Showing papers on "Service provider published in 1990"

Service Breakthroughs: Changing the Rules of the Game (Прорыв в сфере услуг: изменение правил игры)

Abstract: What Do Citicorp, UPS and Marriott have in common? They are "breakthrough" service providers, firms that changed the rules of the game in their respective industries by consistently meeting or exceeding customer needs and expectations. To find out how these companies do it, service management experts James Heskett, Earl Sasser, and Christopher Hart put the question to the chief executive officers of fifteen of America's leading service firms attending a workshop at the Harvard Business School. Breakthrough leaders, they discovered, think very differently about their businesses than do their competitors, in distinct and well-defined ways. Now, in Service Breakthroughs, based upon five years of exhaustive research in fourteen service industries, Heskett, Sasser, and Hart show exactly what enables one or two companies in each industry to constantly set new standards for quality and value that force competitors to adapt or fail. At the heart of breakthrough performance, the authors contend, is a sometimes intuitive but thorough understanding of the "self-reinforcing service cycle" that replaces traditional management of "trade-offs." The "cycle" is a paradigm derived from the research results suggesting direct links between heightened customer satisfaction, increased customer retention, augmented sales and profit, improved quality and productivity, greater service value per unit of cost, improved satisfaction of service providers, increased employee retention, and further heightened customer satisfaction. With detailed examples and dramatic case studies of Mark Twain Bancshares, American Airlines, Florida Power & Light, Federal Express, McDonald's and many other companies, Heskett, Sasser, and Hart show how this self-reinforcing cycle of behavior differentiates breakthrough leaders from their "merely good" competitors. The authors describe how breakthrough managers develop counterintuitive, even contrarian, strategic service visions. These companies define their "service concept" in terms of results achieved for customers rather than services performed. They target market segments by focusing on psychographics - how customers think and behave - instead of demographics. And instead of viewing a service delivery system as a facility where the service is producted and sold, breakthrough firms see it as an opportunity to enhance the quality of the service. These profound differences in thought and action have brought spectacular results. For managers who wish to set the pace in their service industries, Service Breakthroughs will be essential reading.

Service Breakthroughs: Changing the Rules of the Game

Abstract: What do Citicorp, UPS, and Marriott have in common? They are "breakthrough" service providers, firms that changed the rules of the game in their respective industries by consistently exceeding customer needs and expectations, thus forcing their competitors to either adapt or fail. With detailed case studies of Nordstrom, American Airlines, McDonald's and dozens of other companies, service management experts Heskett, Sasser and Hart show exactly how breakthrough managers - with an intuitive understanding of the "self-reinforcing management cycle" have development a strategic service vision, built loyalty, and positioned their service more successfully than their competitors.

Beyond products: services-based strategy.

Abstract: Services technologies are changing the way companies in every industry--manufacturers and service providers alike--compete. Vertical integration, physical facilities, even a seemingly superior product can no longer assure a competitive edge. Instead, sustainable advantage is more and more likely to come from developing superior capabilities in a few core service skills--and out-sourcing as much of the rest as possible. Within companies, technology is increasing the leverage of service activities: today, more value added comes from design innovations, product image, or other attributes that services create than from the production process. New technologies also let independent enterprises provide world-class services at lower costs than customers could achieve if they performed the activities themselves. These changes have far-reaching implications for how managers structure their organizations and define strategic focus. Companies like Apple, Honda, and Merck show that a less integrated but more focused organization is key to competitive success. They build their strategies around a few highly developed capabilities. And they outsource as many of the other activities in their value chain as possible. To help managers develop an activity-focused strategy, the authors offer a new way to approach competitive analyses, guidelines for determining which activities to outsource and which to retain, and an overview of the risks and rewards of strategic outsourcing. Throughout, they draw on the findings of their three-year study of the major impacts technology has had in the service sector.

