Entrepreneurship and Professional Service Firms

Research on entrepreneurship in professional services is rather limited. The authors argue that one reason why the two fields of professional services and entrepreneurship have operated in isolation rather than in mutual interaction is an inherent contradiction between the very ideas of entrepreneurship and professionalism. The perspective on entrepreneurship for this chapter is rather broad, focusing on new venture management and renewal in Professional Service Firms as well as embracing aspects such as learning, innovation, and institutional change. The chapter reviews previous work on entrepreneurship in professional services from three levels of analysis—the entrepreneurial team, the entrepreneurial firm, and finally the organizational field within which the creation and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities take place.