Professional Business Services Research Articles

Evaluation of Mpox Exposures and Outcomes in Workplaces, 6 Jurisdictions, June 1-August 31, 2022.

The risk for mpox virus (MPXV) transmission in most workplaces has not been thoroughly assessed in the context of the 2022 global mpox outbreak. Our objectives were to describe mpox case patients who worked while infectious and the subsequent workplace contact tracing efforts, risk assessments, and outcomes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requested information from health departments in the United States in September 2022 to identify people with confirmed or probable mpox who worked outside the home while infectious, either before or after diagnosis, from June 1 through August 31, 2022. We collected and summarized data on demographic, clinical, and workplace characteristics of case patients and workplace contact investigations. We stratified data by industry and occupation categories. In total, 102 case patients were reported by 6 jurisdictions. The most common industries were accommodation and food services (19.8%) and professional business, management, and technical services (17.0%). Contact investigations identified 178 total contacts; 54 cases (52.9%) had no contacts identified. Of 178 contacts, 54 (30.3%) were recommended to receive postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) and 18 (10.1%) received PEP. None of the contacts developed a rash or were tested for orthopox or mpox, and none were reported to have confirmed or probable mpox. Data from 6 jurisdictions suggest that the risk of MPXV transmission from workers to others in workplace settings in many industries is low. These findings might support future updates to exposure risk classifications and work activity recommendations for patients. These findings also demonstrate the importance of collecting and analyzing occupation and industry data in case reports to better understand risks in workplaces.

Authenticity and woman’s leadership: a qualitative study of professional business services in the UK

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the research question: how do women leaders in the professional business services (PBS) sector develop and approach workplace (in)authenticity?Design/methodology/approachTen senior women leaders in the Midlands region of the UK were purposefully selected and interviewed. A semi-structured approach meant that the author adopted a social constructionist paradigm and feminist interpretation. Questions were designed to elicit rich descriptions from the participants. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted to address the study’s purpose.FindingsFour themes were important to women when they developed and approached workplace (in)authenticity: (1) Power Structures, (2) Fit to Belong, (3) Influential Femininity and (4) Through Her Evolution. Women described masculine-majority organisations exerting power. They were pressured into altering their behaviours to “fit” into workplaces. When women had the latitude to be themselves, their leadership excelled. Women’s authenticity developed through increased self-knowledge, helping them to overcome workplace challenges. The study concluded that women face complexities when developing and approaching their constructions of authenticity, namely in the barriers and ramifications they face.Practical implicationsThe study suggests several implications for practice and theory concerning enablers and barriers to women leaders' workplace authenticity. The link between authenticity and workplace gender equity needs to be investigated.Originality/valueThe study provides evidence that women are challenged when becoming authentic, therefore, altering their careers irrecoverably in some cases.

Rogue auditors: dark motivations of the Big 4 accountants in regional sustainability and the creative economy

ABSTRACT This contribution develops previous work analysing forms of misconduct by knowledge-intensive professional business services (P-KIBS) firms, globally located and client-interactive on all five continents. Here we focus on accountancy partnerships, having previously investigated management consultancies. In the former, the infractions range from condoning systematic cheating at accountancy examinations, to unchecked client accountancy estimates signed-off as satisfactory, to covering up inflated budgetary estimates, to advising clients on fraudulent practice, to advising on tax evasion, to acting complicitly in corrupt government practices, including engaging in ‘state capture’ by channelling internal state revenue into private holding bank accounts. Because the litany of misconduct is too enormous for encompassing in a single contribution and in the spirit of this task, the spotlight is only on a few cases that represent typical ‘creative economy’ companies contracted to ‘Big 4’ accountancy P-KIBS in relation to sustainability and social equity issues. For interpretation of data discovery, we utilize evolutionary ‘pattern recognition’ methodology set within a ‘Thirdspace-assemblage’ theoretical framework. As a test, we sketch the ‘sustainability’ complexities of the Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E) and Deloitte/Lloyds Register relationship. Among the ‘creativity’ studies reported are the PWC-Walt Disney, KPMG-Conviviality and their EY-KPMG-Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon scandals.

