The work of global professional service firms

In this chapter, we consider their work, both in terms of their activities and internal organization as ‘global’ firms and in terms of their impacts on economies and ultimately societies worldwide. In doing this, we follow on from those who have highlighted the work GPSFs do for capitalism and elites (Morgan, 2006) and for the institutions of the economy (Muzio et al., 2013; Boussebaa, 2015b forthcoming; Muzio et al., 2013), by drawing attention to the intimate connections between the firms’ mode of organizing, their activities in markets throughout the world, and the structures of the global economy. In particular, we highlight five research agendas which, we believe, relate to a pressing series of questions about the powe

Communities inside and outside the corporation:control, power and interests

This chapter examines how critical analysis of communities within and without of the corporation can provide valuable insights into the way communities emerge, are leveraged, are imbued with power and politics, and are used to serve the interests of different parties. The starting point for discussions is geographical and organization studies literatures on corporate communities. In this work, one preoccupation is identifying how managers in corporations seek to construct communities (see for example, Amin and Cohendet, 2004; Faulconbridge, 2010). This work has been informed, in particular, by the communities of practice literature (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). A second preoccupation is analysing the various extra-firm communities that corporations participate in (see for example, Bathelt et al., 2004; Maskell, 2014; Morgan, 2001). The purpose here is to reveal the ways corporations define, exploit and contribute to communities outside of the organisation’s boundaries. The effects on institutions are afforded particular attention in this literature as part of efforts to understand how, through communities, corporations influence local and global governance regimes (see also Morgan, this volume; Sanchez, this volume)

Knowledge and learning in professional service firms

This chapter reveals that three fundamental lines of research about professional service firms – (a) organizational form, management and governance, (b) the varying roles and effects of knowledge networking via databases versus knowing in practice through communities, and (c) the jurisdiction of a firm and claims about exclusive rights over a market - are all related to the key characteristics of knowledge and learning in such organizations. Perhaps most importantly these areas of research are all contested domains in terms of optimum modes of organizing and trajectories of change due to the ambiguous and heterogeneous nature of knowledge, leading to questions about the pros and cons of apparently growing bureaucracy, commodification and internationalization. The chapter thus identifies how such issues generate key future research agendas around organizational forms, knowledge management strategies, and the implications of change for service quality, professional jurisdictions and practices in a transnational age

Business services and the financing of global production networks:the case of global law firms in Southeast Asia

Financial and business services (FABS) as intermediaries play a significant role in global production networks (GPNs). Yet the mechanisms through which they influence the activities of lead and supplier firms in GPNs have received little in-depth attention. The paper addresses this shortcoming and examines how global legal business services configure the financial discipline of transnational corporations in Southeast Asia. It documents the way FABS articulate financial imperatives and encourage the reproduction of ‘global financial architectures’. It also shows, however, that temporal dynamics and spatial specificities in the power relations between FABS and transnational corporations (TNCs) generate variegated financial configurations. Southeast Asian TNCs adopt and adapt in ways that serve their interests. This implies that the governance effects of FABS have important temporal and spatial contingencies that need to be accounted for in analyses of GPNs

Communities inside and outside the corporation:control, power and interests

This chapter examines how critical analysis of communities within and without of the corporation can provide valuable insights into the way communities emerge, are leveraged, are imbued with power and politics, and are used to serve the interests of different parties. The starting point for discussions is geographical and organization studies literatures on corporate communities. In this work, one preoccupation is identifying how managers in corporations seek to construct communities (see for example, Amin and Cohendet, 2004; Faulconbridge, 2010). This work has been informed, in particular, by the communities of practice literature (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998). A second preoccupation is analysing the various extra-firm communities that corporations participate in (see for example, Bathelt et al., 2004; Maskell, 2014; Morgan, 2001). The purpose here is to reveal the ways corporations define, exploit and contribute to communities outside of the organisation’s boundaries. The effects on institutions are afforded particular attention in this literature as part of efforts to understand how, through communities, corporations influence local and global governance regimes (see also Morgan, this volume; Sanchez, this volume)

Bad barrels and bad cellars:a ‘boundaries’ perspective on professional misconduct

Professions have traditionally been associated with a public safeguard role, with their superior ethical standards usually invoked to justify their occupational privileges and special labour market position. As such professionals have been thought to act as 'social trustees' (Brint, 1994) of key skills for the benefit of society as a whole or as 'gatekeepers' (Coffee, 2006) who play a fundamental role in maintaining the integrity of broader institutions. Yet recent scandals from Enron, to Parmalat and the recent financial crisis call into question the fiduciary role played by the professions. Thus, rather than as gatekeepers and social trustees, professions may have acted, perhaps unwittingly, as accomplices if not masterminds in recent episodes of corporate wrongdoing and malpractice. This chapter focuses on the role of professions in processes of malpractice and approaches this through the consideration of a number of key boundaries which frame professional practice and the tensions, conflicts and opportunities or temptations these generate. These include: 1) internal divisions within professional services firms between different services and the conflict of interests these may produce (thus the tensions between auditing and consulting within large accountancy firms), 2) the relationship between professional advisers and external stakeholders such as clients and increasingly financial investors, and the capture dynamics which may be at play here, 3) the boundaries which exist between different firms and professions engaged in gatekeeping functions and the systemic myopia that this allows and 4) the existence national and regional boundaries between jurisdictions with different standards of professional practice and regulatory oversight

Global professional service firms and institutionalization

In this chapter we seek to highlight the importance of advancing the work that does exist on GPSFs in the institutionalization of transnational governance regimes through a more careful consideration of the identities, projects and effects of the firms in question. We contend that in their attempts to develop new markets, services and more efficient internal organizational models, GPSFs exercise far reaching institutional effects as they challenge governance regimes, disrupt/create jurisdictions, and transform identities, practices and systems of regulation in the professions themselves. They do this, we suggest, through three strategies associated with scope of control, defining scales of knowledge resources, and the production of ecologies of linked interests. These strategies involve developing strategic alliances with a range of other field actors such as academia, regulatory bodies, International Organisations, national governments and professional associations as part of linked ecologies (Abbott, 2005). As such, GPSFs exemplify the process of professional strategy > organizational opportunities > issue control that Seabrooke and Henriksen (this volume) claim is central to the transnational realm. This chapter provides, then, a contribution to on-going attempts to ‘revisit theories of professionalism, which did not fully anticipate the shift of professional work to the context of large organizations’ (Suddaby et al., 2007: 25). It also complements the following chapter by Boussebaa, outlining the institutionalizing effects of neo-colonial networks

Professional service firms as agents of economic globalization:a political perspective

In recent decades, numerous professional service firms have gone ‘global’ in search new markets and to support clients requiring services across nations. Whilst a lively debate has developed over the organizational implications of this phenomenon, the role of the firms in globalizing the wider world economy has received less attention. In this paper, we address this imbalance through an inter-disciplinary synthesis of the literature at the intersection of the professions and economic globalization and apply a political perspective to frame our analysis. Our contribution is twofold. First, we argue for a broadening of the research agenda to better elucidate the critical role of professional service firms as agents of economic globalization. This role, we argue, should become a core research theme given the firms are not just businesses offering services across the globe but also active participants in the globalization of the world economy. Second, we shed light on and conceptualize the specific power strategies deployed by the firms as part of their role as agents of globalization. We develop an integrative framework which, firstly, distinguishes between ‘design’ and ‘implementation’ and, secondly, specifies how the firms exert power to their advantage in each of these related areas. This model provides a theoretical scaffolding for understanding how professional service firms shape and indeed become hegemonic agents of economic globalization