Publications

November 1999
Case

SUPERVALU, Inc.: Professional Development Program

By: Francis Aguilar

SUPERVALU examines the creation and implementation of a training program for attracting and retaining college graduates for the nation's largest wholesale food distribution company. It addresses: 1) program design and 2) the management of the design effort and program... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Retention; Training; Organizational Culture; Design; Business or Company Management; Higher Education; Programs; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry

December 1999 (Revised June 2000)
Teaching Note

SUPERVALU, Inc.: Professional Development Program TN

By: Francis Aguilar

Teaching Note for (9-900-019). View Details

Keywords: Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry

September 2021
Case

Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

The two vignettes within “Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance” (HBS No. 122-024) present various issues relating to governance in professional service firms (“PSFs”). In the first, the Managing Director of a U.S. consulting firm contemplates whether to... View Details

Article

What Professional Service Firms Must Do to Thrive

By: Ashish Nanda and Das Narayandas

When the going gets tough, professional service firms (PSFs) often get desperate and chase all kinds of business just to keep the lights on. Consultancies, financial services firms, VC/PE firms, and the like offer services and sign up clients they should never have... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Client Mix; Strategic Positioning; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Decision Making; Framework

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2020
Working Paper

Building the Professional Firm: McKinsey & Co.: 1939-1968

By: Amar Bhidé

This case history analyzes how the founders of McKinsey & Co. built one of the world's leading management consulting firms by developing a “system” of professional norms, approach to serving clients, personnel policies, organization, governance, and ownership. The... View Details

Keywords: McKinsey ＆ Co.; Company History; Professional Norms; Vision; Organizations; Business History; Business Model; Strategy; Consulting Industry

SSRN

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January–February 2023
Article

External Interfaces and Internal Processes: Market Positioning and Divergent Professionalization Paths in Young Ventures

By: Alicia DeSantola, Ranjay Gulati and Pavel Zhelyazkov

We explore how the initial market positioning of entrepreneurial ventures shapes how they professionalize over time, focusing specifically on the development of functional roles. In contrast to existing literature, which has presumed a uniform march toward... View Details

Keywords: Market Positioning; Professionalization; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Growth and Development; Organizational Structure

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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

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Success; Work-Life Balance

July–August 2013
Article

Looking Up and Looking Out: Career Mobility Effects of Demographic Similarity among Professionals

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Katherine L. Milkman

We investigate the role of workgroup sex and race composition on the career mobility of professionals in "up-or-out" organizations. We develop a nuanced perspective on the potential career mobility effects of workgroup demography by integrating the social... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Race And Ethnicity; Ethnicity; Race; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Legal Services Industry

October 2020
Background Note

Developmental Relationships

By: Ting Zhang and Leslie A. Perlow

This background note introduces readers to a new framework--the ASCEND model--through which individuals can view their professional developmental relationships. View Details

Keywords: Professional Development; Relationships; Framework; Personal Development and Career

Teaching Interest

Leading Professional Service Firms

By: Andy Wu

As entry barriers rapidly disappear, competition is accelerating and reshaping the business landscape for professional service firms. Navigating this continual change successfully requires extraordinary leadership abilities. This professional service firm... View Details

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

motivated you and your HBS colleagues to develop a course specifically for leaders of professional service firms? Lorsch: Professional service firms represent an $80 billion... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

June 2014
Teaching Plan

Professional Development at DLA Piper—Building the Strength of Global Legal Talent

By: Heidi K. Gardner

20 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Creating a Positive Professional Image

As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are. "People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment,... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

November 2003 (Revised March 2005)
Compilation

Being a Professional

By: Ashish Nanda

We encounter in all aspects of our daily lives groups of individuals who identify themselves as professionals. Many of us aspire to be professionals in our vocation and conduct. But what are the aspects of being a professional? The following anthology of book excerpts... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Personal Development and Career

September 2013
Case

Professional Development at DLA Piper—Building the Strength of Global Legal Talent

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Nicolas Thornley

October 2004 (Revised July 2006)
Background Note

The Professional Services Course

By: Ashish Nanda

Outlines the conceptual framework, module structure, and service flow of an MBA course on professional services. View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Leadership