Arcs of integration for professional service operations management: a literature review

This paper contributes to the literature by providing definitions for Professional Service Firms (PSFs) from an Operations Management (OM) perspective and also by identifying emerging research themes among three sectors of professional services namely: law, accounting/finance and management consulting. The authors focused on the most frequently researched/cited areas identified under Von Nordenflycht’s taxonomy and composed a structured literature review of newly published material between the years 2007-2017 on PSFs. This paper makes a contribution through a reflection of PSOM thinking: human capital, service solution development, standardisation vs customisation, management (including lean thinking and service modularity) and technology.