A Location Choice Approach for Professional Service Firms

This paper discusses the use of the factor rating method for service facility site selection. The method combines the results of objective mathematical location choice models with other qualitative criteria to obtain a single quantitative score upon which the location decision is based. The simplicity and ease of understanding of the method, added to its ability to incorporate both subjective and objective factors, make it a useful decision tool. The method is particularly suitable for small professional service firms which may not have the resources to uti- lize more sophisticated location choice models.     

专业服务企业协同创新探讨

在当前经济与社会变革进一步深入的背景下,专业服务企业的发展对国家经济结构转型具有重要意义。为了促进专业服务企业的发展,使其在国家经济发展中扮演更重要的角色,专业服务企业协同的创新是必要的,使专业服务企业在促进产业结构的调整与升级中发挥积极作用。     

Life Cycle Characteristics of Small Professional Service Firms*

Our study of professional services firms clearly revealed that firms change over the course of their life cycles. During the first three stages, diversification in sales, the differentiation in labor force, and the level of labor productivity increase. In the last stage, diversification in sales, the differentiation in labor force, and the level of labor productivity decrease. Development effects can be treated as interdependent. Our findings show that the effects of growth can be predicted to a certain extent. In efforts towards development, these predictions are important to business strategy, as well as to consultation with and education of SME entrepreneurs.     

A Strategic,Client Centered Marketing Approach for Professional Service Firms

No abstract available for this article.     

Barriers to Marketing Implementation in U.K. Professional Service Firms

This paper focuses upon the critical role that imple- mentation plays in determining the 'success' or 'failure' of the mar- keting function. The authors discuss the particular implementation problems that are faced by marketers in professional service firms in the UK where marketing is still a relatively new function, and pro- pose a number of ways in which marketers may be able to overcome some of these internal barriers.     

专业服务业外国直接投资的全球发展格局研究及启示

专业服务业是新兴服务业中最具代表性的行业,也是目前国际市场上最活跃的分子之一。其发展的时间虽然不长,然而发展速度与程度都非常值得关注和研究。本文在分析相关数据资料的基础上,探讨专业服务业外国直接投资全球发展格局的主要特点,并针对专业服务业的发展特点与关键因素,提出对我国企业发展的启示。     

Professional Accountancy Firms and Marketing

This article examines the results of an empirical study into the position and role of marketing in professional accounting firms in the UK. The results show that marketing is now firmly established in organisational terms as a business function. However, the study indicates that while professional accounting firms are acquiring the ‘trappings' of marketing in the form of a marketing department and Chief Marketing Executive, they are still a long way from adopting the market-led customer-driven orientations implicit in the marketing concept.     

Exploring Factors Influencing the Use of Enterprise Social Networks in Multinational Professional Service Firms

ABSTRACT

Organizations are increasingly implementing enterprise social networks (ESNs) for improved communication and collaboration, as well as enhanced knowledge sharing and innovation among employees. However, the paradoxical relationship between ESN implementation and the promised benefits has been attributed to employees’ underutilization. Our research focuses on factors influencing employees’ decision to use ESN in their work role and draws on case studies of two multinational professional service firms (PSFs) based in Australia. Qualitative data were collected during ten semi-structured interviews with employees from both organizations, to determine their perceptions of ESN usage and capture the factors that influence their use behavior. The findings illustrate that the likelihood of ESN use is significantly influenced by technological, organizational, social and individual factors. A successful ESN use within an organization involves the nexus between these four factors and recommendations are made, as guidelines for organizational actors about how ESNs usage can be increased.     

Quality Measurement in Professional Services Firms

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of the association between service quality as perceived by consumers and its determinants. In particular, the SERVQUAL instrument is discussed and then it is demonstrated how it can be adapted 1.0 fit the needs of small professional services firms using a CPA firm as an example. The entire analysis can be performed with a spreadsheet package and the results are easy to interpret. The results are presented and the managerial implications are discussed.     

