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Primary aim of this master thesis is to depict an emergence of a professional service firm performing its' activities on the commercial real estate market in the Czech republic and to project future development in CEE region confirming existence of factors leading to fast internationalization of a professional service firm concept with specific attention to a born global concept. The work aims to identify factors of a PSF growth in various dimensions and in various specific markets as well as best practices of other globally operating structures. While the theoretical part of the thesis presents principles of a professional service firm's (PSF) function, commercial real estate market and internationalization, the practical part assumes application and implications for the company Kenoby Group ltd. (KCRE). The academic enrichment of research is derived from the three-dimensional interconnection of the concepts of Professional Service Firm, Commercial Real Estate and Internationalization, Born Global respectively.

In the presented work I devote to creating a computer model of a professional service firm using the theory of business modeling. The whole model was programmed using the application Vensim. Another part of this work was to use this model to answer some key questions about the professional service firms. I dealt with the issue of optimal volume and optimal size of potential orders. I have also studied the influence of marketing and employee productivity on business performance. Another part of the work was to find patterns in employees career growth and to monitor sales and quality of projects delivery. I also determined the size and characteristics of critical mass. Such a model could then be used to better understand patterns of companies in the professional services industry and we can use it to manage the company more effectively in this environment.

The prominent shifts towards greater flexibility in work arrangements as well as in organizational forms have had profound effects on the labor market for engineers, and given rise to the technical consulting industry. The technical consulting firm is becoming increasingly important in many technology-based industries, as a growing number of technology-based firms rely on technical consulting firms to produce their outputs. In that respect, the technical consulting firm is an important actor for the organization and development of engineering knowledge, as well as for the transfer of knowledge to and among technology-based firms. However, despite its growing importance, the technical consulting firm has received scant scholarly attention. Hence, the purpose of this thesis is to enhance the understanding of the roles of the technical consulting firm and the technical consultants for the transfer of knowledge among problem-solving contexts and client organizations. This thesis is comprised of a compilation of three papers and an extended summary. It draws upon a qualitative single-case study in one of Scandinavia’s leading technical consulting firms. This thesis takes a multilevel perspective, and utilizes an embedded case study design to study both the organizational and the individual level of analysis. In total, it builds on 54 interviews with managers and consultants, 14 observations of a competence development program for engineers who are in the beginning of their careers as technical consultants, and 2 workshops with managers. This thesis identifies two primary capabilities, developed through the interaction between the firm and the individual level: swift transition and knowledge cycling. The findings indicate that the link between the respective capabilities creates the foundation for the successful organization of engineering knowledge. Hence, these capabilities illustrate that the technical consulting firm has other roles to play than merely solving the problem of numerical and functional flexibility. Moreover, this thesis develops the process of knowledge cycling. The knowledge cycling process addresses the role of the individual consultant in the transfer of knowledge within and among problem-solving contexts, and consists of three distinct knowledge processes found prominent during the different phases of a consulting assignment: (1) knowledge acquisition, (2) knowledge integration, and (3) knowledge transfer. Furthermore, this thesis provides insight into how formal training affects the technical consultants’ ability to transfer knowledge. The findings suggest that this ability is developed through a three-stage process: (1) identifying the core of an assignment, (2) broadening the scope of action, and (3) becoming more self-confident in the role of consultant.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Construction Management Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / Many South African quantity surveying practitioners are not committed to developing knowledge and skills, a factor that may hinder the development and viability of the firm. Owing to this problem, the research focuses on the strategic role of management with an emphasis on the support mechanisms for learning and the development of knowledge. The research population focuses on professional quantity surveying firms in the Western Cape region of South Africa. The aim of the research is to understand and identify key components of management‟s strategic influence on: (a) the organisation‟s culture, (b) the development of knowledge and (c) the development of related services and skills within professional quantity surveying firms. The research methodology consists of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Management members provided qualitative data by participating in interviews and staff members provided quantitative data by completing questionnaires. The data for the research comprised a criterion sample of eleven small- and medium-sized diversified firms. The core elements of the research are the organisational culture, learning, and the development of knowledge and service diversification. The research expands information on management‟s role in the organisation‟s culture and development of knowledge in professional quantity surveying firms. The research found that there are many supportive learning elements within the organisational cultures of most quantity surveying firms. Most management members discuss employee development and performance issues, and the lessons learnt from projects. Management occasionally mentors employees and regularly allows employees to undertake challenging work activities. Management members do not, however, include employees in the development of the firm‟s related services. Management primarily established related services because there was a need for these services. The development and transfer of related service knowledge and skills are restricted to management members to a large degree. Management‟s influence on the development of knowledge and skills of employees is somewhat limited and inconsistent. Organisational culture factors such as job satisfaction and the professional development of staff members have to be given appropriate attention by management, especially from a consistency and formal standpoint. Elements that require reviewing include the time allocated for internal learning activities and learning initiatives, other than on-the-job training. Service diversification factors, such as management members restriction of staff members to core quantity surveying services, also have to be reconsidered. Elements of some related services may improve the quality of core quantity surveying services. KEYWORDS: QUANTITY SURVEYING; PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRM; CULTURE; LEARNING; KNOWLEDGE; SERVICE DIVERSIFICATION