Office spaces and urban costs

ABSTRACT This paper aims to provide insights about the role of professional businesses, which are inputs that are sourced more locally than material inputs, in shaping urban land prices. Exploiting an exogenous variation in the form of market access, I estimate how much land prices change as a response to an increase in the use of housing by professional business services. I find that a percentage increase in local office propensity increases urban land prices by 0.59%, controlling for numerous geographical and socio-economic factors. The estimated effect is twice larger when corrected for the endogeneity bias.

Unveiling professional service providers' willingness to educate: A configurational approach

Customer education in professional business services demands that service providers solve multiple trade-offs in allocating limited educational resources. This study explains the differences in service providers' willingness to provide education in professional business services. Supported by the relationship marketing literature, service-dominant logic, and transaction-cost economics, the authors adopt a configurational approach to conceptualize the willingness to educate as a complex phenomenon. A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis applied to a sample of 240 marketing service providers reveals eight equifinal configurations that elicit a willingness to educate and three configurations that lead to an unwillingness to educate. These findings enable customer firms to anticipate potential service providers' willingness to provide education, which can constitute a new criterion for service provider selection. Professional service provider managers can leverage these findings to reassess the foundational premises of their willingness to educate and upgrade the strategic role of customer education.

Embeddedness of individual expertise in professional business service relationships

AbstractThe study aims to create an understanding of the embeddedness of individual expertise in the customer relationships of professional business service firms. A theoretical pre‐understanding based on discussions of professional service business relationships in general and the role of individual experts in customer relationships, in particular, is assessed through a case study of a professional business services provider and four customer organizations. The study suggests that the embeddedness of individual expertise within professional services in business relationships manifest itself in four ways: (1) expertise embedded in knowledge of the service context, (2) expertise that can be transferred between organizational contexts, (3) expertise embedded in personal relationships, and (4) expertise embedded in the personal interactions that enable knowledge‐sharing. Each has implications for various activities performed by the parties and relationship management practices, which are also scrutinized in the present study. Also, the adoption of a new concept of personified service in business relationships is put forward. The study highlights that the reliance on personal expertise is not only a challenge for relationship management, as often suggested, but can also generate effectiveness in both customer and supplier relationship management.

Rethinking growth and inequality in the US: what is the role of measurement of GDP?

ABSTRACT Five sectors have increased their contribution to US GDP growth since 1973: professional-business services (PBS), finance, information, healthcare, and arts-entertainment. Among these, however, finance, healthcare, and PBS have questionable foundations for being regarded as final consumption of households. Contra published National Income and Product Accounts, treating expenditures on finance, healthcare, and PBS as intermediate consumption reveals a significantly different picture of US economic growth, including i) a deeper slowdown of real output growth since 1973; ii) a more moderate rise in consumption share since 1980; and iii) a sharper decline in labor share, defined as the compensation of employees over GDP since 1985. Through a measurement approach, this paper thus contributes to the literature on secular stagnation and rising inequality in the United States.

Formation of Collective Value Experience in the Buying Centre in Professional Business Service Relationships

Formation of Collective Value Experience in the Buying Centre in Professional Business Service Relationships

The power of emotional value: Moderating customer orientation effect in professional business services relationships

Just recently, the literature has established the existence of a dark side with regard to customer orientation (CO) in terms of sales performance. However, no clear position is presented about the possible dark side of CO when it comes to B2B relational outcomes, preventing managers from knowing when to accentuate/suppress CO activities. The aim of this study is to examine the relational consequences of suppliers' CO seen through the customers' lenses, and to investigate the moderating role of perceived emotional value in a professional service relationship context. A conceptual model anchored in value and relationship marketing theories is tested on a sample of 226 professional service firms' business customers, using the PROCESS routine. The study finds that perceived CO is related to satisfaction with the relationship and with relationship performance in an inverted U-shaped form, while satisfaction is positively related to relationship performance. We show that, although preferring to receive CO from their supplier, customers might want a relationship that is not as intense/comprehensive as the one that the supplier aims to achieve. The study unfolds emotional value as a moderating mechanism that can prevent the diminishing effect of CO activities.

