%0 Journal Article
%T Diversification, Branding, and Performance of Professional Service Firms
%A Carolina Castaldi
%A Marco S. Giarratana
%J Journal of Service Research
%@ 1552-7379
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1094670518755315
%X This article analyzes the effects of diversification and brand breadth on firm performance for professional service firms (PSFs). The research aim is two-fold. First, we test whether moving into products may put at risk the core resources that sustain PSFs¡¯ competitive advantage. Second, we study which branding strategies best match their diversification attempts. Broad (narrow) brands characterize a branding strategy with scarce (plentiful) associations to specific product characteristics. We analyzed trademark portfolios of 47 U.S.-based management consulting firms in the 2000 to 2009 time period. Panel regression results suggest that (1) PSFs always benefit from diversification when they remain pure-service providers; (2) performance is positively related to a strategy of specialized narrow brands
%K professional service firms
%K diversification
%K brand breadth
%K performance
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1094670518755315