Today, sustainability has become a central part of every recent global agenda. As the world is establishing a more sustainable path, professional service firms have started setting up new targets and goals to meet the changing demands and regulations of governments, societies, and investors. In an initiative to create sustainable long-term value for multiple stakeholders, professional service firms are investigating alternative approaches to value creation and competitiveness in a previously unknown market. This has proven to be challenging as value today is often measured in short-term sales and income and long-term value is often overlooked in the business model and the project selection processes.  The aim of the study was to identify and evaluate the challenges professional service firms face when incorporating sustainable value creation into their business model and also to suggest actions to create competitiveness in a previously unexplored market of sustainable value creation. An abductive case study was performed on a large professional service firm. The data collection consisted of 10 semi-structured interviews with company representatives of different ranks. Additionally, a survey with 30 respondents from the case company was carried out. The study concludes that challenges related to sustainable value creation include; incorporating clear measurement and reporting systems in terms of the triple bottom line, transforming Value Uncaptured to Value Captured, lowering the perceived risk of sustainability incorporation, and convincing the right people to make the right decisions. Moreover, the study elicits a framework for sustainable value creation that professional service firms can use as a tool to incorporate sustainability into the business model.  In order to create competitiveness in the new market of sustainable value creation, professional service firms could incorporate sustainable value creation, through the assessment of tangible and intangible assets in all business cases and offerings, and thereby work proactively to meet future demands. This will create competitiveness through a first mover advantage. / På senare tid har hållbarhet blivit en central del av varje global agenda. I samband med att världen lägger mer fokus på hållbarhet har professionella tjänsteföretag börjat sätta upp nya mål för att bemöta de förändrade kraven och reglerna från beslutsfattare i samhället och investerare. I ett initiativ för att skapa hållbart långsiktigt värde för flera intressenter undersöker professionella tjänsteföretag alternativa tillvägagångssätt för att skapa värde och förbli konkurrenskraftiga i den outforskade marknaden. Detta har visat sig vara utmanande då värde idag ofta mäts i kortsiktig försäljning och inkomst och långsiktigt värde ofta förbises i affärsmodellen och projekturval processerna. Syftet med studien var att identifiera och utvärdera de utmaningar som professionella tjänsteföretag står inför när de införlivar hållbart värdeskapande i sin affärsmodell och även att föreslå åtgärder för att skapa konkurrenskraft på en tidigare outforskad marknad för hållbart värdeskapande. En abduktiv fallstudie utfördes på ett stort professionellt serviceföretag. Datainsamlingen bestod av 10 semistrukturerade intervjuer med företagsrepresentanter av olika rang. Dessutom genomfördes en undersökning med 30 respondenter från fallstudieföretaget. Studien drar slutsatsen att utmaningar relaterade till hållbart värdeskapande inkluderar; introduktionen av tydliga “triple bottom line”-baserade mät- och rapporteringssystem, omvandling av “Value uncaptured” till “Value captured”, reducering av den upplevda risken för hållbarhets inkorporering samt att övertyga rätt personer att fatta rätt beslut. Vidare, summeras studien i ett ramverk för hållbart värdeskapande som professionella tjänsteföretag kan använda som ett verktyg för att uppnå hållbarhet i affärsmodellen. För att skapa konkurrensfördelar på den nya marknaden för hållbart värdeskapande kan professionella serviceföretag inkorporera hållbart värdeskapande, genom bedömningen av materiella och immateriella tillgångar i alla affärsfall och erbjudanden, och därigenom arbeta proaktivt för att möta framtida krav. Detta skulle kunna skapa konkurrenskraft genom en ”först till marknad” fördel.

