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AN ‘EXPERT LABOR’ APPROACH TO BUSINESS SERVICE CHANGE
Author(s) -
Wood Peter
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
papers in regional science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1435-5957
pISSN - 1056-8190
DOI - 10.1111/j.1435-5597.1996.tb00668.x
Subject(s) - variety (cybernetics) , business , competition (biology) , tertiary sector of the economy , service (business) , marketing , industrial organization , control (management) , economics , management , computer science , ecology , artificial intelligence , biology
Presents results from a recent study of the use of business service consultancies by major UK companies in managing strategic change. This use is examined in relation to all the sources of skilled management labor available to these companies. The focal professes supporting business service development are interaction and competition between the ‘expert labor’ they offer and that available from the internal labor markets of clients. These processes also underpin modern regional agglomeration trends. Systematic variations appear in the use of consultancies affording to client size, mode of control, growth, sector and location. It is argued, however, that patterns of business service use fundamentally reflect the management capabilities of client firms in relation to various types of strategic change. In some cases it substitutes for client deficiencies. More often it appears to supplement client strengths across a variety of both sector‐specific and more universally applicable expertise. It is concluded that the availability of expert managerial labor is a critical but neglected aspect of regional economic development, of which the growth of business services is one important manifestation.