What shapes a buyer's needs and wants? In The Influence Economy, Maxim Sytch explores the influences that nudge buyers toward questionable decisions and consumption, revealing how professional services--consulting, marketing, banking, and legal firms--create demand for unnecessary and potentially harmful products and services. Such supplier-induced demand can take many forms, including superfluous reorganizations, frivolous lawsuits, and ill-conceived acquisitions. These actions may not only fail to produce positive outcomes but can also inflict detrimental consequences on the buying organization, from squandering valuable resources and demotivating the workforce to disrupting business operations and causing various operational, legal, and financial setbacks.

Supplier-induced demand is not uniform but occurs under specific circumstances. Through empirical analyses and interviews with buyers and sellers of professional services, Sytch reveals the conditions under which supplier-induced demand is most likely to occur. The book argues that the conditions that give rise to supplier-induced demand are increasingly characteristic of today's broader knowledge-based economy, with significant implications for managerial control, vertical integration, and the economics of agglomeration. Ultimately, Sytch lays the groundwork for a systematic understanding of the contemporary influence economy and identifies potential strategies for organizations and policymakers to counteract its adverse effects.

Chapter 1: What Is This Book About?

Chapter 2: Meet Supplier-Induced Demand

Chapter 3: Uncertainty

Chapter 4: The Power of Professional Service Firms

Chapter 5: The Imperfect Agents

Chapter 6: The Arrival of the Commercial Institutional Logic

Chapter 7: The Change in Professionals' Identity

Chapter 8: The Emergence of Supplier-Induced Demand

Chapter 9: Evidence from Intellectual Property Litigation

Chapter 10: Why Don't the Buyers Learn?

Chapter 11: Looking Forward

"Captivating read! Superbly written blend of classic research, fresh thinking, and spot-on field work, The Influence Economy is a deep dive into the arcane world of professional services. Lawyers, bankers, consultants, and the like are often wise, well-meaning advisors, but also can create demand for unnecessary, even harmful corporate actions. Full of provocative questions. Be prepared to think!"

Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, S. W. Ascherman Professor, Stanford University

"How often does a dissertation supervisor's advice serve her interests rather than the student's? Often, but the phenomenon is not limited, nor concentrated, in professors. It is generic to professionals who in some part create demand for their service. This book looks closely at lawyers, among others. To what extent do lawyers encourage clients to pay for services more in the lawyer's interest than the client's? What about business consultants? Doctors? Politicians? Frightening questions. Significant questions. You will not walk out of this book the same person who entered."

Ronald S. Burt, Distinguished Professor, Bocconi University and Charles M. Harper Leadership Professor of Sociology and Strategy, University of Chicago

"A tour de force exploring the intricate dynamics that underpin the market for professional services. The novelty and rigor of this book's arguments make it indispensable reading for scholars and practitioners alike who have a keen interest in understanding the dynamics of these markets. Others with a broader interest in professions, the knowledge economy, and the art of influence and persuasion will also find this work enlightening. Ultimately, I think both buyers and sellers of professional services should read this book-it will change their perspective."

Ranjay Gulati, Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

"You likely have not heard of supplier-induced demand. After reading this book, you will know why its effect should concern you when managing an organization, buying a service or product, or simply participating in our complex, information-studded society. These concerns are especially great if you are participating in the tight embrace that consulting firms and other professional firms have with their corporate clients. Read the book to see why."

Henrich R. Greve, Rudolf and Valeria Maag Chaired Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD