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- Gebauer, Heiko, et al.
(författare)
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Match or Mismatch : Strategy-Structure Configuration in the Service Business of Manufacturing Companies
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Service Research. - : Sage. - 1094-6705 .- 1552-7379. ; 13:2, s. 198-215
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new trend seems to be emerging for multinational manufacturing companies to make a strategic reorientation into becoming service providers. For some companies, such as Kone and IBM, the revenues from services are 50% or more of their total sales. Despite the increasing interest in exploring various aspects of the service part of the business in manufacturing companies, existing research has not focused on the interdependencies between different service strategies and organizational designs. This article studies different service strategies in manufacturing companies and highlights the organizational design necessary for implementing each service strategy. The service strategies explored are aftersales service providers, customer support service providers, outsourcing partners, and development partners. Each service strategy is supported by organizational design factors related to the service orientation of corporate culture, the service orientation of human resource management, and the service orientation of organizational structures. This research concludes that a specific strategy-structure configuration is needed in order to succeed with a chosen service strategy
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| 5. |
- Elg, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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The role of quality managers in contemporary organisations
- 2011
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Ingår i: Total Quality Management and Business Excellence. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1478-3363 .- 1478-3371. ; 22:8, s. 795-806
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A key question for firms nowadays is how to organise work with quality management. This naturally includes the role of the quality managers and it appears as if the profession of quality managers is at a crossroads. Alternatives are that the role of a quality manager broadens to include quality at a strategic level in the firm and that Six Sigma specialists and Lean Production managers drive the development of quality management in the future. In this paper, we present the results from a survey of 212 quality managers in Swedish organisations. The purpose is to contribute to an understanding of how the management of quality is designed and practised in contemporary organisations. This study shows that a quality manager's operational responsibility is quite narrowly defined. The agenda of the quality manager is mainly related to quality standards, such as ISO 9000 and environmental management systems. These programmes frame the work of the quality manager, which in many cases leaves other programmes, such as Six Sigma and Lean Production, to other departments or parallel improvement structures.
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| 6. |
- Löfgren, Martin, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Theory of Attractive Quality and Life Cycles of Quality Attributes
- 2011
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Ingår i: The TQM Journal. - Bingley, UK : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1754-2731 .- 1754-274X. ; 23:2, s. 235-246
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this study is to shed further light on the dynamics of quality attributes, as suggested by the theory of attractive quality. The study aims to investigate the existence of the life cycle for successful quality attributes and to identify alternative life cycles of quality attributes.Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on two surveys in which a total of 1,456 customers (708 in 2003 and 748 in 2009) participated in the classification of quality attributes. In particular, the study investigated how customers perceived 24 particular packaging attributes at two points in time, in 2003 and 2009.Findings – The study identified three life cycles of quality attributes: successful quality attributes, flavor-of-the-month quality attributes, and stable quality attributes. The research also extends the theory of attractive quality by identifying the reverse movement of certain quality attributes; that is, that a quality attribute can take a step backwards in the life cycle of successful quality attributes through, for instance, a change in design.Originality/value – The paper provides empirical evidence for the existence of several alternative life cycles of quality attributes. The results of the empirical investigation increase the validity of the theory of attractive quality, which is important, given the limited amount of research that has attempted to validate the fundamentals of the theory of attractive quality.
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| 7. |
- Witell, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring Modes of Innovation in Services
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 2nd CIRP IPS2 Conference 2010; 14-15 April; Linköping; Sweden. - : Linköping University Electronic Press. - 9789173933810 ; , s. 409-415
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Manufacturing companies differentiating their offerings with new services need to combine both product and service innovation. We study how service development is influenced by (a) the choice of separation or integration of service development and (b) the modes of innovation. Our results show that service development often is more structured if services are developed separately. Furthermore, service innovations often follow a sequence of innovation modes different from those of product innovations. Since different innovation modes benefit from varying degree of structure in the development process, many companies find it hard to develop products and services within the same development project.
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| 8. |
- Edvardsson, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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Customer Integration in Service Innovation
- 2010
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Ingår i: The handbook of Innovation and Services. - Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781849803304 - 9781847205049 ; , s. 301-317
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)
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| 9. |
- Gebauer, Heiko, et al.
(författare)
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Competitive advantage through service differentiation by manufacturing companies
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Research. - : Elsevier. - 0148-2963 .- 1873-7978. ; 64:12, s. 1270-1280
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines the relationship among the complexity of customer needs, customer centricity, innovativeness, service differentiation, and business performance within the context of companies that have made a service transition from pure goods providers to service providers. A survey of 332 manufacturing companies provides the basis for the empirical investigation. One key finding is that a strong emphasis on service differentiation can lead to a manufacturing firms strategies for customer centricity being less sensitive to increasingly complex customer needs, which can increase a firms payoff for customer centricity. In contrast, the payoff from innovativeness appears to be higher if the firm focuses its resources on either product or service innovation; that is, a dual focus does not work well. This paper discusses the implications of these findings for researchers and managers.
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| 10. |
- Kowalkowski, Christian, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Internalisation or externalisation? : Examining organisational arrangements for industrial services
- 2011
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Ingår i: Managing Service Quality. - Bingley, UK : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0960-4529 .- 1758-8030. ; 21:4, s. 373-391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Manufacturing firms primarily organise service provision internally, externally or through a hybrid arrangement. This paper aims to analyse how firm-, offering-, and market-specific factors influence the way in which a firm organises its service provision. In addition, the paper analyses the specific challenges that each organisational arrangement presents for a firm. Design/methodology/approach - The study employed a qualitative, multiple-case research design that involved seven manufacturing firms with different organisational arrangements for service provision. Findings - Contrary to certain explicit assumptions, few firms organise for service provision solely through an in-house organisation. Analysis of firms in a wide variety of industries has shown that the organisational arrangements (internal, external or hybrid configuration) are contingent on factors such as market strategy, customer relationships, product-service linkages, internal competences and market channel characteristics. Research limitations/implications - The paper is an initial attempt to understand the strategic choices that firms make in terms of inter-organisational arrangements for service provision. The research should be extended by way of a cross-sectional survey in order to test and further validate the importance of the determinants of the organisational arrangements for service provision. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the service marketing and management literature by examining factors that determine whether firms organise for service provision internally, externally or through a hybrid configuration. Prior research has not explicitly addressed this issue.
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