Managing Professional Service Firm

At last here is a comprehensive text on the managerial problems of professional firms. David Maister, whose international consulting practice has gained him the reputation among his peers as "the guru's guru", brings together for the first time his most brilliant and penetrating work on virtually every management issue facing professional firms today. Professional firms, he shows, are different from other business enterprises in two ways. First, they are in the business of providing highly customized services, and hence cannot apply many of the management principles developed for the mass production industrial world. Second, professional services are highly personalized and involve the skills of individuals. Firms must compete not only for clients, but also for talented professionals. Drawing on ten years' research amid consulting to these unique and creative institutions, Maister explores issues ranging from marketing and business development to multinational strategies, from human resource policies to profit improvement strategies, from strategic planning to the effective behavior of practice leaders. His concepts and practical advice have already become gospel to accountants, consultants, lawyers, public relations agencies, executive search, and many other professions. Maister simplifies management issues by observing that "every professional service firm in the world, regardless of size, specific profession, or country of operation, has the same missMaister, David H. is the author of 'Managing Professional Service Firm' with ISBN 9780029197820 and ISBN 0029197821.