Value Shop Configuration

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
A Value ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Way

To comprehend the value that information technology provides to organizations, we must first understand the way a particular organization conducts business and how information systems affect the performance of various component activities within the organization. Understanding how firms differ is a central challenge for both theory and practice of management. For a long time, Porter’s (1985) value chain was the only value configuration known to managers. Stabell and Fjeldstad (1998) have identified two alternative value configurations. A value shop schedules activities and applies resources in a fashion that is dimensioned and appropriate to the need’s of the client’s problem, while a value chain performs a fixed set of activities that enables it to produce a standard product in large numbers. Examples of value shops are professional service firms, as found in medicine, law, architecture and engineering. A value network links clients or customers who are or wish to be interdependent. Examples of value networks are telephone companies, retail banks and insurance companies. A value configuration describes how value is created in a company for its customers. A value configuration shows how the most important business processes function to create value for customers. A value configuration represents the way a particular organization conducts business.

Value Configurations

2010 ◽  
pp. 75-97
Author(s):  
Hans Solli-Sæther ◽  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Value Network ◽  
A Value ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Contingent Approach

Understanding how firms differ is a central challenge for both theory and practice of management. For a long time, Porter’s (1985) value chain was the only value configuration known to managers. Stabell and Fjeldstad (1998) identified two alternative value configurations. First, a value shop schedules activities and applies resources in a fashion that is dimensioned and appropriate to the needs of client problems, while a value chain performs a fixed set of activities that enables it to produce a standard product in large numbers. Examples of value shops are professional service firms, as found in medicine, law, architecture and engineering. Next, a value network links clients or customers who are or wish to be interdependent. Examples of value networks are logistic companies, telephone companies, retail banks and insurance companies. In this chapter, we apply the contingent approach to systems outsourcing by making the outsourcing decision dependent on the value configuration of the enterprise. We present the three different value configurations – the value chain, the value shop, and the value network. Next, the three different value configurations are compared according to key characteristics, e.g. use of information systems. Then, we take a look at interfirm relations to be able to identify areas for outsourcing, and value configuration as a determinant and predictor for the extent of outsourcing. Finally, we discuss levels of strategy and we introduce the Y-model for IS/IT strategy work.

Police Work in Value Shops

2007 ◽  
pp. 213-251
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Telephone Companies ◽  
A Value ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Retail Banks

To comprehend the value that information technology provides to organizations, we must first understand the way a particular organization conducts business, and how information systems affect the performance of various component activities within the organization. Understanding how firms differ is a central challenge for both theory and practice of management. For a long time, Porter’s (1985) value chain was the only value configuration known to managers. Stabell and Fjeldstad (1998) have identified two alternative value configurations. A value shop schedules activities and applies resources in a fashion that is dimensioned and appropriate to the needs of the client’s problem, while a value chain performs a fixed set of activities that enables it to produce a standard product in large numbers. Examples of value shops are professional service firms, as found in medicine, law, architecture, and engineering. A value network links clients or customers who are, or wish to be interdependent. Examples of value networks are telephone companies, retail banks, and insurance companies.

Value Configurations of Organizations

2010 ◽  
pp. 39-58
Author(s):  
Petter Gottschalk ◽  
Hans Solli-Saether
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Telephone Companies ◽  
A Value ◽  
Postal Services ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Retail Banks

To comprehend the value that information technology provides to organizations, we must first understand the way a particular organization conducts business and how information systems affect the performance of various component activities within the organization. Understanding how organizations differ is a central challenge for both theory and practice of management. For a long time, Porter’s (1985) value chain was the only value configuration known to managers. Stabell and Fjeldstad (1998) have identified two alternative value configurations. A value shop schedules activities and applies resources in a fashion that is dimensioned and appropriate to the needs of the client’s problem, while a value chain performs a fixed set of activities that enables it to produce a standard product in large numbers. Examples of value shops are professional service organizations, as found in medicine, law, architecture and engineering. A value network links clients or customers who are or wish to be interdependent. Examples of value networks are telephone companies, logistic and postal services, retail banks and insurance companies.

Clients and cases: ambiguity and the division of labour in professional service firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Alvehus
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Way

Purpose By drawing on a detailed case study of the work of tax consultants, the purpose of this paper is to develop a more detailed understanding of the role of ambiguity in professional work, and its relationship to the division of labour in professional service firms (PSFs). Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a three-year, longitudinal interpretive case study comprising 42 interviews, supplemented by observations and document data. Findings The research determines that processes of “obfuscation” and “privatisation” separate client work from case work. This maintains a division of labour between junior and senior professionals, which in turn facilitates financial leverage. The findings indicate that a more nuanced view on the role and origins of ambiguity is needed; particularly the role ambiguity plays in the division of labour. While inherent in professional work, ambiguity is also an effect of the way work processes are organised in order to obtain leverage. Research limitations/implications The research is based on a case study. Therefore, the paper explores its topic in empirical detail, but at the same time calls for exploring the topic in different contexts. The paper encourages further research on the role ambiguity plays being constituted by structural arrangements, and on the way the core of professionalism is inverted by the division of labour. The paper highlights the value of detailed empirical approaches for understanding professional work. Practical implications The paper draws attention to the way ambiguity becomes a part in sustaining a division of labour among professional workers, and to the importance of this in maintaining financial leverage as well as in creating a precarious work situation for junior professionals. Social implications The paper raises concerns about the way professional work is legitimated in society as opposed to how it is constructed in PSFs. Originality/value The paper challenges prevalent notions of professional work as ambiguous, offering instead a way of engaging with professional work processes in detail, theoretically and methodologically. Traditional assumptions about the division of labour and the “core” of professional work are problematized, and traditional assumptions about ambiguity as a cause of specific structural arrangements are questioned.

Sociological Analysis of Professionalism: Past, Present and Future

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Evetts
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Commercial Organizations

AbstractFor a long time, sociological analysis of professional work has differentiated professionalism as a special means of organizing work and controlling workers and in contrast to the hierarchical, bureaucratic and managerial controls of industrial and commercial organizations. But professional work is changing and being changed as increasingly professionals (such as doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers) now work in employing organizations; lawyers and accountants in large professional service firms (PSFs) and sometimes in international and commercial organizations; pharmacists in national (retailing) companies; and engineers, journalists, performing artists, the armed forces and police find occupational control of their work and discretionary decision-making increasingly difficult to sustain. This paper begins with a section on defining the field and clarifying concepts. This is followed by a second section on the concept of professionalism, its history and current developments. The third section discusses convergences between Anglo-American and Continental European systems of professions and the general, wider applicability of particular explanatory theories and analytical concepts in the field. Section four examines internationalizing processes affecting professions. Markets for professional services are increasingly international and professional regulation is now a matter for international professional federations as well as national and regional states. The final section provides summary and considers consequences for aspects of professionalism as an occupational value in the global world.

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document