Showing papers on "Service system published in 2007"

Steps toward a science of service systems

Abstract: The service sector accounts for most of the world's economic activity, but it's the least-studied part of the economy. A service system comprises people and technologies that adaptively compute and adjust to a system's changing value of knowledge. A science of service systems could provide theory and practice around service innovation

Auditing to keep online storage services honest

Abstract: A growing number of online service providers offer to store customers' photos, email, file system backups, and other digital assets. Currently, customers cannot make informed decisions about the risk of losing data stored with any particular service provider, reducing their incentive to rely on these services. We argue that third-party auditing is important in creating an online service-oriented economy, because it allows customers to evaluate risks, and it increases the efficiency of insurance-based risk mitigation. We describe approaches and system hooks that support both internal and external auditing of online storage services, describe motivations for service providers and auditors to adopt these approaches, and list challenges that need to be resolved for such auditing to become a reality.

Coping with Time‐Varying Demand When Setting Staffing Requirements for a Service System

Abstract: We review queueing-theory methods for setting staffing requirements in service systems where customer demand varies in a predictable pattern over the day. Analyzing these systems is not straightforward, because standard queueing theory focuses on the long-run steady-state behavior of stationary models. We show how to adapt stationary queueing models for use in nonstationary environments so that time-dependent performance is captured and staffing requirements can be set. Relatively little modification of straightforward stationary analysis applies in systems where service times are short and the targeted quality of service is high. When service times are moderate and the targeted quality of service is still high, time-lag refinements can improve traditional stationary independent period-by-period and peak-hour approximations. Time-varying infinite-server models help develop refinements, because closed-form expressions exist for their time-dependent behavior. More difficult cases with very long service times and other complicated features, such as end-of-day effects, can often be treated by a modified-offered-load approximation, which is based on an associated infinite-server model. Numerical algorithms and deterministic fluid models are useful when the system is overloaded for an extensive period of time. Our discussion focuses on telephone call centers, but applications to police patrol, banking, and hospital emergency rooms are also mentioned.

Connecting Consumers with Service Providers

Abstract: A request is received from a consumer of services to consult with a service provider having a service provider profile that satisfies at least some attributes in a set of attributes that define a suitable service provider; an available service provider satisfying at least some of the attributes in the set of attributes is identified; and a communication channel is provided to establish a communication between the consumer of services and the identified service provider.

The FAIRSERV Model: Consumer Reactions to Services Based on a Multidimensional Evaluation of Service Fairness

Abstract: The current dominant conceptualization of consumer reactions to services is the SERVQUAL model. This article proposes the FAIRSERV model as an alternative or additional conceptualization of consumer reactions to services. FAIRSERV involves seeing service evaluation through the lens of organizational fairness (justice) theory applied to the relationship between the service consumer and the service provider. FAIRSERV is premised on the claim that, especially in relational service contexts, consumers are interested in service fairness as well as service quality (service favorableness) as represented by SERVQUAL. Service fairness or justice is a multidimensional construct based on equity theory. In this article, the FAIRSERV model is tested with the SERVQUAL model in the context of information system services. The two models are used to predict service satisfaction and repatronage intention. The FAIRSERV model appears to add a significant new set of predictors of service satisfaction and repatronage intention that should be considered in the future by service providers.

Service Quality Attribute Weights: How Do Novice and Longer-Term Customers Construct Service Quality Perceptions?

Abstract: Service experiences often unfold over a series of consumption episodes, yet customer perceptions of these experiences are often treated as static events. This prevents a good understanding of the impact of consumption stage on service perceptions. Prior research reveals little about the variation in the salience of service quality attributes between novice and longer-term customers, especially in terms of contribution to overall service quality perceptions or about the effect of service quality and service satisfaction on behavioral intentions across consumption stages. This study examines these issues using cohort analysis within the context of ongoing health care services. Results indicate that the contribution of attributes to overall service quality differs across novice and longer-term customer cohorts, as does the interrelationship of service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. These findings have important implications for managing service processes, improving service provider performance, and enhancing customer service.

Customer satisfaction and service quality in UK financial services

Abstract: Purpose The paper seeks to evaluate the drivers of customer satisfaction (CS), specifically exploring the impact of business process management (BPM) on service quality and CS. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal case study uses quantitative and qualitative data to test six propositions derived from current literature. Findings Analysis confirms the role of staff satisfaction and service quality as key drivers of CS, suggested in the service profit chain, but proposes a more complex set of relationships. Technical service quality (TSQ) is found to play a critical role in determining CS and a strong causal link is found between TSQ and BPM. Research limitations/implications Findings are based on a single case, in a fast‐changing sector. Practical implications Findings suggest that managers should focus on TSQ as a priority. End‐to‐end BPM is identified as a key enabler of TSQ. Originality/value The research challenges the adequacy of the service profit chain and the emphasis on soft factors evident in much of the existing marketing and service operations literature. In examining the drivers of CS, this research offers an alternative perspective which places BPM at the centre of the debate.

