Professional Service Firms

About

Our research cluster seeks to explore key challenges confronting the professional services sector.

We are concerned with the professional firm as a distinct organisational form and the impact of this on processes of innovation and change. We are interested in the development and management of professional expertise and ethics, and examine social and formal processes by which these are nurtured and regulated. Research projects are focused around the observation and management of firms, the issues faced by people working within them and policy issues of concern to both clients and regulators.

Our members sit on the editorial board of several academic journals, including the Journal of Professions and Organization (JPO), and our work has been published in leading international journals as well as prize-winning monographs. The teaching team is also well known for its work in executive education and advisory work with professional firms.

Events

Oxford Saïd conference on Professional Service Firms

A partnership between Saïd Business School and the Journal of Professions and Organization, this conference has taken place annually since 2015. In 2021, the conference examined how we can manage integration, integrity and Identity at the boundaries of professional practice.

View conference details

Oxford Future of Professionals Roundtable

This roundtable brings together experts from the world of academia, practice, and policymaking to discuss and debate the impact of AI on the future of professional work. The last conference took place in June 2024.

View Oxford Future of Professionals Roundtable 2024 summary report

News

Insights

Strategic learning and development in professional services firms

The business model of professional service firms is rapidly evolving. This series of papers seeks to answer some of the most important strategic questions on the agenda of professional services today.

Novak Druce Centre insights

This series aims to provide accessible summaries of research by members and associates of professional service firms. Derived from academic papers and books, but re-written and presented with practitioners in mind, it is designed to be thought-provoking and challenging.