Contextual layers of service experience in professional business services

PurposeThis study provides us with new knowledge in the form of conceptual framework of the contextual layers of service experience within professional business services. This study aims to answer the following questions: What kinds of contextual layers can be identified influencing service experience? How specific characteristics of professional service context may influence customer experience at these different layers?Design/methodology/approachThe framework is based on extensive literature review considering research in the fields of service and relationship perspectives, likewise professional services.FindingsThe framework is based on extensive literature review in the fields of service and relationship perspectives, likewise professional services.Originality/valueOnly a limited number of studies seem to address the highly topical context of professional/knowledge-intensive business services and relationships. The authors tie the discussion concerning different contextual layers of service experience to this specific operating context with the aim of identifying their importance and influence in service experience. Related to this context, this study highlights the importance of understanding role of individuals in service experience, rarely emphasized in B2B dyadic setting. The framework also contributes to current discussion regarding service experience and “zooms in” to the context and its detailed levels.

창업의 장기 고용효과: 시군구 자료 분석 (The Impact of New Firm Formation on Regional Employment Change by Industry Over Time and Space)

Korean Abstract: 창업의 고용효과는 창업기업의 신규 일자리 창출효과를 나타내는 직접 효과와 활발한 신규진입이 산업 전반에 파급하는 장기적 효과인 간접효 과로 구분된다. 그간 창업의 장기적인 간접고용효과는 국내에서 상대적 으로 적은 주목을 받았을 뿐 아니라, 가용자료와 분석기법의 한계로 학계 안에서도 실증적 합의를 형성하지 못하고 있는 실정이다. 이에 본고는 2004년부터 2016년까지 시·군·구 단위에 대해 Almon 다항분포시차모형 에 대한 패널분석을 통해 창업이 장기적으로 고용에 미치는 효과를 분석 해 보았다. 분석 결과를 종합해 보면, 창업시점에 고용이 증대하는 직접 효과가 발 생하고 중기에는 대체효과로 인해 고용 확대효과가 상쇄되기도 하나 장 기적으로 공급측면 간접효과가 발현되면서 지역 고용의 성장에 기여하는 것으로 나타났다. 전산업을 대상으로 한 경우는 고용확대 효과가 나타나지 않았는데, 이는 생계형 창업이 주를 이루는 서비스업종 창업이 창업의 대부분을 차지하 고 있기 때문으로 보이며 효과의 통계적 유의성이 낮았다. 산업을 제조업과 서비스업으로, 이들 산업을 다시 기술수준 등으로 세분 해서 분석한 결과, 제조업의 경우는 전체 및 세부업종 모두에서 장기적으 로 고용 확대 효과가 나타나는데 반해 서비스업의 경우에는 전문기술과 같이 지식집약적 속성이 강한 생산자서비스업종(정보, 통신, 출판, 방송, 금융, 과학기술서비스 등)에서만 고용 확대 효과가 나타났다. 특히 제조 업기업의 창업은 서비스업에 비해 초기의 직접 고용효과가 컸을 뿐만 아 니라 장기에 걸친 공급측면 간접효과도 뚜렷한 것으로 나타났다. 이 같은 모습은 고기술업종 제조업일수록 확대되는 경향을 보였다. 반면, 서비스 업종 창업은 지식집약적인 생산자서비스 부문에서만 긍정적인 고용 확대 효과가 나타나고, 개인서비스나 사회서비스 업종의 경우에는 장기적으 로 고용성장에 기여하는 것으로 보기 어려웠다. 창업의 장기 고용확대 효과는 기술 잠재력이 높은 제조업, 지식 수준이 높은 생산자서비스업 등에서 크게 나타나므로 이에 대한 선별과 정책적 지원을 꾸준히 지속할 필요가 있다. English Abstract: While it is widely assumed that a high level of new firm formation in a region contributes to employment growth, the empirical evidence concerning the long-term impacts that become effective only after a substantially long time lag is still elusive. Drawing from a panel dataset that covers 234 administrative districts (Si-Gun-Gu) over the 2004-2016 period, we investigate the long-term employment effects of new firm formation. The relationship between regional employment change and start-up rate is analyzed using Almon polynomial distributed lags model with fixed effects. Our findings show that the effects of new firm formation on employment growth persists over a long time-period of up to eleven years. We found the magnitude of the overall effects varies substantially between industrial sectors. The entry of manufacturing firms has stronger positive employment effects compared to that of service firms. It is also found that the entry of startups in knowledge intensive as well as in innovative industries– such as high-tech manufacturing or professional business service – has a relatively stronger employment effect. On the other hand, the impacts of new firm formation in social or personal service industries were found to be negative.