Quality assured network service provision system compatible with a multi-domain network and service provision method and service broker device

Abstract: The invention provides quality assured network services in a multi-domain network and comprises a network service management device for managing device clusters incorporated within the operations management network of each provider network and receiving service orders, and a multi-domain service broker for providing a broker function for achieving agreement between a plurality of providers, and the multi-domain service broker further comprises a device for collecting domain information and information relating to the services each provider is able to provide from the network service management devices, and a device which on receipt of a network service request from a customer, extracts the network service management device of the domain which is able to satisfy the required quality level, and then issues instructions for the setting of the required information within the extracted network service management device.

The complexity of relationship marketing for service customers

Abstract: Purpose – There are a number of assumptions inherent in relationship marketing, including claims that a relationship should be developed with all customers in all situations. This paper seeks to show that marketers should not automatically use relationship marketing techniques for all products and for all customers.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports the results of an empirical survey of 287 consumers for five service products in which consumers were asked to assess the strength of the relationship between themselves and their supplier.Findings – Relationship strength was found to vary significantly between service products and individual customers, and the impact of duration of the relationship and the frequency of purchase on relationship strength depends greatly on the nature of the service product. It was also demonstrated that some customers want a closer relationship with service providers than other customers, and this aspect significantly affects the strength of relationship perceived...

Structuring front office and back office work in service delivery systems: An empirical study of three design decisions

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate how the distinction between contact and non‐contact activities influences the design of service delivery systems and to identify key design decisions for structuring front office and back office work.Design/methodology/approach – Building on current literature, the paper identifies three design decisions and associated performance trade‐offs. The design decisions regard the degree of customer contact in the process, the decoupling of activities and the grouping of employees. The design decisions and the trade‐offs are empirically validated in five case studies of 15 service delivery systems in the financial services sector.Findings – Distinguishing between the three design decisions is more suitable for describing today's practices than traditional front office – back office thinking. For each design decision a trade‐off was observed consisting of several design considerations. However, the trade‐offs do not involve the weighing of one set of performance o...

Service Management—Academic Issues and Scholarly Reflections from Operations Management Researchers*

Abstract: Services are now a larger portion of the economy than manufacturing for every nation on Earth, and services are an overwhelming portion of Western economies. While decision-making research has begun responding to this change, much of the scholarly work still addresses manufacturing issues. Particularly revealing is the field of operations management (OM), in which the proportion of manuscripts dedicated to services has been estimated at 3%, 6%, and 7.5% by various authors. We investigate several possible reasons for the neglect of services in research, including the difficulty in defining services, viewing services as derivative activities, a lack of defined processes, a lack of scale in services, and the effect of variability on service performance. We argue that times have changed, and none of these reasons is valid anymore. We sound the warning that failure to emphasize services in our research and teaching may signal the decline of the discipline. We note the proportion of OM faculty in business schools has shrunk in the past 10 years. Finally, we examine a selection of service research agendas and note several directions for high-impact, innovative research to revitalize the decision sciences. With practitioners joining the call for more research in services, the academic community has an exciting opportunity to embrace services and reshape its future.

Combining Service Blueprint and FMEA for Service Design

Abstract: This paper aims at combining the service blueprint and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to assist service designers in designing a failure-free service system. In the proposed approach, a blueprint of a service system should be, first, developed to identify the potential fail points and failure modes for both front office and back office service activities. Based on the blueprint, the FMEA tool is then applied to prioritise the critical potential failure modes of the service system and take the required actions to ensure service design performance. An example of a hypermarket service system was used to demonstrate the proposed approach. The example not only identifies the most likely failure modes but also provides the effects and possible causes for each of the most critical failure modes. This implies that the actions to prevent these failures from occurring should be the main focus in the service design stage of the example company. Some managerial implications are also provided.

A model of customer retention of dissatisfied business services customers

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework of the factors that potentially influence dissatisfied customers to continue purchasing from their existing service provider in the business‐to‐business (B2B) services sector.Design/methodology/approach – This review paper synthesises the findings from previous studies on switching barriers, and relationship variables, dependence, and calculative commitment.Findings – Five major factors deter customers from switching to an alternative service provider: switching costs; interpersonal relationships; the attractiveness of alternatives; service recovery; and inertia. These factors are mediated by dependence and calculative commitment.Originality/value – This is the first comprehensive study of the factors that potentially influence dissatisfied customers to remain behaviourally loyal to a service provider in the B2B services sector. This important study has significance for marketers in developing strategies for customer retention and s...