Balancing the right to habilitation with the right to personal liberties: the rights of people with developmental disabilities to eat too many doughnuts and take a nap

Abstract: In the pursuit of efficient habilitation, many service providers exercise a great deal of control over the lives of clients with developmental disabilities. For example, service providers often choose the client's habilitative goals, determine the daily schedule, and regulate access to preferred activities. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of allowing clients to exercise personal liberties, such as the right to choose and refuse daily activities. On one hand, poor choices on the part of the client could hinder habilitation. On the other hand, moral and legal issues arise when the client's right to choice is abridged. Recommendations are offered to protect both the right to habilitation and the freedom to choose.

A Synthesised Service Quality Model with Managerial Implications

Abstract: A synthesised service quality model with managerial implications is presented. This synthesised model is based on the works of the Nordic and the North American schools of service research. The model presents the overall service quality gap as a result of both technical and functional quality gaps. The core of the synthesised model is the idea that management must determine both what customers expect and how they expect to get it. Management must plan, implement and control the service offering to limit, reduce, or eliminate service quality gaps.

A Taxonomy for Service Processes and its Implications for System Design

Abstract: The growing importance of service delivery highlights the need for well designed and operated service systems. A frame‐work, developed from the perspective of an operations manager, can aid in the understanding of service production, assist in the identification of appropriate design strategies, and prescribe associated system design choices. The major dimensions of the taxonomy are the characteristics of the system/customer interface (direct, indirect, or no customer contact) and the attributes of the service process (rigid or fluid service processes).

Service Management: A Management Focus for Service Competition

Abstract: In most western economies at least, both service firms and manufacturers of goods are facing a new type of competition, which has been emerging over the last decade or so. The technical solution embedded in a service or a good does not guarantee a solid competitive position any more, as it often used to do. This new situation can be called service competition, because managers will have to appreciate the importance of good service in most competitive situations and, moreover, to understand what new challenges they will have to cope with in this situation. The new competition requires a “service know‐how” on the strategic as well as on the operational level. The consequences for the strategic thinking in a firm and the challenges for management are discussed. A definition of service management is proposed and a set of principles of service management are put forward.

Multilocation queuing for telephone calls

Abstract: This invention relates to methods and apparatus for queuing calls to a multilocation service provider having a plurality of automatic call distributors (ACDs). If all circuits to the ACDs are unavailable, a call is queued in one of a plurality of queues. One or more of these queues will allow call completion to any ACD of the service provider as soon as an agent of that ACD becomes available. Advantageously, the average waiting time for customers to that service provider is reduced, thereby improving service. In accordance with one feature of the system, the caller can select one of a plurality of choices of music on hold as offered by the service provider.

Managing the Service Encounter: A Focus on the Employee

Abstract: The service encounter between an organisation′s employees and its customers, and the ensuing implications for service operations and management are important. Attention is focused on employment strategies to include selection and training, the development and implementation of customer care programmes and the management of all interpersonal relationships within an organisation.

Service Operations Strategy: Framework for Matching the Service Operations Task and the Service Delivery System

Abstract: Service organisations must produce and deliver a service package which matches the expectations of their customers. A framework for a service operations strategy, its analysis and measurement, is provided. The service operations task is defined; the means of achieving the objectives of the task – the service production and delivery system – is detailed; and the operational factors affecting the running of a system are addressed. A case example of the applications of a service operations strategy is provided.

Quality Measurement in Service Industries

Abstract: A number of writers in the service management literature have observed that because service quality is difficult to measure there is a danger that service organisations will neglect to measure it, despite the fact that service quality is often critical to their competitive business success. The results of an empirical research project investigating the quality measurement systems of six multi‐site UK service organisations, all of which consider themselves to differentiate on the basis of service quality, are described. Two of the organisations were found to have very few quality measures and recognised that this was a major gap in their performance measurement systems. Two had developed a range of customer‐based measures of service quality which were reported regularly and widely in the organisations. The other two companies had developed a wide range of internal and external, hard and soft quality measures. These companies used managers as well as customers to measure both tangible and intangible aspects...

