Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,510)
- Faculty Publications (184)
- January 2004 (Revised May 2004)
- Background Note
Strategy and Positioning in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
This case provides a definition of strategy, distinguishes between corporate and practice strategy, and discusses how and why developing and implementing strategy for professional service firms is different from developing and implementing strategy for commercial... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised March 2005)
- Background Note
Managing Client Conflicts
By: Ashish Nanda
This case describes the two types of client conflict--conflict of duty and conflict of service--that professionals manage. It delineates how the management of these conflicts affects the scale and scope of service that professionals provide. View Details
- January 2004 (Revised May 2004)
- Background Note
Professional Associations
By: Ashish Nanda
This case discusses why society grants professional associations the rights of certification and self-regulation. In exercising these rights, professional associations serve client interests but also the interest of member practitioners. The case discusses how... View Details
- December 2003 (Revised March 2005)
- Background Note
Who is a Professional?
By: Ashish Nanda
Many occupations lay claim to professional status. Business executives, social workers, musicians, sportsmen, and academics describe their occupations as "professions". Office assistants call themselves "administrative professionals". Obviously, not all occupations... View Details
- April 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Background Note
Leading Public Professional Service Organizations
By: Ashish Nanda
Public professional service organizations (PPSOs) are professional service organizations that serve the public. This case describes the unique challenges facing PPSO leaders. View Details
- March 2003 (Revised April 2006)
- Background Note
Scale and Scope in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
This case discusses why economies (and diseconomies) of scale and scope exist in professional service firms (PSFs) and how they influence the amount and range of services that PSFs offer. It is distributed with a case that focuses on determining the optimal scale/scope... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised April 2003)
- Background Note
Note on Staffing in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
This case discusses the problem of balancing demand and supply of professionals within a professional services firm (PSF). It emphasizes how human resources management policies impact supply conditions and how market opportunities determine demand conditions. The case... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised August 2004)
- Background Note
Note on Valuation-Compensation Tradeoff in Professional Service Firm Acquisitions
By: Ashish Nanda
This case highlights the tradeoff between valuation ascribed to professionals at the time of a professional services firm (PSF) acquisition and the postacquisition compensation of these professionals. It emphasizes how a high valuation at acquisition carries with it... View Details
- 2003
- Casebook
Professional Services: Text and Cases
By: Thomas J. DeLong and Ashish Nanda
DeLong and Nanda's Professional Services: Text and Cases is the first casebook to be published on the management of professional service firms (law firms, architecture, financial services, consulting). It includes a comprehensive selection of case studies that... View Details
- January 2003 (Revised March 2005)
- Case
Planning in Professional Service Firms
By: Ashish Nanda
In this case, four consultants discuss business planning issues that they are each having within their respective consulting firms. The case addresses how professional compensation, project staffing, hours worked, overhead costs, and billing rates impact profitability. View Details
- December 2002 (Revised February 2005)
- Case
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (A): A Global Merger
By: Ashish Nanda
French IT consulting giant Cap Gemini is poised to purchase the consulting arm of Ernst & Young, a U.S.-based Big 5 accounting firm. In doing so, many differences need to be resolved, including negotiating with Ernst & Young entities all over the world as well as... View Details
- May 2002
- Case
Mellon Investor Services
By: Thomas J. DeLong
James Aramanda, head of Mellon Investor Services, must decide how to change the focus of his business. He works with consultants to create a change strategy to enhance a business that is already doing well. Will he be able to interest his professionals in changing the... View Details
- January 2002 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Chapter Enrichment Program Teams at the American Red Cross (A)
By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Anita Williams Woolley
The American Red Cross has a system for structuring, staffing, and leading teams to review its local chapters. Mirroring professional services firms that use teams to serve clients, this system provides detailed guidelines to increase individual team member's... View Details
- September 2001 (Revised January 2002)
- Case
The American Medical Association-Sunbeam Deal (C): Denouement
By: Ashish Nanda and Kimberly A. Haddad
On September 5, 1997, the American Medical Association(AMA) withdrew from a contract with Sunbeam Corporation, the maker of small home appliances. Sunbeam sued the AMA to pay for the damages or to comply with the contract. The fracas led to the dismissal of three top... View Details
- August 2001 (Revised October 2001)
- Case
What a Great Idea
By: Myra M. Hart and Susan Harmeling
Charles "Chic" Thompson has created a successful business as a professional speaker, consultant, and author of two books on creativity. He is challenged to institutionalize his knowledge and brand in an organization that will outlive his involvement. This case examines... View Details
- June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
- Case
Tradeoffs: Juggling Careers in Professional Services Firms with Private Life
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda, Scot Landry and Scott M O'Neil
Balancing professional and private lives continues to challenge single and committed partners alike. Professionals are expected to work long hours. It is simply part of the ethos of professional service firms. This case focuses on the lives of three couples connected... View Details
- September 2000
- Background Note
Professional Services Module Five: Serving Clients Effectively
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry
It is imperative for the internal systems and processes to be connected to the external processes of client management, competitive adaptation, and service delivery. View Details
- September 2000
- Background Note
Professional Services Module Four: Managing the Organization Through Processes
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry
Focuses on how the internal processes connect strategy with implementation. View Details
- September 2000
- Background Note
Professional Services Module One: Introduction to the Challenges Facing PSFs
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry
This initial module was meant to clarify how the course would be useful to students who would be starting PSFs, working for them as an employee or contractor, managing them, or hiring them from the client side. View Details
- September 2000 (Revised October 2002)
- Background Note
Professional Services Module Seven: Becoming a Professional
By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scot H. Landry
Discusses strategies for balancing private and professional life. View Details