Suchergebnisse

Introduction / Royston Greenwood, Roy Suddaby, Megan McDougald -- Leading change in the new professional service firm : characterizing strategic leadership in a global context / Evelyn Fenton, Andrew Pettigrew -- Partnership versus corporation : implications of alternative forms of governance in professional service firms / Laura Empson, Chris Chapman -- Markets, institutions, and the crisis of professional practice / Kevin T. Leicht, Elizabeth C.W. Lyman -- Variation in organizational form among professional service organizations / Namrata Malhotra, Timothy Morris, C.R. (Bob) Hinings -- Professional service firms as collectivities : a cultural and processual view / Mats Alvesson, Dan K(c)·arreman -- Professionals, networking and the networked professional / Fiona Anderson-Gough, Christopher Grey, Keith Robson -- Professional ethics in formal organizations / Hugh P. Gunz, Sally P. Gunz -- Can women in law have it all? : a study of motherhood, career satisfaction and life balance / Jean E. Wallace -- Computer-mediated knowledge systems in consultancy firms : do they work? / Markus Reihlen, Torsten Ringberg -- Marketing marketing : the professional project as a micro-discursive accomplishment / Peter Svensson -- Social structure, employee mobility, and the circulation of client ties / Joseph P. Broschak, Keri M. Niehans -- The internationalisation of professional service firms : global convergence, national path-dependency or cross-border hybridisation? / Glenn Morgan, Sigrid Quack -- The strategic positioning of professional service firm start-ups : balance beguiles but purism pays / Jennifer E. Jennings, P. Devereaux Jennings, Royston Greenwood -- Are consultants moving towards professionalization? / Claudia Gro, Alfred Kieser

The prevailing theory of mergers is that firms emphasize considerations of "strategic fit" in discussions prior to merger activity, and neglect considerations of "organizational fit". The result is that immediately following a merger dysfunctional organizational behaviours occur. The number of empirical studies of mergers, however, is relatively modest and there are few case studies of the merger process. The present paper studies the merger involving two large accounting firms, over a period of four years. The unique features of accounting firms—in particular, their organization as professional partnerships—and of the accounting industry, make the case study an appropriate "tough" test of the general theory. Accounting firms are likely to take account of organizational fit in merger discussions. The case study rehearses the careful attention to issues of strategic and organizational fit (contrary to the general theory) but also maps the unfolding behavioural problems that followed formal merger. Interestingly, the specific difficulties observed in previous studies were less salient in the present case: problems and difficulties were of a kind peculiar to the type of organization, which suggests that theories of mergers should be sensitive to the context and setting of merger activity. The paper concludes by elaborating elements of a more systematic model of the merger process. These elements include the difference between mergers and acquisitions, the structure of governance, organizational capacity, sector cohesiveness and technology.

"Die Wirtschaftsskandale der jüngsten Zeit werfen wieder einmal die Frage nach der gesellschaftlichen Verantwortung der Unternehmung auf. In der Kritik stehen dabei besonders die so genannten Professional Service Firms. Die Untersuchung von Managementsystemen und Anreizstrukturen in Unternehmensberatungen, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften und Investmentbanken zeigt sowohl empirisch als auch organisationstheoretisch begründbare Defizite bei der Ermöglichung und Durchsetzung einer kritischen ethischen Reflexion des Managementhandelns. Der vorliegende Artikel skizziert Problemtatbestände und Lösungsansätze und zeigt den Forschungsbedarf auf, der auf diesem Gebiet noch besteht." (Autorenreferat)

A shift away from "up-or-out," the conventional promotion system in professional service firms, has been explained as part of a wider set of changes in internal labor market arrangements and management methods. This is investigated empirically in a sample of large partnerships in one profession. Up-or-out was used by less than one-third of the sample of firms but is common among the largest firms. Internal reforms to the professional firm do not fully explain its rarity; up-or-out appears to be adaptable to new forms of management and internal labor market policies. This raises a number of questions about the utility of theoretical explanations of how professional service firms work or are changing.

Big professional services firms appeared to be in the crosshairs of new, technology-fueled competitors a decade ago — but many have maintained or even bolstered their positions. How they did so holds lessons for other incumbents aiming to counter threats that are disruptive to their businesses.

In this chapter we seek to highlight the importance of advancing the work that does exist on GPSFs in the institutionalization of transnational governance regimes through a more careful consideration of the identities, projects and effects of the firms in question. We contend that in their attempts to develop new markets, services and more efficient internal organizational models, GPSFs exercise far reaching institutional effects as they challenge governance regimes, disrupt/create jurisdictions, and transform identities, practices and systems of regulation in the professions themselves. They do this, we suggest, through three strategies associated with scope of control, defining scales of knowledge resources, and the production of ecologies of linked interests. These strategies involve developing strategic alliances with a range of other field actors such as academia, regulatory bodies, International Organisations, national governments and professional associations as part of linked ecologies (Abbott, 2005). As such, GPSFs exemplify the process of professional strategy > organizational opportunities > issue control that Seabrooke and Henriksen (this volume) claim is central to the transnational realm. This chapter provides, then, a contribution to on-going attempts to 'revisit theories of professionalism, which did not fully anticipate the shift of professional work to the context of large organizations' (Suddaby et al., 2007: 25). It also complements the following chapter by Boussebaa, outlining the institutionalizing effects of neo-colonial networks.