Courtesy and Friendliness: Conflicting Goals for the Service Providers

Abstract: Suggests that an understanding of the difference between friendliness and courtesy can help providers to meet customer expectations and improve perceptions of service quality in a variety of service situations. Focuses on the issue of first‐name usage as a gesture of friendliness which is open to misinterpretation. Notes that this aspect of friendliness has been much debated in the popular press and has been identified as part of consumer service by some service organizations. Concludes that consumers express strong preferences for the level of friendliness they want from any type of service encounter, and that expectations will vary from one service to another and also from one customer to another.

Assessing the acceptability of NORPLANT implants in four countries: findings from focus group research.

Abstract: In 1986-87, a qualitative research project was conducted in the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, and Thailand to expand understanding of the acceptability of NORPLANT contraceptive implants beyond inferences made on the basis of continuation rates. In each of the four study sites, focus group discussions or in-depth interviews were held with potential acceptors, current NORPLANT users, discontinuers, husbands of women in these three groups, and service providers. Nonclinical participants generally had little formal education and lived primarily in urban or semi-urban areas where NORPLANT has been available for at least five years. The study focused on attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of each group regarding NORPLANT implants. Results suggest that factors having an impact on the acceptability of NORPLANT implants fall into three general categories: medical/technical, cultural/religious, and informational/educational. This article discusses each of these categories, including programmatic implications of the findings, and puts forward recommendations for enhancing NORPLANT introduction efforts on the basis of these findings.

Transitions: Times of Change and Accommodation:

Abstract: A model of transition as a change in ecocultural niche is described, in which transitions require accommodations in daily routines for a child, family, and service providers. A working definition of transition impact is the number of accommodations required, and the sustainability of daily routines. The research literature is reviewed for transitions across the age span of birth to 8 years.

Issues in African-American family preservation.

Abstract: This article is concerned with African-American family preservation. The authors' assumptions are that (1) child welfare service takes place in a cultural context; (2) effective work with African-American families requires a culturally relative "nondeficit" perspective on African-American culture; (3) this begins with helping service providers to acquire an analytical approach to culture and factual knowledge about the cultural behavior of clients; and (4) staff members must be prepared through training to implement a cultural knowledge base in transactions with African-American families and must have the supervisory and policy supports to do this. The several practice issues central to African-American family preservation are highlighted.

Analysis of resource sharing in information providing services

Abstract: The key to an economical service is in the sharing of physical resources among the customers. This applies to the information storage and sourcing devices, as well as to the transmission bandwidth. One of the possible solutions to the resource sharing problem is the grouping of customers with similar service requests, and broadcasting the information rather than granting the service individually. The customers' behavior (in particular, the customers' patience) is modeled, and the service performance for different service scenarios is analyzed. It is shown that in case of the threshold-activated service scenario, it is possible to optimize the service performance by using the statistics of the service requests and customer patience. >

Early intervention practices with families of children with handicaps

Abstract: A survey to examine the degree to which early intervention activities currently focus on the family was distributed to service providers for birth to 6-year-old children with handicaps from six randomly selected states. Most goals selected by providers were child-focused clinical goals, although family intervention goals were cited frequently. Forty-percent of the sample reported spending no time with families during a typical week. Published programs or curricula were rarely used as a basis for working with families. Service providers reported that they successfully achieved goals set for many of their families, yet they also encountered several problems, including insufficient time for family services. Comparisons were made between providers working with 0- to 3-year-old children and those working with 3- to 6-year-old children. Suggestions concerning the implementation of the family-focused agenda of P.L. 99-457 were made.

