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This paper aims to study the tensile performance, deformation characteristics, auxeticity and stability of different auxetic tubular structures generated by cutting method and pattern scale factor (PSF) method using validated finite element analysis.

Two types of auxetic tubular structures were designed by a coordinate transformation method and the PSF adjustment method, respectively. ABAQUS/explicit solver was used for the large deformation analysis and the displacement of key nodes was extracted to calculate Poisson’s ratio value and evaluate the deformation of tubular structures.

The random cut method was not suitable for designing auxetic tubular structures. Vertical and horizontal cut approach was suitable, but the change of the tubular diameter was lower than the tubular structures generated by the PSF adjustment method.

Simple ways to generate auxetic tubular structure, which can be made into intelligent and foldable equipment, such as annuloplasty rings, angioplasty stents and oesophageal stents. By combined with shape memory polymer, various smart tubular materials and structures with various functions can be designed, especially in medical scaffold and other medical equipment fields.

The auxetic characteristic of tubular structure designed by using random cut method has been investigated for the first time. The outcome of this study would be very useful design tubular structures with better mechanical properties.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a client-based reputation of business-to-business professional services firms scale (PSF-Rep) which measures clients’ perceptions of the reputation of professional service provider firms. So far, no multidimensional scale exists in the literature to measure the reputation of professional service firms, although the reputation dimensions of importance are likely to be very different from other settings.

From an initial pool of fieldwork-based items, an 18-item PSF-Rep scale is developed, which is validated using several samples – corporate financial decision-makers’ views of their accounting firms in a US national sample and organizational clients of one large legal firm with national presence.

The four-dimensional PSF-Rep scale meets all established reliability and validity criteria. Further, reputation and its dimensions (using PSF-Rep) are positively associated with important marketing outcomes, including word of mouth, loyalty intentions, trust and share of wallet.

As professional service markets become more competitive, firms recognize the importance of a good reputation in attracting customers. This research is the first to propose a psychometrically robust measure to capture client-based reputation of business-to-business professional services firms.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Business-to-business professional service firms (B2B PSFs) customer cooperation capability (CCC) and its financial performance. This study explores how deep and broad expert and customer knowledge assist PSFs to enhance CCC and increase financial performance.

A multiple informant survey was designed and administered to B2B PSFs’ managers in Taiwan.

The results indicate that customer and expert knowledge improve PSFs’ CCC and that CCC has a positive U-shaped relationship with financial performance. Importantly, the ability to control for the efficiency of customer cooperation moderates the U-shaped relationship between CCC and financial performance by diminishing the negative effect of low levels of CCC.

The contribution of this study rests on the theory developed and empirical support disclosing the complex relationship between PSFs’ CCC and financial performance. The study further contributes to the literature by presenting different effect of deep and broad expert and customer knowledge on development of CCC. The study extends the literature by introducing control for efficiency of customer cooperation as a mechanism that has the capacity to compensate for lower levels of CCC.

Human resource management in professional service firms (PSF) is one of the most important instruments for promoting sustainable competitive advantage. Despite the major growth of scholars' interest in human resource management (HRM) issues in PSF, the body of knowledge in this field remains highly fragmented and diversified. The purpose of this paper is to systematize key evidence on the use of HRM practices in PSF.

The paper is based on a systematic literature review of 90 peer-reviewed journal papers.

The review revealed typical ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices used by PSF and outlined how these HRM practices may differ among various PSF.

The paper provides scholars with an updated and comprehensive research landscape and development process in this important field, thereby contributing to greater research interest and enthusiasm for future research.

Research on international professional service firms (PSFs) has grown in recent years, reflecting the increasing relevance of these firms in the global economy. However, to date, no attempt has been made to systematically examine and integrate this literature. This study reviews the body of knowledge on the international management of PSFs and proposes a future research agenda that aims to strengthen the research on international PSFs, by applying the conceptual lens of PSF characteristics.

A systematic review of 108 empirical articles on the management of international PSFs was carried out.

The authors analyse where, how and what research was carried out on the international management of PSFs, and find that currently the field offers few opportunities to integrate findings or explain differences across different types of international PSFs. In recommendations for future research, the authors show how the lens of PSF characteristics can help overcome these issues and unveil promising avenues for future research that will lead to a more fine-grained theorising and understanding of the international management of PSFs.

The study provides a comprehensive state of the art of research on the international management of PSFs and a future research agenda, which builds on PSF characteristics to explore and better understand the heterogeneity of international PSFs, in order to develop more robust explanations of their behaviour and open new research avenues.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new star in the continuous improvement research, the hybrid structural interaction matrix (HSIM). The work compares the results of this decision science methodology with that of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) with a case drawn from a published work in the maintenance performance literature. It further identifies certain areas of improvements for enrichment of this body of knowledge.

The methodology presented in the work is termed the hybrid international matrix with potentials for prioritizing simple and complex numbers of maintenance activities or items.

The results obtained indicate the feasibility of prioritizing items in maintenance with some improved results in the quality of decision made based on the prioritization.

The limitation of the study lies in the fact that a computerized system is needed when the items to be prioritized are many.

Practically, it is noted that the quality of decisions made based on the methodology is enhanced. Thus, managers in practice would better achieve higher level of reliance than in the use of previous models that are similar.

The paper is new. It presents a novel contribution, which is capable of being extended for the benefit of researchers or maintenance. The work presents some research opportunities with potentials of elevating maintenance productivity theory and practice into the ranks of major concepts in maintenance performance evaluation.

