Professional services represent a large and increasingly important sector of most developed economies. In some countries, the professional services sector now generates more GDP than the manufacturing sector. This sector includes traditional professions such as accountancy and law; professional services provided by knowledge-oriented and information technology companies such as IBM, Accenture and Oracle; and the supply of internal professional services within organisations. The rapid growth in professional services is a response to the changed market environment, including heightened competition, changing structure of markets, the increased sophistication of customers and a knowledge-oriented economy. Recent research, such as the work on 'service-dominant logic', highlights specialised knowledge and skills as the fundamental basis of exchange relationships.

Professionals' relationsihps with their clients are typically long-term, participative and dedicated to providing superior service. However, the adoption of best-practice marketing has been a considerable challenge for many accounting, financial, legal and other professional service firms. Historically, many professional service firms have been able to prosper and still be poor at marketing. The objective of this course is ot explore the strategic dimensions of marketing in a professional firm environment. In particular, it will focus on how key marketing concepts can be utilised in a range of diverse professional service environments.