Service assurance in modern telecommunications networks

Abstract: Modern telecommunications network design and examples of possible causes of service interruption are examined, using AT&T 800 Service for illustration. Different methods of assuring service technically are presented. It is shown how end-to-end service reliability can be improved by using the techniques described, applying them to 800 Service as an example. Techniques used to restore generic switched services or private line services after a failure within a network are also presented. >

Unleashing the Power of Service Brands in the 1990s

Abstract: Three principles are presented to help companies achieve sustainable, differentiated service in the 1990s. The “service brand” concept is introduced and the contrast made between a service brand and the conventional product brand. Practical methods to mobilise company‐wide support for the service brand are described, and the essential nature of brand contracts is outlined with a view to the new environment where forming a strong service network is of crucial importance.

Strategies for Achieving an Integrated Education for Middle School Students with Severe Disabilities

Abstract: There is much discussion about and emerging demonstrations of children with severe disabilities being included to greater degrees in the mainstream of school life, including general education classes and extracurricular activities. Educational service providers are struggling with how to change from a self-contained special education classroom model of service delivery to a more integrated approach in which special education is a service and support provided in general education environments. Presented in this paper are general and specific strategies that have been useful in facilitating such a change. Specific examples relate to middle and high school students, although the principles and strategies have applications for the integration of younger children as well.

Personal communication services-the new POTS

Abstract: Personal communication service (PCS) is a concept of telephone network services and operation which, in its full implementation, dissociates the service offered to the subscriber from the physical location of the service and access technology over which the service is delivered, and divests responsibility for service configuration and location from the telecommunications company to the subscriber. In PCS, the subscriber service consists of a personal subscriber number with, optionally, a personal service profile for advanced calling features such as call waiting, call forwarding, and calling number delivery. Service delivery is a software operation which consists of associating the subscriber service to a particular port in the network. Service configuration and location are controlled by the subscriber. PCS is presented, its technical requirements are discussed, and its implications for revenue generation and operation modernization are outlined. >

Assessing the Validity of Randomized Field Experiments: An Example from Drug Abuse Treatment Research

Abstract: Randomized field experiments are often logistical failures. They are particularly difficult to implement when the intervention involves a large number of components or service providers. Although s...

Service Typologies: A Transaction Modelling Approach

Abstract: Most services rely on a real‐time transaction between provider and customer. The nature of this interaction determines an immediate quality perception of the service by the user. In the long term, these cumulative quality perceptions may significantly affect the overall viability of the service and success of the provider firm. A transaction matrix is developed that allows placement of any service delivery process with respect to the technology and people interface characteristics. Selective repositioning within the matrix is shown to influence performance and productivity. A prescription for management is presented to allow use of the transaction model in strategic planning and tactical decision making.

Interaction Perspective Into Professional Business Services: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract: Services are produced and consumed in interaction between service providers and customers. Surprisingly, however, conceptual analyses of buyer-seller interaction have been scarce in service marketing literature. The paper introduces a preliminary conceptualization of buyer-seller interaction in professional business service industries. The framework has its origins in the interaction approach of industrial marketing as well as in social exchange and organization theories. The content of buyer-seller interaction is examined and the evolving bonds and outcomes are identified. Advantages and problems related to the framework are briefly discussed in the end of the paper.

HIV Infection and Hispanic Gay and Bisexual Men

Abstract: The growing urgency of meeting the underserved needs of Hispanic gay and bisexual men is underscored by the rising number of AIDS cases within thispopulation. For many Hispanic gays and bisexuals the psychosocial aspects relate to how the individual identifies himself as a Hispanic and as a gay or bisexual man. Hispanic gay and bisexual men often live three different lives in three different communities. For the researcher and service provider interested in contributing to the AIDS effort there are several systemic issues thatfunction as barriers. These systemic barriers have hampered efforts directed at gay and bisexual Hispanics. They are maintained by long-standing fears, suspicions, and power paradigms commonly referred to as homophobia, racism, and the internalization of these attitudes by Hispanic gays and bisexuals. This article attemptsto describe the psychosocial reality of Hispanic gay and bisexual men, examines the barriers affecting these men in HIV prevention, research, and service delivery s...