The aim of this study is to better understand service supply chain management by analysing the professional service supply chain in professional service firms (PSFs) and exploring how the high performance work systems (HPWS) influence professional service supply chain performance. In addition, this study seeks to examine the relationship between professional service supply chain performance and the overall organizational performance.

Analysis of PSF suggests a three‐step of professional service supply chain as the clients' requests, partners forming working teams or so‐called team formation and utilization, and delivering of solutions or services to clients. Based on extensive literature review, the authors hypothesize that HPWS have a positive impact on the professional service supply chain performance and the team formation and utilization mediates the link. They also hypothesize the positive link between the professional service supply chain performance and the overall organisational firm performance. Employing survey method, data was collected from 93 accounting firms at two time points. In May 2010 (Time 1), a survey including questions on HPWS, team formation and utilization and professional service supply chain performance were sent out to the managing partners and HR directors in accounting firms based in Ireland. Around one year later (Time 2), another survey measuring firm performance was sent out. This data allowed the authors to establish causal pattern in their results. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyse data to test hypotheses.

The results indicate the positive link between HPWS and the professional service supply chain performance. The team formation and utilization mediates the above relationship. In addition, professional service supply chain performance was found to be positively linked to the firm performance.

The present study is limited in terms of sample size, single industry and self‐report data. Future research also needs to examine more mediators or moderators – the mechanisms through which HPWS work on the professional service supply chain.

Firms using higher level of HPWS experience better professional service supply chain performance. Human resource management practices that promote employees' ability, motivation and opportunities which allow teams to be formed more effectively to work with clients enhance organizational performance and higher profit levels. Managers able to effectively adopt and implement these teamwork‐based HR practices and encourage and support employees' collaboration through such practices enhance the firm's professional service supply chain effectiveness and its organisational performance.

The authors' study focuses on the service supply chain management operations within the professional service firms. In doing so, their research answers the call by Ellram et al. for more supply chain management research with respect to the service sector. It addresses a significant research gap identified by Rahman and Wu, namely, “relatively little attention has been given to the service suppliers' perspective”. By linking service supply chain management and human resource management, this study also answers a few calls for more research on the interaction of human resource management and supply chain management, service supply chain and human resource management in professional service firms.

This is one of the few studies to analyse the professional service supply chain management and assess the human resource management and supply chain management link. Moreover, it is the first study which empirically establishes the link between human resource management and professional service supply chain performance in PSFs.

The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the crucial initiation stage of service innovation in professional service firms (PSFs) by individual professionals and the implications for knowledge management.

The paper builds theory, based on an in‐depth review of the relevant literature. The developed theory is illustrated with a case study of PricewaterhouseCoopers AG (PwC), one of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms. Formal and informal interviews about innovation, learning in client interactions, and knowledge management were held with more than 70 employees of PwC over a three‐year period.

The paper shows that entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is a suitable framework to explain the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. Prior knowledge, alertness and search are identified as bases for the recognition of opportunities and hence the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. Therefore, the author argues that knowledge management should raise the alertness of individual professionals to engage in opportunity recognition and also provide a fruitful environment to enable active search for opportunities on the basis of relevant prior knowledge at hand.

The findings aim to help managers in PSFs to understand better the initiation of innovation in their companies and enable fostering of innovation through the application of dedicated knowledge management initiatives.

Previous research has not yet taken an in‐depth look at the initiation stage of service innovation by individual professionals in PSFs. In this paper, entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is presented and applied for the first time as a framework to explain the activity of professionals in the initiation of service innovation in PSFs. In doing this, the paper also contributes to the understanding of the under‐researched corporate entrepreneurial role of professionals in PSFs.

The purpose of this research is to examine multisource feedback from a stakeholder perspective, arguing that select competency assessments that different rater groups provide are valid predictors of the “partner” potential and advancement of senior professional service professionals (PSPs).

A 360‐degree assessment tool for PSPs, the Relationship Management Survey (RMS), was administered to 391 principals as part of their professional development. Six RMS dimensions (clusters of competencies) were used to predict a principal's high‐potential promise and promotion to partner three to five years later.

The results support hypotheses detailing how different rater groups assess PSPs differently, and how these differences are relevant to PSP promotion to partner. The predictability of becoming partner increased by 50 percent compared to partner‐only assessments through the use of direct report assessments of the principals' leadership and coaching, peer assessments of collaboration, and client assessments of trust.

Professional service firms can improve their succession planning and promotion decisions by including multirater assessments in their decision making process; PSPs can guide their career planning and professional development by attending to the distinct competency interests of different stakeholders.

This article supports a broader use of different rater group assessments in promotion decisions and the career development of professionals. It suggests the need for dialogue and research regarding when different rater assessments in 360‐degree assessment tools are an index of instrument validity.

This paper aims to identify what international management challenges professional service firms (PSFs) face and why they face them.

This study carries a focussed thematic literature review of 102 empirical articles. This paper uses content analysis to extract and aggregate challenges identified by researchers in their fieldwork and then analysed this data using qualitative and quantitative methods.

This study identifies 10 international management challenges that PSFs face and a number of causes for these challenges. The analysis also suggests that the distinctive characteristics of PSFs generate some of the international management challenges for PSFs.

This study helps PSF managers understand the international management challenges they may face depending on the specifics of their company, thus helping them better prepare their internationalisation.

This study contributes to providing a greater understanding of what is holding PSFs back in their internationalisation and why. It demonstrates that distinctive characteristics of PSFs may predict the challenges that PSFs will face, thus paving the way for further research on international management in PSFs and for the development of the diagnostic tool for practitioners that could help them to identify which challenges they should prepare for most.