MIT's Michael Cusumano to Deliver Closing Keynote at Technology Professional Services Association November Summit

SAN DIEGO --(Business Wire)-- The Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA), the technology professional services industry's premier organization, announced today that Michael Cusumano, Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, will be the closing keynote speaker at the TPSA Summit, to be held November 12-14 in Washington, D.C.

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The fall Summit, themed "Aligning Professional Services," is focused on achieving total alignment between overall corporate strategy and the professional services strategy.

Cusumano's presentation, "Managing the Product/Service Mix for Long-Term Success -- Which is the Better Business Model, in Software and Other Industries?", builds on his latest book, The Business of Software, and focuses on the common debate among entrepreneurs and managers, in software and other businesses, of corporate positioning as a products company versus a services company.

After constructing a database of over 400 public software companies and applying a historical perspective of more than 15 years, Cusumano's research now extends to non-software companies and is designed to answer the question of which is the better business model: products, services, or something in between, in terms of firm performance and market valuation over time.

"One of our missions as an association is to guide our members in the process of designing a viable services strategy that complements a broader company portfolio. This continues to be a critical discussion," said Thomas Lah, TPSA Executive Director. "Michael's rich perspective, based on both academic research and hands-on experience, will provide Summit attendees with valuable information that they can directly apply to their own businesses."

Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. He specializes in strategy, product development, and entrepreneurship in the software business. He has been a director of several public and private software companies, including Patni Computer Systems. He also has consulted for dozens of major organizations around the world. Cusumano is the author or co-author of eight books. He received a B.A. degree from Princeton, a Ph.D. from Harvard, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Production and Operations Management at the Harvard Business School.

For more information on the TPSA Summit, along with community resources including important industry news and key financial trends, TPSA programs and member benefits, visit www.tpsaonline.com.

About TPSA

The Technology Professional Services Association (TPSA) is the first and only organization for executives who create, produce, deliver, manage, measure, and optimize technology services in the world's leading corporations. Member companies represent a diverse group of market segments including hardware and software products, systems integration, on-demand hosted applications, and value-added solutions. Through membership collaboration and management expertise, TPSA provides the information, concepts, models, and best practices required for success in the critical professional services component of the technology enterprise.

Leveraging its influential membership, TPSA serves as a pre-eminent thought leader and issues advocate, providing insights and trends analysis to the media, industry and business community-at-large on all matters related to technology professional services. Among its member programs, TPSA offers a Benchmark Survey with peer-group specific and industry average metrics, and The Service 50, an aggregation and analysis of publicly reported financial data, with a focus on trends in services revenues, margins, and contributions to total corporate revenue.

TPSA is part of the Point B group of associations. For over 16 years, Point B has successfully managed industry groups, including the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA). More information on TPSA can be found at www.tpsaonline.com.