of network and networking in both the small business field and professional services related industry. It explores networks by considering the structural and relational components separately whilst also highlighting their interconnection.

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 Managing the communicative organization: a qualitative analysis of knowledge-intensive companies

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 551-571
Author(s):  
Kaisa Pekkala
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Management ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Communication Management ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Knowledge Intensive Organizations ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how employees' work-related communication is managed in knowledge-intensive organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted by applying an exploratory, qualitative approach. The data were collected from six knowledge-intensive organizations operating in the professional service sector in Finland, and the data set used included altogether 23 interviews.FindingsThe interviews confirmed that employees' work-related communication on social media is regarded as an increasingly important area, and that it has required companies to establish new managerial processes that are aimed to affect employees’ communication behaviors (ECB) either as enablers or motivators. How companies apply these processes depends on contextual factors, and three different managerial approaches were identified, namely, individual-, corporate- and business-oriented approaches.Research limitations/implicationsBased on the findings, this article proposes a new field for the communication management literature, management of the communicative organization (MCO), which builds on behavior management knowledge and focuses on managing employee communicators in multivocal organizational communication systems (MOCSs) that are dependent on employee-generated content.Originality/valueThe study advances the field of communication management and ECB by empirically proving that organizations manage their employees' work-related communication and the management processes and practices identified derive from behavioral management tradition. The proposed MCO framework introduces a novel area for academic discussion on how communication management affects ECB and attitudes, such as motivation.

The four spheres of value co-creation in humanitarian professional services

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Pillitteri ◽  
Erica Mazzola ◽  
Manfredi Bruccoleri
Keyword(s):  
Service Design ◽  
Life Cycle Management ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Humanitarian Operations ◽  
Theory Of Value

PurposeThe study focuses on the value co-creation processes in humanitarian professional services provision, analysing the key enabling factors of beneficiaries' participation, involved in long-term integration programmes (L-TIPs).Design/methodology/approachThrough an in-depth case study, the research looks at the practices of value co-creation in humanitarian professional services, considering both the perspectives of the professional service provider and beneficiary.FindingsIn professional services beneficiary's participation affects the success of the L-TIPs outcomes. Participation's enablers can be classified into four different spheres, each belonging to different elements of professional service: the beneficiary, the professionals, the service design and the external environment.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to the literature on humanitarian operations & supply chain management. By focussing on an understudied phase of the disaster life-cycle management, it contributes to the theory of value co-creation by exploring new issues and drivers of beneficiary's participation.Practical implicationsThis research has interesting implications for policymakers and humanitarian practitioners. First, guidelines for professionals' behaviours and interventions should be designed as well as new practices and strategies should be adopted. Second, governments should avoid concentrating L-TIPs in few big humanitarian centres.Originality/valueThe study focuses on an understudied stage of humanitarian operations, namely the L-TIPs, and uses this setting to build on the theory of value co-creation in professional services by identifying its enabling factors, clustered into four spheres, namely beneficiary, professional, service design and environmental.

scholarly journals Water accounting knowledge pathways

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Tingey-Holyoak ◽  
John D. Pisaniello
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Water Accounting ◽  
Sustainability Problems

Purpose There are increasing demands on professional accountants in practice to generate water accounts for clients using knowledge from other disciplines within and outside their firms. Whilst many professional service firms have a broad range of in-house and consulting expertise, professional groups within and between these organisations may not be generating and sharing the knowledge required for successful water accounting. The purpose of this paper is to explore how additional disciplinary skills for water volumetric measurement, understanding of licensing and allocations can effectively and efficiently be shared between the disciplines required to be involved. Design/methodology/approach Two cross-sectional semi-structured surveys developed using a social network lens were disseminated to Australian accountants operating in professional services firms, and the results were descriptively analysed. Findings The authors find that, whilst accounting and engineering are acknowledged as core disciplines for water accounting, there is a need for more standardised measures and frameworks across diverse scales to fit in with current reporting practices and meet stakeholder needs. These need to be nested in a water accounting regulatory model that includes the accountancy professional bodies as a platform for knowledge generation and sharing. Originality/value The paper provides evidence of perceived barriers to and pathways for interdisciplinary knowledge networks for a new type of accounting. It demonstrates how regulatory frameworks can potentially assist rather than impede accountants in their contribution to solving of complex corporate sustainability problems.

