Business firms around the world are experimenting with new organizational designs, changing their formal architectures, their routines and processes, and their corporate cultures as they seek to improve their current performance and their growth prospects. In the process they are changing the scope of their business operations, redrawing their organization charts, redefining the allocation of decision-making authority and responsibility, revamping the mechanisms for motivating and rewarding people, reconsidering which activities to conduct in-house and which to out-source, redesigning their information systems, and seeking to alter the shared beliefs, values and norms that their people hold. In this book, John Roberts argues that there are predictable, necessary relationships among these changes that will improve performance and growth. The organizations that are successful will establish patterns of fit among the elements of their organizational designs, their competitive strategies and the external environment in which they operate and will go about this in a holistic manner. The Modern Firm develops powerful conceptual frameworks for analyzing the interrelations between organizational design features, competitive strategy and the business environment. Written in a non-technical language, the book is nevertheless based on rigorous modeling and draws on numerous examples from eighteenth century fur trading companies to such modern firms such as BP and Nokia. Finally the book explores why these developments are happening now, pointing to the increase in global competition and changes in technology. Written by one of the world's leading economists and experts on business strategy and organization, The Modern Firm provides new insights into the changes going on in business today and will be of interest to academics, students and managers alike.

The last ten years have been a period of extraordinary change for law firms. The rapid growth of corporate law firms and the emergence of global mega-firms have strained the traditional partnership model of management. Some managers of law firms are appalled at the creeping 'corporatism' that they fear may result. However a growing number believe that it is time to move on and adopt more contemporary forms of structure and management. In Managing the Modern Law Firm scholars and legal practitioners examine the latest insights from management research, to enable law firms successfully to meet the challenges of this new business environment.

Business firms around the world are experimenting with new organizational designs, changing their formal architectures, their routines and processes, and their corporate cultures as they seek to improve their current performance and their growth prospects. In the process they are changing the scope of their business operations, redrawing their organization charts, redefining the allocation of decision-making authority and responsibility, revamping the mechanisms for motivating and rewarding people, reconsidering which activities to conduct in-house and which to out-source, redesigning their information systems, and seeking to alter the shared beliefs, values and norms that their people hold. In this book, John Roberts argues that there are predictable, necessary relationships among these changes that will improve performance and growth. The organizations that are successful will establish patterns of fit among the elements of their organizational designs, their competitive strategies and the external environment in which they operate and will go about this in a holistic manner. The Modern Firm develops powerful conceptual frameworks for analyzing the interrelations between organizational design features, competitive strategy and the business environment. Written in a non-technical language, the book is nevertheless based on rigorous modeling and draws on numerous examples from eighteenth century fur trading companies to such modern firms such as BP and Nokia. Finally the book explores why these developments are happening now, pointing to the increase in global competition and changes in technology. Written by one of the world's leading economists and experts on business strategy and organization, The Modern Firm provides new insights into the changes going on in business today and will be of interest to academics, students and managers alike.

'A refreshing and useful addition to the folklore of management. All in all this is a worthwhile insight into the management views and structure of some of our leading construction companies.' - J.J. Farrow, Chartered Builder This volume describes and analyses the behaviour of large UK construction firms in the determination and implementation of their strategy. It covers, in addition to the selection of objectives and the methods for their achievement, policies on growth and diversification, finance, marketing and bidding, international operations, management and labour and subcontracting. Throughout the book the relationship is examined between the theory outlined in the companion volume and the actual behaviour of firms. The final chapter concludes with a discussion of the means to bridge the gaps which are found to exist between theory and practice.

Not all law firms will survive the tumult headed their way.Over the past three decades, the legal industry has been turned upside down. Increasingly rapid advances in technology have radically changed everything about the way law firms operate-from attracting and retaining clients, to researching relevant case law, collaborating with colleagues, and filing documents. With competition coming not just from other traditional law firms but also from online legal services, it's more important than ever to differentiate your firm in a crowded marketplace. Yet the majority of firms continue down the path of "business as usual" despite the whirlwind of change roaring outside their windows.Will your firm be blindsided by the threats at hand and pay the price in lost business, lost talent, and lost revenue? Or will you face these threats head-on and learn how to turn them to your advantage so you can not just survive, but thrive?If you'd prefer the latter, this book is your comprehensive, actionable roadmap for navigating this new landscape. Let's dive in!

Star financial journalist Duff McDonald uncovers how the managing consulting firm of McKinsey & Company and its high-powered, high-priced business savants have ushered in waves of structural, financial, and technological shifts to the biggest and best American organizations, revealing a list of world-shaping successes and striking failures.

The authors analyse the New Economy from a scientific point of view. The success and the failure of enterprises of the new economy form a challenge to the modern business management and to the theory of the firm. This conference transcript answers the question in which way well-established concepts of the theory of the firm should be modified or new approaches should be created, in order to run enterprises of the new economy successfully. The discussion includes various fields of the theory of the firm and is therefore divided into the six essential disciplines of economic research, which are Production and Procurement, Finance, Marketing, Accounting, Human Resource Management and Economic Organization and Corporate Governance. The international orientation of the book addresses the world-wide scientific community.