Professional Service Firm
A professional service firm is a company that offers knowledge-intensive services for client companies. Freelance service providers are thus a result of the trend towards the knowledge and service society .
These are primarily accounting firms , management and personnel consultancies , law firms , investment banks , engineering services , insurance brokers and also advertising agencies .
Demarcation
Professional Service Firms are companies in the service sector . Services can be distinguished from industrial goods in particular on the basis of two constitutive characteristics: the immateriality and the integration of the customer in the provision of services. Since the attributes that apply to services for professional services usually also apply and are particularly pronounced, they are also described as a pure and particularly typical form of service.
At the same time, this is accompanied by a differentiation from other (service) sectors in terms of resources that are critical to success. For professional service firms, three resources can be identified that have a significant impact on the company's success: knowledge , relationship skills and reputation .
Archetypes
In professional service firms, a distinction is generally made between two archetypes:
- Professional Partnership (p2)
- Managed Professional Business (MBP)
literature
- M. Alvesson: Management of knowledge-intensive companies . Berlin, New York 1995.
- B. Lowendahl: Strategic Management of Professional Service Firms . Copenhagen 1997.
- Stephan Kaiser , Max Ringlstetter : Strategic Management of Professional Service Firms . Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 364216062X
- DH Maister: Managing the Professional Service Firm . 2nd ed., New York et al. 1997.
- G. Müller-Stewens, J. Drolshammer, J. Kriegmeier: Professional Service Firms . How multinational service providers position themselves, Frankfurt am Main 1999.
- MC Scott: The Intellect Industry . Profiting and Learning from Professional Service Firms, Chichester et al. 1998.
- Max Ringlstetter, B. Bürger, S. Kaiser: Strategies and Management for Professional Service Firms . Weinheim 2004, ISBN 3-527-50088-X .
- A. Richter, M. Dickmann, M. Graubner: Patterns of human resource management in consulting firms . Personnel Review: Vol.37 No.2 2008, pp. 184–202.
Web links
- Research platform Professional Services Firms
- Center for Professional Services Firms at the University of Alberta, Canada
- German Society for Professional Services Firms (DGPSF); Cologne, Germany)
Individual evidence
- ^ S. Kaiser, Max Ringlstetter : Strategic Management of Professional Service Firms . P. 183