{"product_id":"the-professional-service-firm-isbn-9780471499480","title":"The Professional Service Firm","description":"\"This is a terrific book and the best I have read on the subject. Scott covers the economics and management issues in professional services with great authority and insight.\" Peter Doyle, Professor of Marketing, Warwick Business School\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"What I find generally so praiseworthy is the balance of theory and practical application that runs throughout the book. Clearly, Mark Scott is someone well versed in the whole range of management sciences, yet able to ground this perspective in the world of real experience. This book accomplishes this in a natural, coherent and very readable way.\" John Zweig, CEO Specialist Communications Businesses, WPP Group USA Inc.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Spanning a diverse range of activities from accountancy to marketing communications, the professional services industry now accounts for up to 17% of employment in the Western economies and had worldwide revenues in 1999 of around $800 billion. It is continuing to experience one of the most spectacular growth rates of any Western-dominated industry and is progressively cornering an ever larger share of industrial value added.\u003cbr\u003e Yet, it remains one of the most unanalysed and undocumented areas of business acitivity. It has been subjected to little scrutiny and received minimal attention from the capital markets. This book aims to change all that!\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The Professional Services Firm is intended for three key audiences:\u003cbr\u003e * managers and owners of professional services firms who want to understand the strategic options they face and how to improve their financial performance.\u003cbr\u003e * investors who want to understand how they can exploit the largely untapped and misunderstood opportunity the industry holds.\u003cbr\u003e * managers in industrial and service sectors who want to understand how to emulate the two critical skills mastered by PSFs - hiring, developing and retaining the best intellectual talent available and exploiting collective knowledge to achieve differentiation and to-die-for margins.\u003cbr\u003e This seminal book provides not only the first real insight into the structure, strategy and economics of this huge and prosperous industry but also an excellent guide to understanding the challenges and opportunities it faces. Mark C. Scott's analysis of the professional services industry is an indispensible guide for anyone involved in these types of companies wishing to maximize performance and profitability.Die professionelle Dienstleistungsindustrie ist ein gigantischer Wachstumssektor. Er umfasst die Bereiche Finanzen, Banken, Versicherung, Marketing und Consulting. Für Peter Drucker stellen professionelle Dienstleistungsunternehmen eine Zukunftsindustrie dar. Die moderne Dienstleistungsbranche kann als Beispiel für andere Branchen dienen, denn sie hält wertvolle Informationen bereit in Sachen Personalmanagement und Management von immateriellen Vermögenswerten. \"The Professional Service Firm\" nimmt professionelle Dienstleistungsunternehmen genau unter die Lupe. Anhand von Fallstudien und prägnanten Darstellungen wird anschaulich erläutert, wie sie arbeiten und wie man mit ihnen viel Geld machen kann. Die ideale Lektüre für Manager, die wissen wollen, wie und warum die Dienstleistungsbranche so erfolgreich ist. Preface\u003cbr\u003e About the Author\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e The Inexorable Rise of the Professional Service Firm\u003cbr\u003e The sceptical investor\u003cbr\u003e Learning from PSFs\u003cbr\u003e Segmenting the Professional Services Industry\u003cbr\u003e Consolidation versus specialization\u003cbr\u003e Life stages\u003cbr\u003e Determining the Relative Attractiveness of Segments of the Professional Services Industry\u003cbr\u003e Nature and level of competition\u003cbr\u003e Growth and cyclicality\u003cbr\u003e Entry and exit barriers\u003cbr\u003e Client dependency\u003cbr\u003e Recruitment and retention patterns\u003cbr\u003e Threat of service substitution\u003cbr\u003e Impact of government activity\u003cbr\u003e Pulling it all together\u003cbr\u003e Generic Strategies for Professional Service Firms\u003cbr\u003e Global service integration of bundling\u003cbr\u003e Vertical integration\u003cbr\u003e Global versus local specialization\u003cbr\u003e Sector versus product specialization\u003cbr\u003e Executing a strategy\u003cbr\u003e How Do You Tell How a PSF is Doing?\u003cbr\u003e The balance sheet\u003cbr\u003e The P\u0026amp;L\u003cbr\u003e It's not just the financials...\u003cbr\u003e Understanding the Underlying Economics of a PSF\u003cbr\u003e Organizational structure\u003cbr\u003e Utilization\u003cbr\u003e Charge-our rates\u003cbr\u003e Fee capacity and resource allocation\u003cbr\u003e Identifying Whether a PSF is Positioned to Maximize Returns to Shareholders\u003cbr\u003e Client strategy\u003cbr\u003e Service mix\u003cbr\u003e Pricing strategy\u003cbr\u003e Process efficiency and internal structures\u003cbr\u003e Recruitment, incentives and career management\u003cbr\u003e Financial and process control\u003cbr\u003e Corporate Finance and Valuation of PSFs\u003cbr\u003e What keeps potential investors awake at night?\u003cbr\u003e Investment strategies and pricing\u003cbr\u003e The Future for Professional Service Firms\u003cbr\u003e Select Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMark C. Scott\u003c\/strong\u003e is Executive Vice President of Lake Capital Management, a principal investment group specialising in investing in professional service firms. He formerly held the same position at Lighthouse Global Network, a global marketing services group. He was previously an Operations Director at WPP Group plc and prior to this has worked for a number of years as a management consultant in Europe and the USA. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He is the author of \u003cem\u003eValue Drivers and Reinspiring the Corporation\u003c\/em\u003e.  \"This is a terrific book and the best I have read on the subject. Scott covers the economics and management issues in professional services with great authority and insight.\" Peter Doyle, Professor of Marketing, Warwick Business School\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"What I find generally so praiseworthy is the balance of theory and practical application that runs throughout the book. Clearly, Mark Scott is someone well versed in the whole range of management sciences, yet able to ground this perspective in the world of real experience. This book accomplishes this in a natural, coherent and very readable way.\" John Zweig, CEO Specialist Communications Businesses, WPP Group USA Inc.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Spanning a diverse range of activities from accountancy to marketing communications, the professional services industry now accounts for up to 17% of employment in the Western economies and had worldwide revenues in 1999 of around $800 billion. It is continuing to experience one of the most spectacular growth rates of any Western-dominated industry and is progressively cornering an ever larger share of industrial value added.\u003cbr\u003e Yet, it remains one of the most unanalysed and undocumented areas of business acitivity. It has been subjected to little scrutiny and received minimal attention from the capital markets. This book aims to change all that!\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The Professional Services Firm is intended for three key audiences:\u003cbr\u003e * managers and owners of professional services firms who want to understand the strategic options they face and how to improve their financial performance.\u003cbr\u003e * investors who want to understand how they can exploit the largely untapped and misunderstood opportunity the industry holds.\u003cbr\u003e * managers in industrial and service sectors who want to understand how to emulate the two critical skills mastered by PSFs - hiring, developing and retaining the best intellectual talent available and exploiting collective knowledge to achieve differentiation and to-die-for margins.\u003cbr\u003e This seminal book provides not only the first real insight into the structure, strategy and economics of this huge and prosperous industry but also an excellent guide to understanding the challenges and opportunities it faces. Mark C. Scott's analysis of the professional services industry is an indispensible guide for anyone involved in these types of companies wishing to maximize performance and profitability.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990321873125,"sku":"NP9780471499480","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780471499480.jpg?v=1761787348","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-professional-service-firm-isbn-9780471499480","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}