Barriers to marketing within professional service firms: A study of the understanding and application of marketing within accountancy and law firms

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.We live in a world of rapid change. Nowadays, there are virtually no organisations that haven’t been affected in one form or another by changes in their environment. The professions, which have for centuries been sheltered against change, are under increasing and complex environmental pressures and as a consequence are experiencing considerable change and uncertainty. The overall pressures have been increased competition, more demanding and sophisticated clients, succession issues, deregulation, technological advancement and globalisation. These have acted upon sectors, which are encumbered with conflicts of interests caused by the nature of the partnership organisational structure and a compromised self-regulation based on the traditional professional culture. Marketing has an important role to play as the organisation’s interface with the environment. It is a “boundary-spanning organisational function through its constant interface with the external environment at large and with customers, competitors and channel members in particular” (Varadarajan, 1992, p.340), as well as with the various groups within the organisation. The key role attributed to the marketing function is as a tool designed to maximise efficiency. Marketing has been very reluctantly adopted as a management tool by the professions. This thesis addresses the barriers to acceptance and implementation of marketing within professional service firms, given the intensity and complexity of environmental pressures they have been subjected. The research has focused on two of the traditional liberal professions, accountancy and law, through the study of the way marketing is perceived, understood and practiced within the organisation of seven accountancy and seven law firms. A theoretical model has been developed and refined providing the explanation for the barriers to marketing within the professional service organisation. The findings based on analysis of the professionals’ perceptions have demonstrated that these barriers can be seen as a result of an organisational conflict between the need for response to contingency pressures and the internal and external institutional isomorphic pressures of maintaining professional legitimacy with the implications of forfeiting organisational efficiency. The findings indicate that change within the professional organisation only takes place if subjected to contingency pressures and, in general, it is slowed down due to the institutional barriers of the professional partnership. The study has revealed that professionals are torn between the pressures of change and the need for respectability and maintenance of the status quo, which is evidence of the conflicting contingency and institutional pressures at play. The Marketing Champion has been proven to be a powerful driver for change in terms of initiating and leading the process. The review of perceptions of the concept and role of marketing within professional service firms has revealed generational differences, misconceptions and outright conflict leading to resistance in its introduction and application, although professionals have individually practiced a wide variety of marketing activities in their pursuit of gaining and maintaining clients. There has been conspicuous resistance to the acceptance of marketing as a management tool across the professional organisation. The main barriers to implementation have been identified as the professional partnership structure and the professional culture. Understanding on how marketing has being practiced within the professional organisation researched has been considered important in establishing the nature of the response to contingency and institutional forces. The research has been focused on the level of importance given to marketing as a strategic tool as opposed to the traditional tactical, communications mainly tool. The research has again shown that those firms who had a Marketing Champion, used marketing in a far more strategic manner

Letter from Elaine Wilk Cohen, Editor & Publisher of Human Services, to Geraldine Ferraro

Congratulatory letter from Elaine Wilk Cohen, ACSW and editor and publisher for Human Services, to Geraldine Ferraro. Includes data entry sheet.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/vice_presidential_campaign_correspondence_1984_new_york/1225/thumbnail.jp

Reading problems of the bottom third: grades one through six

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Targeted Deletion of Fibrinogen Like Protein 1 Reveals a Novel Role in Energy Substrate Utilization

Fibrinogen like protein 1(Fgl1) is a secreted protein with mitogenic activity on primary hepatocytes. Fgl1 is expressed in the liver and its expression is enhanced following acute liver injury. In animals with acute liver failure, administration of recombinant Fgl1 results in decreased mortality supporting the notion that Fgl1 stimulates hepatocyte proliferation and/or protects hepatocytes from injury. However, because Fgl1 is secreted and detected in the plasma, it is possible that the role of Fgl1 extends far beyond its effect on hepatocytes. In this study, we show that Fgl1 is additionally expressed in brown adipose tissue. We find that signals elaborated following liver injury also enhance the expression of Fgl1 in brown adipose tissue suggesting that there is a cross talk between the injured liver and adipose tissues. To identify extra hepatic effects, we generated Fgl1 deficient mice. These mice exhibit a phenotype suggestive of a global metabolic defect: Fgl1 null mice are heavier than wild type mates, have abnormal plasma lipid profiles, fasting hyperglycemia with enhanced gluconeogenesis and exhibit differences in white and brown adipose tissue morphology when compared to wild types. Because Fgl1 shares structural similarity to Angiopoietin like factors 2, 3, 4 and 6 which regulate lipid metabolism and energy utilization, we postulate that Fgl1 is a member of an emerging group of proteins with key roles in metabolism and liver regeneration