Is perceived value more than value for money in professional business services?

It is well documented in the literature that customer perceived value plays an important role in understanding behavioral outcomes of business customers. However, most business-to-business research has focused on the functional dimension of perceived value, while consumer research has already advanced to a multidimensional value conceptualization. This study expands the concept of perceived value in the professional business services context to functional, emotional, and social perceived value. Based on signaling theory, we conceptualize and empirically support links between the three dimensions of perceived value and its antecedents (perceived corporate reputation, perceived corporate credibility, and perceived relationship quality) and outcomes (satisfaction and loyalty). The results of a survey involving 228 business clients reveal differences in links between value antecedents and the three perceived value dimensions: while perceived corporate credibility and relationship quality impact all dimensions, perceived corporate reputation impacts only perceived emotional value. Results of our study help in understanding how satisfaction and loyalty are viewed as perceived value outcomes; apart from functional value, emotional and social values play a significant role in the satisfaction and loyalty of professional business services clients.

International opportunities on the way up: alternative career paths of descendants of migrants from Turkey in the field of professional business services

ABSTRACTThis qualitative study examines the career paths of descendants of labour migrants from Turkey in the field of professional business services. Through in-depth interviews with upwardly mobile professionals in leading positions, the article presents evidence from four countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden). Respondents reflect on their professional career as a process constituted through personal interactions while displaying their perceptions of restrictive national conditions that affect their professional success in this field. There seem to be three discernible “ideal type” alternative career paths for newcomers. First, the corporate career path consists of building a widely recognized “international” profile. The second alternative is a “niche” path that emerges by making use of one’s individual background in order to climb up the corporate ladder. Finally, there is a path of self-employment for individuals who have experienced blocked opportunities and therefore want to become “independent” of corporate hierarchies.

ANALISIS HUKUM TERHADAP PERTANGGUNGJAWABAN HUKUM JASA PENILAI ASET

Institution asset appraiser is a professional business services to provide objective and independent assessment of the propert / assets. Appraisal services are particularly vulnerable to the game mark-up value of the property so that the necessary arrangements are obvious. Enterprises appraiser regulated in special regulations are still very few in number in addition to the Code of Conduct is dominated by services. Although the provisions of Code of Law. Civil and Penal Code may be used, but still required a variety of strict rules, such as in the areas of capital markets, banking, so as not to cause a variety of problems. Keywords: Asset Appraisal Services, Liquidation

Jobs: More Slowly Created, More Slowly Destroyed

Employment can swing widely during economic expansions and contractions. During the most recent recession, the total number of jobs fell by about 5.5 percent, a drop of roughly 7.6 million jobs. 1 The economy has improved substantially since the downturn, and in 2015 the total number of jobs has surpassed pre-recession lev els. At the industry level, the recovery from this recession has been far from balanced. Certain industries experi enced strong recoveries, while others still remain below their prerecession highs. In particular, the bulk of employment gains were concentrated in the professional business services, leisure and hospitality, and education and health services industries with increases of roughly 6, 10, and 15 percent, respectively. Numerous job losses occurred in the con struc tion, manufacturing, and information industries with declines of 20, 12, and 9 percent, respectively. 2 These rates reflect net employment changes for the dif ferent industries. However, more than 7 million jobs are created and almost as many are destroyed in the U.S. economy every quarter . 3 During recessions, fewer jobs are created and more are destroyed, leading to a net drop in total employment. During expansions, the opposite hap pens and more jobs are created than destroyed. The large magnitudes of job creation and destruction highlight the dynamism of the U.S. labor market and the pace at which resources are reallocated to alternative—presumably better—uses. The accompanying figure shows the pace of job cre ation and destruction relative to employment for a select ed group of industries with the largest net job gains and loss es in the most recent downturn and subsequent recovery. The series are interpreted as the number of jobs created or destroyed in a quarter relative to the total number of jobs at the end of the quarter. For example, on average, 4.2 per cent of manufacturing jobs are created and 4.6 percent are destroyed each quarter. With the exception of education and health services, all industries destroy more jobs than they create during recessions (denoted by the shaded bars in the graphs). Despite the large cyclical swings in net employment and gross job destruction and creation rates, most industries share a common feature: The rate of job creation and destruction has been falling. In other words, all the graphs exhibit a common downward trend. This reduced dynamism in the labor market is consistent with more stable and longer-lasting employment relationships, given that fewer jobs are being destroyed. However, it is also consistent with a longer duration of joblessness and less job switching, as fewer jobs are being created.