Since the early 1990s, institutional approaches to organizations have increasingly focused on explaining the role of agency in processes of institutional creation and transformation. The paradox of embedded agency, the question of how actors can become motivated and enabled to transform supposedly taken-for-granted practices, structures and norms has become the fundamental puzzle of contemporary institutional theory. Recent attempts to resolve this puzzle under the label of “institutional work” focus on practices aimed at creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions, but portray them as planned, discrete episodes that unfold in isolation from everyday organizational or social life. Thereby, the label highlights institutionalists’ current neglect of work in its literal meaning as actors’ everyday occupational tasks and activities. The detachment of institutional work from practical work constitutes a significant blind spot in institutionalists’ understanding of agency and calls for research that examines the reciprocity of institutions and work. Drawing on illuminating constructs from theories of practice, this study extends existing field-level approaches to the paradox of embedded agency. It argues for a practice-based institutionalism that focuses on individual actors and the role of their collective micro-level praxis in constituting macro-level institutions. It re-connects institutional arguments to every-day activity rather than organizational or managerial action, unpacks the micro-practices and micro–politics by which actors negotiate institutional contradictions and demonstrates the reciprocity of institutions and work. The research addresses the detachment of institutional and practical work through a single-case study of a global law firm’s banking group. It explores what banking lawyers do when they ‘do deals’ and how their practical work may attain institutional relevance. Positioned at the intersec-tion of local laws, international financial markets, commercial and professional logics, banking lawyers operate across multiple institutional frameworks. Observations and accounts of their work provide particularly rich insights into the dynamics of institutional persistence and change, because they illustrate empirically how contradictory institutionalized concepts, practices and logics are experienced, negotiated, and constituted at work.

Effective knowledge sharing within project teams is critical to knowledge-intensive professional service firms. Prior research studies indicate a positive association between trust, social-cognitive factors, and effective knowledge sharing among co-workers. The conceptual framework proposed here builds on these studies, and draws from theoretical foundations from the organizational behavior, psychology, information studies, sociology, and management literature on organizational trust and knowledge sharing, and identifies the most significant factors found to influence organizational knowledge sharing directly and indirectly through trust. The study makes methodological contributions in the form of conceptualizations for knowledge sharing behavior, trust, and tie strength. Also, it provides a more nuanced and focused analysis, by factoring for knowledge type and co-worker working relationship. Data were collected from 275 knowledge workers (‘legal professionals’ and paralegals) engaged in shared legal project work, at one of Canada’s largest multijurisdictional law firms. The nature of their work required a significant reliance on co-workers, for both explicit and tacit knowledge. Multiple regression analysis, among other statistical techniques, was used to test the hypotheses and determine significant relationships. Of the factors examined in the study, the three found to have the strongest effect on respondents’ trust in their co-workers were shared vision, shared language, and tie strength. Furthermore, the two factors found to have the strongest effect on organizational knowledge sharing behavior were trust and shared vision. Overall trust was also found to have a mediating effect between shared vision and knowledge sharing behavior, and between shared language and knowledge sharing behavior. A significant implication for practitioners is that effective knowledge sharing among co-workers requires a nurturing manager to work on developing co-worker trust and shared vision. Furthermore, a manager wanting to promote trust between co-workers must nurture shared language and shared vision.

Effective knowledge sharing within project teams is critical to knowledge-intensive professional service firms. Prior research studies indicate a positive association between trust, social-cognitive factors, and effective knowledge sharing among co-workers. The conceptual framework proposed here builds on these studies, and draws from theoretical foundations from the organizational behavior, psychology, information studies, sociology, and management literature on organizational trust and knowledge sharing, and identifies the most significant factors found to influence organizational knowledge sharing directly and indirectly through trust. The study makes methodological contributions in the form of conceptualizations for knowledge sharing behavior, trust, and tie strength. Also, it provides a more nuanced and focused analysis, by factoring for knowledge type and co-worker working relationship. Data were collected from 275 knowledge workers (‘legal professionals’ and paralegals) engaged in shared legal project work, at one of Canada’s largest multijurisdictional law firms. The nature of their work required a significant reliance on co-workers, for both explicit and tacit knowledge. Multiple regression analysis, among other statistical techniques, was used to test the hypotheses and determine significant relationships. Of the factors examined in the study, the three found to have the strongest effect on respondents’ trust in their co-workers were shared vision, shared language, and tie strength. Furthermore, the two factors found to have the strongest effect on organizational knowledge sharing behavior were trust and shared vision. Overall trust was also found to have a mediating effect between shared vision and knowledge sharing behavior, and between shared language and knowledge sharing behavior. A significant implication for practitioners is that effective knowledge sharing among co-workers requires a nurturing manager to work on developing co-worker trust and shared vision. Furthermore, a manager wanting to promote trust between co-workers must nurture shared language and shared vision.