What is a professional service firm? Toward a theory and taxonomy of knowledge-intensive firms

Academy of Management Review

Volumn 35, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 155-174

  Von Nordenflycht, Andrew ^a  

^a SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 71949115725     PISSN: 03637425     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5465/AMR.2010.45577926     Document Type: Article

References (92)

1. Abbott, A. 1988. The system of professions: An essay on the division of expert labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
2. Abbott, A. 1991. The future of professions: Occupation and expertise in the age of organization. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Organizations and Professions, 8: 17-42
3. Alchian, A. A., & Demsetz, H. 1972. Production, information costs, and economic organization. American Economic Review, 62: 777-795
4. Alvesson, M. 1995. Management of knowledge-intensive companies. New York: de Gruyter
5. Alvesson, M. 2000. Social identity and the problem of loyalty in knowledge-intensive companies. Journal of Management Studies, 37: 1101-1123
6. Alvesson, M. 2001. Knowledge work: Ambiguity, image and identity. Human Relations, 54: 863-886
7. Alvesson, M., & Karreman, D. 2006. Professional service firms as collectivities. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Professional Service Firms, 24: 203-230
8. Anand, N., Gardner, H. K., & Morris, T. 2007. Knowledge-based innovation: Emergence and embedding of new practice areas in management consulting firms. Academy of Management Journal, 50: 406-428
9. Bailyn, L. 1985. Autonomy in the industrial R&D lab. Human Resource Management, 24: 129-146
10. Barley, S. R. 2005. What we know (and mostly don't know) about technical work. In S. Ackroyd, R. Batt, P. Thompson, & P. S. Tolbert (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of work and organization: 377-403. Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. Barley, S. R., & Tolbert, P. S. 1991. Introduction: At the intersection of organizations and occupations. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Organizations and Professions, 8: 1-16
12. Blair, M. M., & Kochan, T. A. 2000. The new relationship: Human capital in the American corporation. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press
13. Blau, P. M., & Scott, W. R. 1962. Formal organizations: A comparative approach. San Francisco: Chandler
14. Brint, S. 1994. In an age of experts: The changing role of professions in politics and public life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
15. Briscoe, F. 2007. From iron cage to iron shield? How bureaucracy enables temporal flexibility for professional service workers. Organization Science, 18: 297-314
16. Brock, D. M., Powell, M. J., & Hinings, C. R. (Eds.). 1999. The changing professional organization: Accounting, healthcare, and law. New York: Routledge
17. Broschak, J. 2004. Managers' mobility and market interface: The effects of managers' career mobility on the dissolution of market ties. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49: 608-640
18. Bucher, R., & Stelling, J. 1969. Characteristics of professional organizations. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 10: 3-15
19. Carr-Saunders, A. P., & Wilson, P. A. 1933. The professions. Oxford: Oxford University Press
20. Caves, R. E. 2000. Creative industries: Contracts between art and commerce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
21. Coff, R. 1997. Human assets and managerial dilemmas. Academy of Management Review, 22: 374-402
22. Cogan, M. L. 1953. Toward a definition of profession. Harvard Educational Review, 23(Winter): 33-50
23. Cooper, D. J., Hinings, C. R., Greenwood, R., & Brown, J. L. 1996. Sedimentation and transformation in organizational change: The case of Canadian law firms. Organization Studies, 17: 623-647 (Pubitemid 126315687)
24. Cox, S. R., DeSerpa, A. C., & Canby, W. C., Jr. 1982. Consumer information and the pricing of legal services. Journal of Industrial Economics, 30: 305-318
25. Cyert, R. M., & March, J. G. 1963. A behavioral theory of the firm. New York: Prentice-Hall
26. DeLong, T., & Nanda, A. 2003. Professional services: Text and cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin
27. Eccles, R. G., & Crane, D. B. 1988. Doing deals: Investment banks at work. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
28. Empson, L. 2001a. Introduction: Knowledge management in professional service firms. Human Relations, 54: 811-817
29. Empson, L. 2001b. Fear of exploitation and fear of contamination: Impediments to knowledge transfer in mergers between professional service firms, Human Relations, 54: 839-862
