Managing The Professional Service Firm
Managing The Professional Service Firm

Author: David H. Maister

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-12-11

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 1471109658

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Professional service firms differ from other business enterprises in two distinct ways: first they provide highly customised services thus cannot apply many of the management principles developed for product-based industries. Second, professional services are highly personalised, involving the skills of individuals. Such firms must therefore compete not only for clients but also for talented professionals. Drawing on more than ten years of research and consulting to these unique and creative companies, David Maister explores issues ranging from marketing and business development to multinational strategies, human resources policies to profit improvement, strategic planning to effective leadership. While these issues can be complex, Maister simplifies them by recognising that 'every professional service firm in the world, regardless of size, specific profession, or country of operation, has the same mission statement: outstanding service to clients, satisfying careers for its people and financial success for its owners.'

Marketing the Professional Services Firm
Marketing the Professional Services Firm

Author: Laurie Young

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-03-11

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1119995426

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Professional services are estimated to be worth up to $700 billion worldwide, but as the market matures there is an urgent need for new marketing thinking for global players or small businesses alike. This book applies the core principles of strategic marketing to professional services for the first time, in an approach that is at once accessible and compelling. With case studies from a range of companies including J. Walter Thompson, market research companies, the ?big four? accounting firms, Headhunters, Interbrand and large US legal firms, it is intended to become the definitive book for effective strategic marketing in professional services.

The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms
The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms

Author: Laura Empson

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2015-08-13

Total Pages: 620

ISBN-13: 0191504947

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Over the past three decades the Professional Service Firm (PSF) sector has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and significant in the global economy. In 2013 the accountancy, management consulting, legal, and architectural sectors alone generated revenues of US$ 1.6 trillion and employed 14 million people. PSFs play an important role in developing human capital, creating innovative business services, reshaping government institutions, establishing and interpreting the rules of financial markets, and setting legal, accounting and other professional standards. The study of PSFs can offer insights into the contemporary challenges facing organizations within the knowledge economy, and deepen understanding of more conventional organizations. Despite their significance, however, PSFs have until recently remained very much in the shadows of organizational and management research. The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms marks the coming of age of PSF scholarship with a comprehensive and integrative exploration of current research and thinking on PSFs, featuring contributions from internationally renowned scholars in the fields of organizational and management studies. It is divided into three distinct sections - the professions, the firms, and the professionals that work within them - and covers subjects from governance and leadership to regulation, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Bringing together a broad range of empirical and theoretical perspectives, the Handbook offers many potentially important insights into the contemporary challenges of organizations in the knowledge economy and suggests new lines of inquiry that may shed further light on the activities and performance of PSFs and the professionals who work within them.

Professions and Professional Service Firms
Professions and Professional Service Firms

Author: Mike Saks

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-05

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1317197887

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Professions are increasingly linked with enterprise at a number of interrelated levels. By considering the relationship of professions to the enterprise contexts in which they work, this book reveals the dilemmas posed to professional groups, and the opportunities and constraints that can arise in their organisational frameworks. Addressing both private and public sectors, this collection explores questions including: what are the implications for the culture, practices and identities of professions of working in enterprise contexts, including with increased globalisation? Are professions becoming more entrepreneurial in a knowledge economy? What are the tensions between professionalism and enterprise and how are these resolved? These are themes that are extremely important to professionals and their managers, especially with the rise of large-scale professional service firms serving corporate clients with truly global reach. This cutting-edge collection will be of interest to researchers, educators and advanced students studying professional behaviour in fields such as business studies, management, organisational analysis, public administration, political science, social policy and sociology, as well as students on focused programmes of professional study in fields such as health, law and social care.

Professional Networks in Transnational Governance
Professional Networks in Transnational Governance

Author: Leonard Seabrooke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-10-12

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1316858057

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Who controls how transnational issues are defined and treated? In recent decades professional coordination on a range of issues has been elevated to the transnational level. International organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and firms all make efforts to control these issues. This volume shifts focus away from looking at organizations and zooms in on how professional networks exert control in transnational governance. It contributes to research on professions and expertise, policy entrepreneurship, normative emergence, and change. The book provides a framework for understanding how professionals and organizations interact, and uses it to investigate a range of transnational cases. The volume also deploys a strong emphasis on methodological strategies to reveal who controls transnational issues, including network, sequence, field, and ethnographic approaches. Bringing together scholars from economic sociology, international relations, and organization studies, the book integrates insights from across fields to reveal how professionals obtain and manage control over transnational issues.

Professional Services Marketing
Professional Services Marketing

Author: Mike Schultz

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-06-04

Total Pages: 373

ISBN-13: 1118604342

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A proven approach to revenue-generating marketing and client development Professional Services Marketing is a fully field-tested and research-based approach to marketing and client development for professional services firms. The book, now in its Second Edition, covers five key areas that are critical for firms that want to grow and become more profitable: creating a marketing and growth strategy; establishing a brand and reputation; implementing a marketing communications program; executing lead generation strategies; and developing business by winning new clients. You will also read real-world case studies that illustrate major points, as well as quotes and stories from well-respected professionals in the industry. The Second Edition features new research and updates throughout, including new chapters on social media and online marketing, as well as new case studies and interviews Authors Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr are the coauthors of the Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine bestseller Rainmaking Conversations and Professional Services Marketing; Lee W. Frederiksen is coauthor of Online Marketing for Professional Services Will be widely promoted via multiple online routes and direct mail marketing Firms of any size can use this proven approach to marketing and client development to attract new clients and grow their professional service businesses.

Strategic Management of Professional Service Firms
Strategic Management of Professional Service Firms

Author: Stephan Kaiser

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-11-19

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 3642160638

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Managing strategies for professional service firms is an important and complex activity. The main issues in this book cover the core management principles for service firms in a comprehensive way. Based on current research findings it includes the management of service quality, knowledge and marketing as well as people, organizational and strategic issues. In understanding critical resources managers and partners will be able to effectively develop and exploit them. The book contains practical advice and offers a profound insight into the managerial excellence of service companies.

Positioning for Professionals
Positioning for Professionals

Author: Tim Williams

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9781119199939

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"It's not the best companies that prevail in the marketplace, but rather the best brands. The goal of business strategy is not just to be better, but different. Learn how to build a differentiating value proposition by clearly and carefully defining your brand boundaries: Calling, Competencies, Customers, and Culture. Positioning for Professionals shows how a well-defined value proposition can help professional service firms create their own success instead of copying the success of others, including such concepts as: How and why professional service brands become homogenized. Why standing for everything is the same as standing for nothing. Why there's no such thing as full service. Deep and narrow as a strategic imperative. Why it's better to be a profit leader than a market leader. Differentiation and price premiums. How to map your brand on the matrix of relevance and differentiation. How to define a value proposition that will make your firm intensely appealing to the customers who want you for what you do best. Based on the proven premise that the most profitable business strategy is not to aim at the center of the market, but rather at the edges, Positioning for Professionals is written for leaders, managers, and other senior executives of service companies in with a particular emphasis on professional service firms."--