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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Revisiting A Proposed Definition Of Professional Service Firms, Asghar Zardkoohi, Leonard Bierman, Daria Panina, Subrata Chakrabarty Dec 2010

Revisiting A Proposed Definition Of Professional Service Firms, Asghar Zardkoohi, Leonard Bierman, Daria Panina, Subrata Chakrabarty

Subrata Chakrabarty

We have attempted to explain why professional service firms (PSFs) even in some of the most canonical examples (e.g., law firms) fail to follow the traditional definition. Growth in the size and geographic diversification of law firms has transformed their organizational structures and in some cases even allowed outside investment. We believe an attempt at defining organizational structure and ownership for any industry, including PSFs, is exposed to creating too many exceptions that may fall outside the confines of the definition. In particular, the problem of defining an industry is that while a given definition may in one context neatly …


The Sidelining Of Top It Executives In The Governance Of Outsourcing: Antecedents, Power Struggles, And Consequences, Subrata Chakrabarty, Dwayne Whitten Dec 2010

The Sidelining Of Top It Executives In The Governance Of Outsourcing: Antecedents, Power Struggles, And Consequences, Subrata Chakrabarty, Dwayne Whitten

Subrata Chakrabarty

This study attempts to highlight the paradoxical aspects of top management power contests within customer firms that outsource information technology (IT) work. Intraorganizational power theory forms the overarching theoretical basis for this study. The focus is on the antecedents and consequences of the relative power of business executives (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer) versus IT executives (Chief Information Officer, Head of IT) in the governance of IT outsourcing. Evidence from a field survey supports the existence of a paradox. When a firm's financial performance has been poor and the firm did not have a sizeable …