Accounting for austerity:The Troika in the Eurozone

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the Eurozone financial crisis by discussing the experiences of Greece, Ireland and Spain. It particularly examines the influence and actions of the Troika in the management of the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. Design/methodology/approach - The primary source of information for this study has been the documents of the Greek, Irish and Spanish Governments (often only available in their native language) and the reports of EU bodies and the IMF, supplemented by media coverage, as deemed appropriate. This has been analysed on a comparative basis to contrast the experiences of these three countries. Findings - This study reveals how the Eurozone crisis has impacted on financially weak countries in this currency union. The fiscal conservatism of the Troika (the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank) has had profound consequences for these economies, which have experienced dramatic cuts in public services. Research limitations/implications - This study has focused on the experiences of three countries in the Eurozone. There is a case for extending this analysis to other Eurozone countries. Practical implications - There are two approaches to recession - governments can stimulate demand by infrastructure spending or take the financial conservatism route of reducing public expenditure and public sector borrowing. However, the severity of the crisis undermines the first approach and there are uncertain outcomes with the second approach. This paper shows the effects of adopting financial conservatism as a strategy in this crisis. Social implications - The austerity programmes pursued by the governments in this study have led to unemployment, migration of skilled workers, collapse in property markets, failing banks and social unrest. Originality/value - This study takes an accounting perspective on the Eurozone crisis. This offers a distinctive interpretation of events. This study examines the merits of widely used theories in studies of public sector change namely legitimation and resource dependency theory intertwined with power and offers insights into how meaningful they are in explaining the dramatic influence of austerity programmes in the Eurozone

The 2D shape structure dataset: A user annotated open access database

International audienceIn this paper we present the 2D Shape Structure database, a public, user-generated dataset of 2D shape decompositions into a hierarchy of shape parts with geometric relationships retained. It is the outcome of a large-scale user study obtained by crowdsourcing, involving over 1200 shapes in 70 shape classes, and 2861 participants. A total of 41953 annotations has been collected with at least 24 annotations per shape. For each shape, user decompositions into main shape, one or more levels of parts, and a level of details are available. This database reinforces a philosophy that understanding shape structure as a whole, rather than in the separated categories of parts decomposition, parts hierarchy, and analysis of relationships between parts, is crucial for full shape understanding. We provide initial statistical explorations of the data to determine representative (" mean ") shape annotations and to determine the number of modes in the annotations. The primary goal of the paper is to make this rich and complex database openly available (through the website http://2dshapesstructure.github.io/index.html), providing the shape community with a ground truth of human perception of holistic shape structure

Trichotillometry: the reliability and practicality of hair pluckability as a method of nutritional assessment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A nutritional assessment method that is quick and easy to conduct would be extremely useful in a complex emergency, where currently there is no agreed practical and acceptable method. Hair pluckability has been suggested to be a useful method of assessing protein nutritional status. The aim was to investigate the reliability of the trichotillometer and to explore the effects of patient characteristics on hair epilation force.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three observers plucked hair from twelve participants to investigate the within- and between-observer reliability. To investigate the effect of patient characteristics on hair pluckability, 12 black African and 12 white volunteers were recruited. Participants completed a short questionnaire to provide basic information on their characteristics and hair.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean hair pluckability measurements for the 12 participants obtained by the three observers (39.5 g, 41.2 g and 32.7 g) were significantly different (p < 0.001). Significant variation between patients was also found (p < 0.001). None of the patient characteristics significantly affected hair pluckability, with the exception of age, although this relationship was not consistent.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Due to significant variation in measurements, hair pluckability does not appear to be a reliable method for assessing adult nutritional status. Hair pluckability could be a useful method of nutritional assessment in complex humanitarian emergencies but only if the reliability was improved.</p

Measuring children’s involvement as an indicator of curriculum effectiveness : a curriculum evaluation of a selected child study centre in Singapore

This paper presents one aspect of a research project evaluating a curriculum model of a selected child study centre in Singapore. An issue of worldwide interest and concern is the &lsquo;quality of learning&rsquo; debate as it relates to early childhood centres. In Singapore, the government is focusing on expansion in child care settings and increases in the amount of funded training. One of the issues surrounding prior-to-school education raises the question of how one measures the quality of teaching and learning, to describe the value of using, funding and promoting early education. The research reported in this study used a quasi experimental research paradigm to assess one aspect of the quality of a curriculum programme in a child study centre in Singapore. Children aged between 18 months and 6 years (N = 81) participated in the research. Using the observation scale of Laevers&rsquo; Child Involvement Scale, the active involvement of children in learning experiences was measured. The findings are presented and discussed

The Phosphatomes of the Multicellular Myxobacteria Myxococcus xanthus and Sorangium cellulosum in Comparison with Other Prokaryotic Genomes

BACKGROUND: Analysis of the complete genomes from the multicellular myxobacteria Myxococcus xanthus and Sorangium cellulosum identified the highest number of eukaryotic-like protein kinases (ELKs) compared to all other genomes analyzed. High numbers of protein phosphatases (PPs) could therefore be anticipated, as reversible protein phosphorylation is a major regulation mechanism of fundamental biological processes. METHODOLOGY: Here we report an intensive analysis of the phosphatomes of M. xanthus and S. cellulosum in which we constructed phylogenetic trees to position these sequences relative to PPs from other prokaryotic organisms. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: PREDOMINANT OBSERVATIONS WERE: (i) M. xanthus and S. cellulosum possess predominantly Ser/Thr PPs; (ii) S. cellulosum encodes the highest number of PP2c-type phosphatases so far reported for a prokaryotic organism; (iii) in contrast to M. xanthus only S. cellulosum encodes high numbers of SpoIIE-like PPs; (iv) there is a significant lack of synteny among M. xanthus and S. cellulosum, and (v) the degree of co-organization between kinase and phosphatase genes is extremely low in these myxobacterial genomes. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that there has been a greater expansion of ELKs than PPs in multicellular myxobacteria