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  • September 2021
  • Case
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Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:4
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Abstract

The two vignettes within “Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance” (HBS No. 122-024) present various issues relating to governance in professional service firms (“PSFs”). In the first, the Managing Director of a U.S. consulting firm contemplates whether to bring on outsiders to sit on the firm’s Executive Leadership Board and the potential implications of doing so. In the second, a U.S.-headquartered Private Equity firm’s Managing Partner for India was excited about the opportunity to acquire another Indian firm but worries about the potential resistance from the firm’s Global Management Committee. This vignette has deliberately been written as a PE firm so as to allow participants from PSF firms to step away from their immediate organizations and reflect on the broader issues that are involved. This vignette attempts to explore the meaning of being a global firm in the context of PSF and the methods to realize a PSF’s global ambitions. The vignettes allow students to discuss a breadth of issues related to the governance and strategy of PSFs.

Keywords

Consulting Firms; Professional Services; Board Of Directors; Professional Service; Global Firm; Executive Leadership; Globalized Firms and Management; Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Global Strategy; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Leadership Development; Leading Change; Emerging Markets; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Service Industry; United States; India

Citation

Fubini, David G., Suraj Srinivasan, and Li-Kuan Ni. "Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance." Harvard Business School Case 122-024, September 2021.
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About The Authors

David G. Fubini

Organizational Behavior
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Suraj Srinivasan

Accounting and Management
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Related Work

    • September 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance

    By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
Related Work
  • Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
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