Managing The Professional Service Firm

For the first time in paperback, international expert and consultant David Maister offers a brilliant and accessible guide to every management issue at play in professional firms.Professional firms differ from other business enterprises in two distinct ways: first, they provide highly customized services and thus cannot apply many of the management principles developed for product-based industries. Second, professional services are highly personalized, involving the skills of individuals. Such firms must therefore compete not only for clients but also for talented professionals.Drawing on more than ten years of research and consulting to these unique and creative companies, David Maister explores issues ranging from marketing and business development to multinational strategies, human resources policies to profit improvement, strategic planning to effective leadership. While these issues can be complex. Maister simplifies them by recognizing that "every professional service firm in the world, regardless of size, specific profession, or country of operation, has the same mission statement: outstanding service to clients, satisfying careers for its people, and financial success for its owners."

Autorentext

David H. Maister, one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, is the author of several successful books, including Managing the Professional Service Firm, True Professionalism, and Practice What You Preach, and coauthor of The Trusted Advisor.

Inhalt

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART ONE: BASIC MATTERS1. A Question of Balance2. The Professional Firm Life Cycle3. Profitability: Health and Hygiene4. Solving the Underdelegation ProblemPART TWO: CLIENT MATTERS5. The Practice Development Package6. Listening to Clients7. Quality Work Doesn't Mean Quality Service8. A Service Quality Program9. Marketing to Existing Clients10. How Clients Choose11. Attracting New Clients12. Managing the Marketing EffortPART THREE: PEOPLE MATTERS13. How's Your Asset?14. How to Build Human Capital15. The Motivation Crisis16. On the Importance of Scheduling17. On the Meaning of Partnership18. Surviving the People CrisisPART FOUR: MANAGEMENT MATTERS19. How Practice Leaders Add Value20. How to Create a Strategy21. Fast-Track StrategyPART FIVE: PARTNERSHIP MATTERS22. Partner Performance Counseling23. The Art of Partner Compensation24. Patterns in Partner Compensation25. Pie-Splitting26. Partnership GovernancePART SIX: MULTISITE MATTERS27. The One-Firm Firm28. Hunters and Farmers29. Making the Network Work30. Creating the Collaborative Firm31. Coordinating Industry Specialty GroupsPART SEVEN: FINAL THOUGHTS32. Asset ManagementReferences and SourcesIndex