Accounting firm partners to public corporation employees

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Edward Pickering
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Company Performance ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Firm ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Publicly Owned

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications on former accounting firm partners becoming employees of a publicly owned accounting corporation, the responses of the former partners and impacts on the acquiring company. Partners of accounting and other professional service firms selling their firms to publicly owned companies often remain with the acquiring company as employees and receive company shares as consideration for their firms. Agency theory suggests public ownership will result in changes to the roles of senior professionals with potential resistance and motivation consequences. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a case study approach involving the review of publicly available information and interviews with executives and senior professionals of an Australian publicly owned accounting company, Stockford Limited. Findings The Stockford case indicates that selling their firm to a publicly owned company can have significant negative implications for accounting firm partners. The former partners struggled to adapt to their new roles as senior professional employees and shareholders. Their responses had significant impacts on company performance, which ultimately contributed to the collapse of the company, thus reflecting the power senior professionals retain regardless of the change of ownership form. Research limitations/implications Care is required when generalising findings of a single case to other professions and other geographic jurisdictions. Practical implications This paper has significant implications for entrepreneurs and executives consolidating professional service firms, partners considering selling their firms and investors in publicly owned professional service firms. Originality/value Despite the emergence of publicly owned accounting and other professional service companies and the importance and power of senior professionals in professional service firms, this is the first study to explore the implications on senior professionals of selling their firms to public companies.

An investigation of the relation between ownership structure and management control in professional service organisations

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn King ◽  
Peter Clarkson
Keyword(s):  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Internal Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Internal Governance Mechanisms

PurposeThis study aims to examine the interplay between ownership structure (organisational form) and management control system (MCS) design as governance structures within Australian primary health-care organisations (PHOs), seeking support for the suggestion that professional services will be most efficiently and effectively provided in organisations that have internal governance that is matched to their ownership form.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on a series of in-depth investigations into the MCS choices made by seven Australian PHOs. Arguing that the degree of information impactedness is inversely related to the level of general practitioner (GP) ownership, organisations where more than 50 per cent of the GPs working within the practice are owners are classified as “high ownership” (“low information impactedness”). The adoption by high-performing organisations of their predicted MCS archetype according to Speklé’s development is then interpreted as representing empirical support.FindingsThe findings provide uniform support for the importance of the match between ownership structure and internal governance mechanisms. As predicted, the two high-performing, high member-owned organisations reported MCS resembling exploratory archetypes, the three high-performing, low member-owned organisations reported MCS consistent with a boundary archetype and the two low-performing organisations reported little emphasis on any control.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides evidence of the importance of the appropriate match between ownership structure and internal governance mechanisms for PHOs.Practical implicationsThis study has potential to assist managers, owners and advisors to optimise MCS design in professional services organisations where there is heterogeneous ownership by professionals.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few attempts to provide empirical support for the assertion of the importance of a match between ownership structure and MCS design. It also represents one of the few attempts to provide empirical support for Speklé’s (2001) control archetypes, here the boundary and exploratory archetypes, archetypes that are applicable within important sectors of the economy, notably the professional services sector.

Work-related suicide

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Line Germain
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Occupational Accident ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics

Purpose – For the past 50 years, the research literature has shown that employment can contribute to an individual's personal development. Yet, it has also shown that it can become a life-threatening stressor. Reported occupational suicides increased by 22.2 percent between 1995 and 2010, becoming a leading cause of death in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of six US government reports on employee suicides between 1995 and 2012. Design/methodology/approach – Through an interpretive case study approach (Yin, 2003), this study undertook a document analysis of key US government reports examining occupational suicides. Specifically, an analysis of three US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports was undertaken along with other documents, identifying key themes and facts. Findings – The analysis of the US government reports reveals a dim legal recognition of employee suicide as an occupational accident. The paper presents the characteristics of suicides as an occupational accident as well as the profile of a typical US occupational suicide victim. Finally, the paper discusses the main causes of employee suicide. Practical implications – Organizations have a “duty of care” to their employees, both physical and psychological. Human resource (HR) professionals ought to create preventive policies to minimize work-related suicides and have clear crisis management systems in place, should an employee commit suicide or threaten to do so. Originality/value – Occupational distress is not typically apparent or obvious and is not the subject of many studies in the field of HRs. Yet, because of its rampant increase in today's organizations, its direct connection with employee suicide and its impact on organizational revenues, psychological distress in the workplace merits closer attention. This paper is unique as it provides insights for HR professionals based on the analysis of US government reports on work-related suicides.