Customer involvement and service firm internationalization performance: An integrative framework

To overcome the costs of doing business abroad, researchers have suggested either legitimacy- or efficiency-based solutions. However, both types of solutions still treat host-country customers as external to the theory. We highlight the role of customers in the international professional business service setting and argue that customer involvement is positively related to the perceived internationalization performance of multinational corporations (MNCs). MNCs with managers who perceive higher legitimacy pressures and greater needs for local knowledge tend to undertake greater efforts to build customer involvement. Furthermore, we develop a configuration framework between perceived strategic needs and MNCs’ capabilities. Specifically, MNCs that match relational capability with legitimacy needs and absorptive capacity with knowledge needs are more likely to engage in customer involvement. Our survey of 175 Chinese MNCs provides evidence that customer involvement is positively related to perceived internationalization performance. When MNCs’ relational capabilities are stronger, the positive relationship between legitimacy pressure and customer involvement increases. By contrast, MNCs with greater perceived market ambiguity improve customer involvement only when they have stronger absorptive capacity. We conclude that MNCs may simultaneously reduce legitimacy and efficiency costs through customer involvement after considering the fit between perceived environmental pressures and firm capabilities.

DOES THE UPPSALA INTERNATIONALIZATION MODEL EXPLAIN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS OF PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS SERVICE FIRMS?

The aim of this contribution is to verify if the Uppsala Model with later variations introduced by the authors is the right framework to explain internationalization process of Professional Business Service Firms (PBSFs). The focus is placed on the entry of one type of PBSFs, namely advertising agencies into the Chinese market. The example is based on a case study. This paper deliberates about identified factors in the internationalization process of advertising agencies that fit to the Uppsala model and about factors that deviate from it. Several stages are identified in the entrance of advertising agencies into the Chinese market. These are as follows: initial stage - external agent, participation stage - representative office, establishment stage - joint venture, network expansion stage – branch offices and other joint ventures. The presence of stages suggests that the Uppsala model may prove useful in explanation of foreign entry strategies in PBSFs in general. In addition to that, support is also found for market entry due to networking activities. Client following was identified as most common entry mode in the studied group of PBSFs.

Gender and pay equity in a global knowledge organisation

AbstractThe gender pay gap, the difference in earnings of men and women, has remained remarkably resilient over the past two decades in Australia and a number of other countries, despite a range of legislative and policy initiatives aimed at narrowing this difference. Drawing upon industry-wide data and an organisational case, this analysis of professional business services examines the nature of pay equity within and beyond organisational boundaries. We conclude that ‘success’ in gender and pay equity terms has been constrained by minimum government compliance requirements and limited attention to the role labour markets play in contributing to gendered patterns of pay.

Determinants of export success in professional business services: a qualitative study

Despite their crucial contributions to the prosperity of national economies worldwide, there is limited knowledge on the international operations of professional service firms (PSFs). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of export success of PSFs, taking into account both firm characteristics and market characteristics. Research findings indicated that management attitude, resource commitment, and international experience and reputation significantly enhanced their export performance. However, the firms appeared to disagree on the role of firm size in fostering their success. Additionally, the performance of professional service exporters was also determined by competition intensity and actions by the host governments. Finally, export promotion efforts, in the form of export assistance by home government and support from industry-based associations, also played a significant role.

Exploring small manufacturing firms’ process of accessing external expertise

The ability to access external expertise is crucial to small firms’ development, yet research examining the purchasing process of expert services by small firms is scarce. External expertise is defined here as knowledge or competence, that is relatively rare to the client firm, provided by an external party. Hence, external expertise includes professional business services as well as business advice. The paper reports on a qualitative study of small manufacturing firms’ behaviour in accessing external expertise. Five distinct patterns by which small firms come to use external expertise are described, demonstrating how small firms’ actions differ from the expert service purchasing process. The firms are found to acquire expert resources opportunistically and reactively as well as by calculated or routine purchasing, and by utilising informal sources of expertise.