Modular service design in professional services: a qualitative study

Professional service firms have had an impressive growth in the last years and are very influential on setting managerial practices at manufacturing and service firms. However, despite their importance, there is little research on professional service delivery process. This paper describes, based on an ethnographic study, how, in expertise and experience‐based practices, professionals follow a search#47;assemble process to deliver their services. The setting chosen for this study is the production of advertising soundtracks, a professional service placed on the boundary between art and business, where professionals create, within very tight schedules, soundtracks to stimulate audiences to consume products and services. Data gathered by direct observation, in‐depth interviews and informal conversations suggests that those professionals follow a repetitive process of search and assembly, which can be extended to other professional services.