Expert labour as a differentiated category: power,knowledge and organisation

The idea of ‘expert labour’ as a category uniting many kinds of knowledge‐based work has long been of interest. At the same time, existing models often do not differentiate between the many forms of ‘new’ expertise in the main business and technological groups. These tend to be consolidated in single categories of ‘entrepreneurial’, ‘organisational’ or ‘commercial’ professions. This paper built on Reed's seminal account of the expert division of labour. It used his analytic dimensions of power, knowledge and organisation to develop a new framework comparing clusters of expert labour in professional services, business services and knowledge work. It offered a more detailed classification and a comparative view that throws fresh light on key debates around new professionalism and emergent technologically defined occupations.     

Relationships in the purchasing of business to business professional services: The role of personal relationships

There has been a shift from transactional to relational exchange and relationship marketing both in the business to business and professional services contexts. This paper seeks to explore the manner in which personal relationships affect the process and outcomes of purchasing of professional business services. Specifically, it focuses on the role of the professional service providers as boundary spanners in the formation of personal relationships. These personal relationships constitute the underlying basis of long-term relationships between the purchasing and provider organizations in such complex service settings. The findings of this study demonstrate that the manner in which the boundary spanners cultivate relationships support the concept of relationship specific tasks. It extends this conception by use of the data to outline the chronological process over time Understanding the roles, function, and ultimately importance, of these relationships facilitates the identification and development of appropriate strategies to manage these relationships.     

The shaping of inventory systems in health services: A stakeholder analysis

Although many studies have addressed the diagnosing and redesign of inventory systems in an industrial setting, the field of operations management seems to lack a thorough understanding of the process of shaping inventory systems in a health care setting. In this article, a contribution is made to fill this gap by exploring the process of reshaping a hospital inventory system of medicines by means of an exploratory case study. In doing so, we concentrate on the question how the outcomes of this process are affected by the different stakeholders involved. Our case study indicates that decisions made during this reshaping process are heavily influenced by the dynamics of the relationships and interactions between the stakeholders involved in the project. Based on our case study there are also some strong indications especially in a health care setting, the existence of multiple stakeholders having a multi-goal focus regarding the inventory system can have a strong influence on the outcomes of inventory projects. For project managers it is important to be aware of these characteristics and circumstances in order to help health service organisations to develop and use inventory systems more effectively.     

The influence of position and gender on personal networks in a UK professional service

This paper presents empirical findings regarding the content and process of personal contact or social networks and networking of practitioners in a professional service. The focus of the study is public relations practitioners operating in seven consultancies across the UK, in Manchester, London, Yorkshire and Cheshire. Using qualitative methodologies including in-depth interviews and network mapping, the study reveals practitioners' network size and variety of contacts, and their role in client acquisition and retention. In particular, the study suggests that position and gender are two key influences on practitioners' personal networks. The study appears to identify that managers may have the smallest networks compared to their colleagues and especially lack weak tie contacts in the form of friends, and that female practitioners may have larger and more varied personal contact networks than men. The study thus offers an insight into personal network membership for public relations practitioners, hitherto unexplored, plus a deeper understanding of interactional dimensions of social networks and the gendered nature of networking in the UK public relations sector.     

自助金融服务业务风险防控问题分析

随着中央文件关于消除农村地区空白点和中国人民银行关于开展银行卡助农取款等相关文件的下发,金融机构对农村地区金融服务重视程度明显提高,各金融机构纷纷进军农村市场。为节约成本,在固话终端基础上创新研发的自助金融服务业务,得到各金融机构的青睐,受到了客户的普遍欢迎。但由于自助金融服务业务尚在初期阶段,政策风险、现金风险、技术风险、管理风险和操作风险等均已成为自助金融服务业务推广的"拦路虎"。可以通过丰富产品功能,加强现金监管力度,强化科技支撑作用,规范内控管理体系,营造良好使用环境等手段,不断完善风险防范措施,建立风险报告制度,健全风险化解机制,从而推进自助金融服务业务的健康、持续开展。     

集群网络结构演化分析——基于知识密集型服务机构嵌入的视角

产业集群如何升级?服务业与集群制造企业互动是否是产业集群升级的有效路径?为回答这样的问题,本文试图探究知识密集型服务业嵌入到产业集群之后在其中所承担的角色及其发挥的功能。论文运用社会网络分析方法和案例动态演绎方法,以浙江大唐袜业产业集群为例,实证了2003—2007年5年时间跨度中知识密集型服务机构的嵌入过程,及其对集群整体网络密度、网络中介性与网络凝聚性三个网络结构指标的作用,系统揭示知识密集型服务机构对集群网络结构的影响及其演化动力因素,以期为发展知识密集型服务业促进产业集群升级提供理论支持。