30. Empson, L. 2007. Professional service firms and the professions. In S. Clegg & J. Bailey (Eds.), International encyclopedia of organization studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
31. Empson, L., & Chapman, C. 2006. Partnership versus corporation: Implications of alternative forms of governance in professional service firms. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Professional Service Organizations, 24: 139-170
32. Fama, E. F., & Jensen, M. C. 1983. The separation of ownership and control. Journal of Law & Economics, 26: 301-325
33. Friedson, E. 1970. Professional dominance: The social structure of medical care. New York: Atherton Press
34. Friedson, E. 1994. Professionalism reborn: Theory, prophecy, and policy. Cambridge: Polity Press
35. Gardner, H. K., Anand, N., & Morris, T. 2008. Chartering new territory: Diversification, legitimacy, and practice area creation in professional service firms. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29: 1101-1121
36. Gilson, R. J., & Mnookin, R. H. 1985. Sharing among the human capitalists: An economic inquiry into the corporate law firm and how partners split profits. Stanford Law Review, 37: 313-397
37. Gilson, R. J., & Mnookin, R. H. 1989. Coming of age in a corporate law firm: The economics of associate career patterns. Stanford Law Review, 41: 567-595
38. Goode, W. J. 1957. Community within a community: The professions. American Sociological Review, 22: 194-200
39. Greenwood, R., Deephouse, D. L., & Li, S. 2007. Ownership and performance of professional service firms. Organization Studies, 28: 219-238
40. Greenwood, R., & Empson, L. 2003. The professional partnership: Relic or exemplary form of governance? Organization Studies, 24: 909-933 (Pubitemid 36931990)
41. Greenwood, R., Hinings, C. R., & Brown, J. 1990. "P2-Form" strategic management: Corporate practices in professional service firms. Academy of Management Journal, 33: 725-755
42. Greenwood, R., Li, S. X., Prakash, R., & Deephouse, D. L. 2005. Reputation, diversification, and organizational explanations of performance in professional service firms. Organization Science, 16: 661-673
43. Greenwood, R., & Suddaby, R. 2005. Rhetorical strategies of legitimacy. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50: 35-67
44. Greenwood, R., Suddaby, R., & McDougald, M. 2006. Introduction. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Professional Service Firms, 24: 1-16
45. Gross, C., & Kieser, A. 2006. Are consultants moving towards professionalization? Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Professional Service Firms, 24: 69-100
46. Hall, R. H. 1968. Professionalization and bureaucratization. American Sociological Review, 33: 92-104
47. Hansen, M., Nohria, N., & Tierney, T. 1999. What's your strategy for managing knowledge? Harvard Business Review, 77(2): 106-118
48. Hansmann, H. 1996. The ownership of enterprise. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
49. Hinings, C. R., Brown, J. L., & Greenwood, R. 1991. Change in an autonomous professional organization. Journal of Management Studies, 28: 375-393
50. Hinings, C. R., Greenwood, R., & Cooper, D. J. 1999. The dynamics of change in large accounting firms. In D. M. Brock, M. J. Powell, & C. R. Hinings (Eds.), Restructuring the professional organization: Accounting, healthcare, and law: 131-153. New York, Routledge
51. Hinings, C. R., & Leblebici, H. 2003. Introduction: Knowledge and professional organizations. Organization Studies, 24: 827-830
52. Jensen, M., & Meckling, W. 1979. Rights and production functions: An application to labor-managed firms and co-determination. Journal of Business, 52: 469-506
53. Kornhauser, W. 1962. Scientists in industry: Conflict and accommodation. Berkeley: University of California Press
54. Larson, M. S. 1977. The rise of professionalism: A sociological analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press
55. Leicht, K., & Lyman, E. C. W. 2006. Markets, institutions, and the crisis of professional practice. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Professional Service Firms, 24: 17-44
56. Levin, J., & Tadelis, S. 2005. Profit sharing and the role of professional partnerships. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120: 131-172
57. Lipartito, K. J., & Miranti, P. J. 1998. Professions and organizations in twentieth-century America. Social Science Quarterly, 79: 301-320
58. Litwak. 1961. Models of bureaucracy which permit conflict. American Journal of Sociology, 67: 177-184
59. Lorsch, J., & Tierney, T. 2002. Aligning the stars: How to succeed when professionals drive results. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
