Page 9 - MDPs - Chapter 14 - Multidisciplinayr Practice and Partnershps
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organization. Resources can then be spent to cross-market services while internal control shifts to each
unit of the MDO and focuses on its own core competencies.
Access to the MDO can be extended to the public or the corporate client if the organization would like to
further broaden the referral base. The gatekeeper is no longer required. The corporate client can create
peer-to-peer relationships outside of the system with selected professionals. The result is that the
centralized MDP loses some of its advantages and the members of the MDO receive additional referrals.12
While the Big 5 will maintain their considerable advantages of common quality and responsiveness
standards, MDOs can create structures to challenge these advantages.
[1]—Globalization and Localization
Clients’ needs for services are unique. There are no two businesses that have the same needs at the same
time in the same locations. The Big 5 seeks to solve this problem by bringing resources in-house to offer
all services to businesses everywhere.
The MDO seeks a solution by combining existing networks and service providers into a common
organization. Each has the common objective of being global as well as local at the same time.
Legal services traditionally have been local in nature. This is changing, as services are more uniform.13 It is
not uncommon for lawyers to have a national practice in a particular area of the law. The Internet makes
it easier to locate attorneys with national expertise as John in the PSI example. It also makes it possible
for John to market his services to a large group of potential clients.
The Big 5 have used globalization as a way to offer similar services and products developed in one market
or country in other markets or countries. Beginning with accounting and auditing, which required common
standards be applied, the Big 5 have applied the same principal to other services. As transactions become
even more uniform, products developed in one jurisdiction can be applied in another. The result is a high
return on their investment. True economies of scale can be achieved because they are at the same time
global as well as local.
Using information technology, the Big 5 have the opportunity to localize and tailor services to specific
clients anywhere in the world by using vast resources developed in other parts of the world. The client
can then further refine the services with the local professional. Professionals, who can provide these
tailored services, create a loyal client who knows that in the future all of his consulting needs can be
satisfied in one place. Law and consulting firms, not part of the Big 5, cannot provide these services on a
uniform and global basis.
12 When communications are direct among the principals in a transaction, this affects other organizations that have traditionally filled the role
of monitor or intermediary.
13 Daly, Resolving Ethical Conflicts in Multijurisdictional Practice — Is Model Rule 8.5 the Answer, An Answer, or No Answer at All, 36 S. Tex. L.
Rev. 715, 723 (1995).
4
unit of the MDO and focuses on its own core competencies.
Access to the MDO can be extended to the public or the corporate client if the organization would like to
further broaden the referral base. The gatekeeper is no longer required. The corporate client can create
peer-to-peer relationships outside of the system with selected professionals. The result is that the
centralized MDP loses some of its advantages and the members of the MDO receive additional referrals.12
While the Big 5 will maintain their considerable advantages of common quality and responsiveness
standards, MDOs can create structures to challenge these advantages.
[1]—Globalization and Localization
Clients’ needs for services are unique. There are no two businesses that have the same needs at the same
time in the same locations. The Big 5 seeks to solve this problem by bringing resources in-house to offer
all services to businesses everywhere.
The MDO seeks a solution by combining existing networks and service providers into a common
organization. Each has the common objective of being global as well as local at the same time.
Legal services traditionally have been local in nature. This is changing, as services are more uniform.13 It is
not uncommon for lawyers to have a national practice in a particular area of the law. The Internet makes
it easier to locate attorneys with national expertise as John in the PSI example. It also makes it possible
for John to market his services to a large group of potential clients.
The Big 5 have used globalization as a way to offer similar services and products developed in one market
or country in other markets or countries. Beginning with accounting and auditing, which required common
standards be applied, the Big 5 have applied the same principal to other services. As transactions become
even more uniform, products developed in one jurisdiction can be applied in another. The result is a high
return on their investment. True economies of scale can be achieved because they are at the same time
global as well as local.
Using information technology, the Big 5 have the opportunity to localize and tailor services to specific
clients anywhere in the world by using vast resources developed in other parts of the world. The client
can then further refine the services with the local professional. Professionals, who can provide these
tailored services, create a loyal client who knows that in the future all of his consulting needs can be
satisfied in one place. Law and consulting firms, not part of the Big 5, cannot provide these services on a
uniform and global basis.
12 When communications are direct among the principals in a transaction, this affects other organizations that have traditionally filled the role
of monitor or intermediary.
13 Daly, Resolving Ethical Conflicts in Multijurisdictional Practice — Is Model Rule 8.5 the Answer, An Answer, or No Answer at All, 36 S. Tex. L.
Rev. 715, 723 (1995).
4
