Professional Service Firms & Collaboration-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Write article Summary of Professional service firms and Collaboration. Answer: Introduction The current business environment has become ever more competitive, uncertain and prone to rapidly change. Faced with such a demanding environment, inter-firm collaboration, where firms need to work with fellow organizations and consumers to produce superior products that meet customer needs have come up. This collaboration is able to use synergy, combining strengths and diluting individual weaknesses to succeed in the demanding business environment. However, there are both positive and negative elements of such an alliance. Advantages Internal product development can be a risky affair. Firms need to commit large amounts of money and other resources including human resources into a project, without a guarantee that it is going to work. Through the use of professional service firms, this can be avoided. The collaboration between two or more firms means that the organizations in question cooperate to produce a superior product which meets both sets of customers needs. PSFs are also able to access external resources which strengthen their capacity, or enrich their own possessions and capabilities. In the end, both organizations are able to deliver to the market what they might not have been able to do and at a much lower cost. As the PSFs come together to collaborate and develop something which is superior to their individual products, they have to engage extensively. With this, they share information and knowledge with each other. This, therefore, provides an excellent chance for both organizations to learn in a rigorous environment, where it would have been almost impossible had each organization been left to its own devices. Disadvantages Despite these advantages, there are potential negative effects of inter-firm collaboration. One of the most prevalent is conflict. As the two sets of organization culture and competing interests meet, there is a temptation to leave the relationship better-off, even at the expense of the other party. In such a situation, conflict and mistrust are born. If not checked, these issues may eventually lead to the collapse of the venture, without realizing the intended goals. Closely tied to this is self-interest of the participating parties. While they may be committed to achieving a group agenda, their primary objective is to maximize their individual profits. In such an environment, the firms may bypass the necessary ingredients for successful collaboration, including sharing knowledge and information. Conclusion PSFs are now a necessity in the current and future business environments. They present several advantages and disadvantages. It is important for firms which are keen on collaboration to appreciate the importance of these relationships and work to avoid the pitfalls which usually mean that the intended goals are never achieved. References Heirati, N., et al. (2016). Do professional service firms benefit from customer and supplier collaborations in competitive, turbulent environments? Industrial Marketing Management, 1-9, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2016.02.011