60. Lowendahl, B. 2000. Strategic management of professional service firms. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press
61. Maister, D. 1982. Balancing the professional service firm. Sloan Management Review, 24(1): 15-29
62. Maister, D. 1993. Managing the professional service firm. New York: Free Press
63. Malhotra, N., Morris, T., & Hinings, C. R. 2006. Variation in organizational form among professional service organizations. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Professional Service Firms, 24: 171-202
64. Malos, S. B., & Campion, M. A. 2000. Human resource strategy and career mobility in professional service firms: A test of an options-based model. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 749-760
65. Masten, S. 2006. Authority and commitment: Why universities, like legislatures, are not organized like firms. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 15: 649-684
66. McKenna, C. D. 2006. The world's newest profession: Management consulting in the twentieth century. New York: Cambridge University Press
67. Miller, G. 1967. Professionals in bureaucracy: Alienation among industrial scientists and engineers. American Sociological Review, 32: 755-768
68. Millerson, G. 1964. The qualifying associations. London: Rou-tledge
69. Mintzberg, H. 1979. The structuring of organizations. New York: Prentice-Hall
70. Montagna, P. D. 1968. Professionalization and bureaucrati-zation in large professional organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 74: 138-145
71. Morris, T., & Empson, L. 1998. Organization and expertise: An exploration of knowledge bases and the management of accounting and consulting firms. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23: 609-624
72. Morris, T., & Pinnington, A. 1998. Promotion to partner in professional service firms. Human Relations, 51: 3-23
73. Morrison, A. D., & Wilhelm, W. J., Jr. 2004. The demise of investment banking partnerships: Theory and evidence. Oxford: University of Oxford
74. Nanda, A. 2002. Professional codes of ethics. Background note, Harvard Business School, Boston
75. Nanda, A. 2003. The essence of professionalism: Managing conflict of interest. Background note, Harvard Business School, Boston
76. O'Flaherty, B., & Siow, A. 1995. Up-or-out rules in the market for lawyers. Journal of Labor Economics, 13: 709-735
77. Parsons, T. 1939. The professions and social structure. Social Forces, 17: 457-467
78. Richter, A., & Schroeder, K. 2008. The determinants and performance effects of the allocation of ownership rights in consulting firms. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29: 1049-1074
79. Roberts, J. 2004. The modern firm: Organizational design for performance and growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press
80. Ruef, M., & Scott, W. R. 1998. A multidimensional model of organizational legitimacy: Hospital survival in changing institutional environments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 43: 877-904
81. Scott, M. C. 1998. The intellect industry: Profiting and learning from professional services firms. New York: Wiley
82. Scott, W. R. 1965. Reactions to supervision in a heteronomous professional organization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 10: 65-81
83. Smigel, E. O. 1964. The Wall Street lawyer. New York: Free Press
84. Starbuck, W. 1992. Learning by knowledge-intensive firms. Journal of Management Studies, 29: 713-740
85. Teece, D. J. 2003. Expert talent and the design of (professional services) firms. Industrial and Corporate Change, 12: 895-916
86. Tirole, J. 1988. The theory of industrial organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
87. Tolbert, P. S., & Stern, R. N. 1991. Organizations of professionals: Governance structures in large law firms. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Organizations and Occupations, 8: 97-117
88. Torres, D. 1991. What, if anything, is professionalism? Institutions and the problem of change. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Organizations and Occupations, 8: 43-68
89. Von Nordenflycht, A. 2007. Is public ownership bad for professional service firms? Ad agency ownership, performance and creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 50: 429-445
90. von Nordenflycht, A. 2008. The demise of the professional partnership? The emergence and diffusion of publicly-traded professional service firms. Working paper, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia
91. Wilensky, H. L. 1964. The professionalization of everyone? American Journal of Sociology, 70: 137-158
92. Winch, G., & Schneider, E. 1993. Managing the knowledge-based organization: The case of architectural practice. Journal of Management Studies, 30: 923-937