Summaries
Chapter 7
Behind every service there is a complicated process of developing this service. The starting point is a basic service package consisting of 1) the core service, 2) enabling services (and goods) and 3) enhancing services (and goods). This package is being brought to customers through a service process full of interactions between customer and service organization. Key elements in this process are a) accessibility of the service, b) interaction with the service organization and c) customer participation. All these features together build up towards an outcome of that process and form the augmented service offering model.
Chapter 8
One might think that the economic laws of cost and production efficiency in a manufacturing environment also apply to the managing of service organizations. But then you come up empty because next to this internal efficiency there is something called external efficiency: the external effectiveness as perceived by customers. As a matter of fact, the managerial wish for internal efficiency can be a killer for external efficiency and it might end up in a vicious circle called the strategic management trap which could eventually lead to the demise of an organization. The service-oriented strategy tries to cope with this problem and puts external efficiency at first rank. This doesn’t mean however that cost considerations and internal efficiency are written off. The shift of management focus is characterized by flexibility: services can’t be standardized completely because they deal with people and people have different interests, behaviour and demands.
Chapter 9
Elaborating on chapter 8, chapter 9 shows that traditional productivity measurement instruments can’t be used in services because they are developed for a closed system: consumption and production are separate processes and customers do not participate in the production process. The service