Gender in Professional Service Firms: New Findings and a Research Agenda

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (1) ◽  
pp. 13064
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
New Findings

Teamwork and Collaboration in Professional Service Firms

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Task Allocation ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Peer Collaboration ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Professional Mobility ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The nature of teamwork in professional service firms, as in many other knowledge-intensive environments, is evolving from highly structured project teams to more fluid, open-ended, peer-to-peer collaboration such as that between powerful, high-autonomy partners. This shift is especially challenging because senior-level collaboration requires peers from different practice groups or offices with different sub-cultures to negotiate task allocation, credit recognition, and decision-making norms, which can be difficult and politically charged. Increased partner-level collaboration is further complicated by other trends in the PSF arena such as expertise specialization, heightened professional mobility, and increased competition. Yet, this phenomenon remains largely under-researched and under-theorized. The chapter therefore lays out a research agenda focusing on opportunities to better understand peer collaboration in PSFs. In addition, the chapter identifies ways that recent changes in the professional sector challenge our understanding of traditional teamwork, and it identifies specific gaps that deserve scholarly attention.

Marketing and Reputation within Professional Service Firms

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vince Mitchell ◽  
William S. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Sales Effectiveness ◽  
Marketing Principles

This chapter reviews the research on marketing and reputation relevant to Professional Service Firms (PSFs). Although there has been relatively little research to date which explores both fields concurrently, the authors organize the material by problematizing the issue of marketing within PSFs. They introduce and provide a conceptual model of reputation that explores its antecedents, such as service quality, social networks, and rankings as well as consequences such as sales effectiveness, premium pricing, and client loyalty within PSFs. Reputation has often been conflated with other related terms such as identity and image and the authors provide some clarification on defining and measuring reputation. The chapter explores this and other problems inherent within the application of reputation to marketing principles and practice to PSFs as well as hints at solutions. Finally, the authors identify a future research agenda for both marketing and reputation.

Managing international professional service firms: a review and future research agenda

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara O'Higgins ◽  
Nekane Aramburu ◽  
Tatiana Andreeva
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
International Management ◽  
The Body ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Research Agenda

PurposeResearch on international professional service firms (PSFs) has grown in recent years, reflecting the increasing relevance of these firms in the global economy. However, to date, no attempt has been made to systematically examine and integrate this literature. This study reviews the body of knowledge on the international management of PSFs and proposes a future research agenda that aims to strengthen the research on international PSFs, by applying the conceptual lens of PSF characteristics.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of 108 empirical articles on the management of international PSFs was carried out.FindingsThe authors analyse where, how and what research was carried out on the international management of PSFs, and find that currently the field offers few opportunities to integrate findings or explain differences across different types of international PSFs. In recommendations for future research, the authors show how the lens of PSF characteristics can help overcome these issues and unveil promising avenues for future research that will lead to a more fine-grained theorising and understanding of the international management of PSFs.Originality/valueThe study provides a comprehensive state of the art of research on the international management of PSFs and a future research agenda, which builds on PSF characteristics to explore and better understand the heterogeneity of international PSFs, in order to develop more robust explanations of their behaviour and open new research avenues.

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.

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