Managing professional service firms: role of managerial abilities

Abstract

Purpose

More professional service firms are increasing their role in modern economies, both as employers and as economic value providers. Although there is a quite extensive literature explaining the importance of management and managerial abilities for a firm's competitiveness, the studies focusing on the same issue in professional service businesses are rare. Hence, this paper aims to expand knowledge on this issue and to present a framework for studying managerial abilities in professional service firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is constructed as a multi‐case study and includes six cases. The cases were selected among the members of the Turkish Association of Advertising and only full‐service advertising agencies were included in the sample. Three multinational and three national agencies are included in the sample.

Findings

It was found that multinational agencies show significant differences according to their top managers' status and credibility. Managerial knowledge has a different impact on the competitiveness of both agency types.

Originality/value

The paper offers a framework to study the role of managerial capabilities in competitiveness of professional service firms.

Citation

Sahin, C. (2011), "Managing professional service firms: role of managerial abilities", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 413-426. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711111126882