Monitoring the QoS for Web Services

Abstract: Quality of Service (QoS) information for Web services is essential to QoS-aware service management and composition. Currently, most QoS-aware solutions assume that the QoS for component services is readily available, and that the QoS for composite services can be computed from the QoS for component services. The issue of how to obtain the QoS for component services has largely been overlooked. In this paper, we tackle this fundamental issue. We argue that most of QoS metrics can be observed/computed based on service operations. We present the design and implementation of a high-performance QoS monitoring system. The system is driven by a QoS observation model that defines IT- and business-level metrics and associated evaluation formulas. Integrated into the SOA infrastructure at large, the monitoring system can detect and route service operational events systemically. Further, a model-driven, hybrid compilation/interpretation approach is used in metric computation to process service operational events and maintain metrics efficiently. Experiments suggest that our system can support high event processing throughput and scales to the number of CPUs.

A Hierarchical Modeling and Analysis for Grid Service Reliability

Abstract: Grid computing is a recently developed technology. Although the developmental tools and techniques for the grid have been extensively studied, grid reliability analysis is not easy because of its complexity. This paper is the first one that presents a hierarchical model for the grid service reliability analysis and evaluation. The hierarchical modeling is mapped to the physical and logical architecture of the grid service system and makes the evaluation and calculation tractable by identifying the independence among layers. Various types of failures are interleaved in the grid computing environment, such as blocking failures, time-out failures, matchmaking failures, network failures, program failures, and resource failures. This paper investigates all of them to achieve a complete picture about grid service reliability. Markov models, queuing theory, and graph theory are mainly used to model, evaluate, and analyze the grid service reliability. Numerical examples are illustrated

Values‐based service quality for sustainable business

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this research is to present a model for values-based sustainable servicebusiness grounded in the concept of values-based service quality. Design/methodology/approach – Base ...

Adding Value through Outsourcing: Contribution of 3PL Services to Customer Performance

Abstract: – The aim of this research is to understand how customers perceive their logistics service providers in terms of achieving the claimed benefits of outsourcing. This paper is based on research focusing on the state of the 3PL (Third Party Logistics) industry in Australia., – A set of typical business outcomes to which logistics outsourcing is expected to contribute were identified. Customers were asked to rate the contribution of their principal 3PL to these performance indicators. We used competitive priorities of 3PLs, the services provided by them and technologies used by them as predictors and performed regression analysis for each of these., – The results indicate that customers of 3PLs place significant value on the services they provide, technologies they use and objectives that transcend just low cost. The implication of this final finding shows that customers see a focus on service based solutions as providing a set of benefits beyond mere cost control., – The main limitation of this paper is that it is confined to Australia. So, any extensions of the findings to other regions of the world should be done with caution., – The practical implication of the study is that it provides support for the potential for an effective set of arrangements with 3PLs to help organizations to move out of the world of pure cost based competition, and into one where they could compete on multiple dimensions., – This study provides evidence from customers of logistics service providers indicating that 3PLs provide them with a means for competing through greater flexibility, at the same time as enabling better‐cost management. In this sense, customers see 3PLs as providing them with a potential pathway to more innovative business models.

Service Orientation: Its Impact on Business Performance in the Medical Service Industry

Abstract: From the viewpoint of internal marketing, employees who are content in their job may be motivated to satisfy their customers better than ones who are not content. Another relevant premise is that the content employees, because of their work motivation, would eventually help improve the performance of their firm. To verify these relationships, some previous studies looked into the effects of organisational service orientation on employee's satisfaction. But only few of them investigated the mediating effects of variables such as service value and customer orientation for their role in linking service orientation to business performance. This study examines how an organisation's service orientation had an effect on its performance at hospitals. For this purpose, verification of the mediating role of service value perceived by employees as well as the role of customer orientation on the firm's performance was attempted. For this study, a total of 292 usable questionnaires were collected from hospital staffs ...

A typology of mass services: the role of service delivery and consumption purpose in classifying service experiences

Abstract: Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to provide services marketers with a deeper understanding of the elements that characterize mass services. The paper shows that many studies have been conducted within the context of professional and retail services, knowledge of mass service contexts is limited despite the growth of services within this context. Design/methodology/approach — This paper provides a conceptual overview of mass services and develops a typology for mass services based on an extensive review of the services literature. Specifically, the typology developed classifies mass services on the basis of service delivery and purpose. The typology forwarded, therefore, classifies mass services using a two-by-two framework with individual and collective mass services classified as either utilitarian or hedonic in nature. Findings — The typology found in this paper provides a practical insight into the characteristics of services falling into the classification of mass services. The value of the classification is that managers can better understand the unique aspects of mass services, thus, allowing for a better utilization of limited resources. Moreover, the paper provides insights into a service classification that has received limited research emphasis, yet, is attracting increasing industry attention. Originality/value — This paper provides academics and practitioners with a framework that has both tactical and strategic implications. These implications include enhancing the customer experience and thus customer retention, resource management, employee training and service management. Given that such a framework has not been forwarded in the literature, the typology presented in the current paper makes an original contribution to the literature.