scholarly journals Industry, government, and community: power and leadership in a resource constrained DMO

2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L. Slocum ◽  
Sally Everett
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Destination Marketing ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Development Agencies ◽  
Marketing Messages

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore a resource-constrained Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) to assess the power struggles inherent in community tourism initiatives when leadership is weakened through shrinking resources. Design/methodology/approach – Using a comparative instrumental case study approach, this paper analyses three separate studies within Experience Bedfordshire to develop a comprehensive picture of governance within a single tourism destination. Findings – The results show that privately held attractions, hospitality businesses, and transportation authorities retain control over key marketing messages. Visitor and stakeholder surveys indicate that a more sustainable form of rural development, based on natural/cultural attractions and the development of bed and breakfast and artisan small businesses is the preferred development path. Unfortunately, the increasing use of Tourism Information Centres by local residents, as opposed to tourists, has reduced support by key power holders in the community, thereby forcing major industry restructure. Research limitations/implications – This research was conducted during the transitionary period as the Rural Development Agencies were being dissolved in the UK and the new Local Enterprise Partnership system was being implemented in early 2011. It is still too early to anticipate how this new system will affect destination marketing in the long run. Practical implications – This paper argues that commercial interests ultimately control the destination image in this resource-constrained region, and its marketing messages which are currently focused on high adventure and large scale development are pursued to the detriment of local wishes and rural landscape development. Originality/value – This paper is the first article to address the transition from the Rural Development Agencies to the Local Enterprise Partnerships within a tourism and destination marketing framework.

scholarly journals Performative seduction: how management consultants influence practices of leadership

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Ford ◽  
Nancy Harding
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Management Consultants ◽  
Management Consultancy ◽  
Public Sector Leadership ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
Policies And Practices

PurposeThis paper tracks how a policy recommended by management consultants becomes embedded as an integral part of leadership practice. It explores the launch of the concept of “talent management” by McKinsey & Company and how it becomes adopted as part of expected leadership practices in the English National Health Service. The use of Management Consultants globally has increased exponentially, and the paper considers this phenomenon and the ways in which management consultant advice influences public sector leadership and practice at local level.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach is adopted, focussing on the introduction of the concept of talent management into the English NHS, following the wider emergence of the concept through influential reports published by McKinsey & Company in the late 1990s. An analysis of the emergence of the concept is conducted drawing on this series of reports and the adoption of talent management policies and practices by the English government's Department of Health.FindingsThese influential reports by the management consultancy firm, McKinsey & Company, constituted an urgent need for this newly identified concept of talent management and the secrecy surrounding its reception. It is this mystery surrounding the decisions about a talent management strategy in the NHS and the concealment of decisions behind closed doors, which leads us to offer a theory of management consultants' influence on leaders as one of performative seduction.Originality/valueManagement consultancy is a vast business whose influence reaches deeply into public and private sector organisations around the world. Understanding of the variegated policies and practices that constitute contemporary modes of governance therefore requires comprehension of management consultants' role within those policies and practices. This paper argues that management consultants influence public sector leadership through insertion of their products into definitions of, and performative constitution of, local level leadership.

An emerging market perspective of what makes professional service firms successful

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 57-78
Author(s):  
Felix Nana Abaka Sackey ◽  
Livingstone Divine Caesar
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Despite the criticality of strategic partnerships to the survival and success of professional service firms (PSF) in emerging markets, there is a dearth of research on the subject matter. Specifically, not much is known concerning the dynamics of partnerships among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the professional services sector of the economy. This paper aims to explore the dynamics of the impact of constructs such as attributes of partnership, communication behaviour and collaborative conflict resolution on partnership success. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative survey sent to 300 small and medium-sized PSFs achieved a 79% response rate. The data is then analysed using bivariate and multi-variate techniques. Findings The results revealed a positive relationship between two of the three constituents of attributes of the partnership (i.e. commitment and coordination) and the success of partnerships. Commitment and coordination emerged as the significant attributes of partners that affect the success of the partnership. Contrary to previous studies, trust and information sharing did not have a positive impact on partnership success. Practical implications PSFs in emerging markets need concerted efforts to maintain competitive and sustainable partnerships. To make any significant impact, they must develop contemporary skills in collaborative conflict management. Originality/value This paper highlights the need for PSFs and SMEs in other service sectors of emerging markets to harness partnerships as a valuable tool to overcome the policy shortcomings of current regulatory frameworks within their respective markets.

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