The internationalization of professional service firms: Drivers, Forms and Outcomes

This chapter examines the internationalization of professional service firms (PSFs), outlining its drivers, varying forms and organizational implications. We argue that conventional internationalization theory does not apply straightforwardly to PSFs. We identify three key sources of PSF distinctiveness – governance, clients and knowledge – and show how these generate not only differences between PSFs and other types of organizations but also heterogeneity amongst PSFs themselves. Based on this, we identify four different forms of PSF internationalization – network, project, federal and transnational – and note that scholarly interest has mostly focused on the last two of these. We also highlight change towards the transnational model as an underlying theme in PSF research. We find little convincing evidence that this model has been successfully implemented and argue that, in general, PSFs are better understood as federal structures controlled by a few powerful offices than as transnational enterprises. We conclude with suggestions for future research.