Trading places redux: employees as customers, customers as employees

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual paper is to show how a company can improve the interface by treating employees as customers and customers as employees.Design/methodology/approach – This article presents a conceptual model (reinforced with a review of extant literature and numerous examples) demonstrating the desirable consequences associated with the phenomenon we refer to as “trading places,” which occurs when organizations mix the treatment and roles of employees and customers.Findings – Traditionally organizations have treated employees and customers as separate constituencies. Operations and human resource managers have developed their own approach to deal with employees (e.g. as “resources” to be utilized), while marketing managers have related to customers through somewhat different lenses (e.g. viewing customers as “prizes” to be won). Yet, in service organizations, we find that as employees assume more customer‐like roles and customers increasingly resemble employees, successful organizat...

A typology of mass services: the role of service delivery and consumption purpose in classifying service experiences

Abstract: Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to provide services marketers with a deeper understanding of the elements that characterize mass services. The paper shows that many studies have been conducted within the context of professional and retail services, knowledge of mass service contexts is limited despite the growth of services within this context. Design/methodology/approach — This paper provides a conceptual overview of mass services and develops a typology for mass services based on an extensive review of the services literature. Specifically, the typology developed classifies mass services on the basis of service delivery and purpose. The typology forwarded, therefore, classifies mass services using a two-by-two framework with individual and collective mass services classified as either utilitarian or hedonic in nature. Findings — The typology found in this paper provides a practical insight into the characteristics of services falling into the classification of mass services. The value of the classification is that managers can better understand the unique aspects of mass services, thus, allowing for a better utilization of limited resources. Moreover, the paper provides insights into a service classification that has received limited research emphasis, yet, is attracting increasing industry attention. Originality/value — This paper provides academics and practitioners with a framework that has both tactical and strategic implications. These implications include enhancing the customer experience and thus customer retention, resource management, employee training and service management. Given that such a framework has not been forwarded in the literature, the typology presented in the current paper makes an original contribution to the literature.

Negotiation of Service Level Agreements: An Architecture and a Search-Based Approach

Abstract: Software systems built by composing existing services are more and more capturing the interest of researchers and practitioners. The envisaged long term scenario is that services, offered by some competing providers, are chosen by some consumers and used for their own purpose, possibly, in conjunction with other services. In the case the consumer is not anymore satisfied by the performance of some service, he can try to replace it with some other service. This implies the creation of a global market of services and poses new requirements concerning validation of exploited services, security of transactions engaged with services, trustworthiness, creation and negotiation of Service Level Agreements with these services. In this paper we focus on the last aspect and present our approach for negotiation of Service Level Agreements. Our architecture supports the actuation of various negotiation processes and offers a search-based algorithm to assist the negotiating parts in the achievement of an agreement.

Business model choices for value creation of mobile services

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to explore the link between business model decisions and customer value creation for mobile services.Design/methodology/approach – An empirical survey was conducted of 54 service provider professionals across six mobile services.Findings – The paper reveals that there is a categorization of mobile services according to extrinsic and intrinsic effects on end‐user values. Mobile specificity is found to be the most influential business model option. The research model was found to be adequate for empirical studies.Research limitations/implications – This is an explorative study.Practical implications – The findings of this study can be used by service providers of mobile services to choose options that improve the customer value of a service.Originality/value – This paper is a new economic study of the link between a business model and performance based on end‐user values. It is of value for service providers and researchers.

Search-based testing of service level agreements

Abstract: The diffusion of service oriented architectures introduces the need for novel testing approaches. On the one side, testing must be able to identify failures in the functionality provided by service. On the other side, it needs to identify cases in which the Service Level Agreement (SLA) negotiated between the service provider and the service consumer is not met. This would allow the developer to improve service performances, where needed, and the provider to avoid promising Quality of Service (QoS) levels that cannot be guaranteed. This paper proposes the use of Genetic Algorithms to generate inputs and configurations for service-oriented systems that cause SLA violations. The approach has been implemented in a tool and applied to an audio processing workflow and to a service for chart generation. In both cases, the approach was able to produce test data able to violate some QoS constraints.