Firm Linkages to Scandals via Directors and Professional Service Firms: Insights from the Backdating Scandal

We examine market reactions to the stock options backdating scandal in a slightly unusual way, but focusing on firms who were not perceived to have had a backdating concern, but were instead linked to firms who did have a backdating concern. These linkages can be found via board interlocks and the roles those directors perform. In addition we examine the linkages which occur from shared professional services firms, such as auditors and outside legal counsel. That these potential conduits are available is not in question, but rather, do investors perceive the conduits are used to pass along information about backdating stock options? We then ask if affiliation with dominant audit and legal services firms ameliorates or exacerbates those investor market reactions. We find that firms linked to the scandalized firms also face negative reactions, which are worsened when they also are serviced by professional services firms who are themselves are also linked to the managerial practice.     

Productivity and Effectiveness in Service Firms

Service firms are facing pressures which are leading them to seek increases in productivity. While attempts to increase productivity in goods-producing organisations seldom affect customers, such attempts in service firms are very likely to impinge upon customers' perceptions of the service. The need for service firms' marketing personnel to be involved in the assessment of the impact of attempts to raise productivity is thus clear. Furthermore, the need to assess the impact of increases in productivity on the firm's effectiveness rather than in traditional efficiency terms is emphasised.     

Professional Service Quality

Abstract

Many of the services that are directed to business clients involve work by professionals who are employed by and/or own a supporting practice. To date, little attention has been directed to the possibility that the large variations in the size and nature of these firms may be reflected in the quality of services they produce. Further, no attempt has be made to delineate those quality factors that clients associate with the firm and those that are associated with the individual professional. This article reports the results of an empirical study designed to investigate the perceived relative influence of the individual, the practice, and several client variables as they affect the delivery of service quality.     

Franchising Professional Service

No abstract available for this article.     

Antecedents of ERP in Service Firms

There have been studies of the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, the need for research within service sector is increasing. Thus, this study investigates adoption of ERP systems within service firms by a survey. Furthermore, antecedents of ERP adoption are investigated. The study proposes providing an insight about enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption, theoretical background illustrates the pertinent literature on ERP systems in services and identifies antecedents of ERP adoption in the extant literature. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents, 82%, have adopted ERP. This study highlights and explains the reasons of deployment of ERP systems in service firms.     

IT and Marketing Strategies in Service Firms

Recent developments in information technology (IT) are having a major effect on the way in which service firms are organised and produce their services. Much of the investment in IT has been made as a result of service firms' pursuit of a particular marketing strategy. However, investment in IT often brings with it such a variety of attributes that, once installed, a thorough reappraisal of the appropriate marketing strategy to be followed is required.     

The Internationalization of Service Firms in China: A Comparative Analysis with Manufacturing Firms

In this article, we expand upon the springboard perspective of emerging markets in the service sector. We investigate the phenomenon of service firm internationalization in China and the distinct differences between service and manufacturing firms during international expansion. Using dynamic analysis of historical data for 363 service firms and 569 manufacturing firms from 2001 to 2007, we find that the internationalization of service firms in China is different from that of manufacturing firms in terms of resource requirement and experience exploitation. The internationalization of service firms relies more on international experience than corporate resources. Furthermore, we also identify the structural differences between hard and soft service industries. In China, identifiable intangible assets are found to be more important for the international expansion of hard service firms than they are for soft service firms. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

家族企业特质性与职业经理人的困境

长期以来关于家族企业职业经理人的争论中似乎遗忘了一个重要概念———家族企业的特质性 ,家族企业特质性是由家族企业中特异性知识与人力资本相结合而存在的 ,职业经理人对特异性知识的掌握程度影响了其代理能力。企业的特质性也影响了家族企业领导对待职业经理人以及管理变革的态度。本文阐明了家族企业特质性与职业经理人的困境之间的联系 ,并就此提出了解决职业经理人困境的几点对策。     

Service Firms Heterogeneity,International Collaborations and Export Participation

The paper investigates the relationship between service firms’ international collaboration strategies and export decision. It proposes an extension of the recent class of models of firm heterogeneity, intermediation and international trade according to which service firms can engage in a collaboration agreement with a foreign partner in order to favour their market access and distribution activities overseas. The paper analyses the empirical relevance of this model by means of a new survey dataset providing information on the internationalization activities of 814 Norwegian firms in the service sectors for the period 2004–2006. The econometric results point out that international collaboration, both on existing and on innovative services, is indeed an important factor to foster service firms’ decision to enter the export market.