Paradoxes and management approaches of competing for work in creative professional service firms

Despite their business relevance, creative professional service firms are under-researched, in particular with regard to how they compete for work. Competing for work is key to survival, but also extremely challenging due to the complexity of the services offered. In this paper we use a paradox framework to investigate the opposing demands...

Embracing paradoxes to manage architectural competitions

dDespite being one of the most important means to obtain commissions, to explore in design terms and to develop design quality, architectural competitions are an extremely controversial procedure, in both research and in practice. Competitions present contradictory features and competing demands. Nevertheless, they are increasingly used within...

Conference information of the 5th International Conference on Competitions 2014

Sessions are themed around: the climate, innovation, the client, strategies, assessment, case studies, the concept and identity.

Managerial implications for architectural competitions based on paradox theory

Despite being one of the most important means to obtain commissions, explore in design terms and develop design quality, architectural competitions are an extremely controversial practice. Nevertheless, they are increasingly adopted within the European procurement law, to the point that exploring and understanding their debated issues is...

Managerial implications for architectural competitions based on paradox theory

Despite being one of the most important means to obtain commissions, explore in design terms and develop design quality, architectural competitions are an extremely controversial practice. Nevertheless, they are increasingly adopted within the European procurement law, to the point that exploring and understanding their debated issues is...

Working through paradoxes in professional creative service firms: Lessons learned from design competitions

With the recent focus on austerity and efficiency, dealing with competing tensions has become increasingly critical within the creative industry. Also project-based industries and construction are suffering from a severe downfall in commissions. Architecture is at the intersection of these industries. As such it is a fertile ground for...