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- Edvardsson, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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Comparing Switching Patterns in Competitive and Non-competitive Markets-Customer Preferences and Behavior in Five Service Industries
- 2002
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- ABSTRACTThis article is about behavioral change in customer relationships. Changes in customer behavior are compared in five different service industries. The changes are manifested as switching behavior, which is at the same time the reference point for customer expressions on the paths that lead to switching. Switching barriers and the competitive industrial situations in the comparison between industries also revealed changes in behavior in an industrial monopoly in which switching to alternative external service providers was not an option. This kind of switching was articulated as internal switching. The behavioral change was therefore assessed in terms not only of frequency, but also of type of change. Switching was reflected as a configuration including the ability to cause behavioral change on different levels. The switching ability called configuration energy even caused a change in behavior at the highest level in a non-competitive industry in which there was a lack of switching alternatives. Total change was considered to be a result of the higher energy level driving the switching configuration than when the change was partial. Keywords: Customer switching, customer relationships, behavioral change, competitive and non-competitive service industries.
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- Edvardsson, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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New Service Development and Innovation in the New Economy
- 2000
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Bok (refereegranskat)abstract
- I boken tar vi upp en av de viktigaste frågorna för det moderna företaget: hur utvecklar och introducerar man nya och innovativa tjänster enligt den nya affärslogiken. Boken ger läsaren insikt i området tjänsteutveckling och syftar till att ge både en praktisk och teoretisk syn på utvecklingsprocessen, tillgängliga metoder och verktyg samt olika aspekter vad avser designen av tjänsten. De huvudsakliga utgångspunkterna i boken är värdeskapande, kundinvolvering och tjänstelogiken: 1) tjänster är vanligtvis mer eller mindre abstrakta och immateriella, 2) tjänster produceras, levereras, konsumeras och marknadsförs delvis samtidigt, 3) tjänster involverar oftast kunden i rollen som medproducent genom att kunden bidrar med information och utföra ett eller flera moment i processen och 4) tjänster är mer eller mindre heterogena. Boken är uppdelade på 10 kapitel. I det första kapitlet, Perspectives on New Service Development and Innovation, diskuteras bl a betydelsen av tjänsteutveckling samt trender och karakteristika i den nya ekonomin. I första delen av kapitel två, The Service Concept and the Service Logic, definieras centrala begrepp samt tjänsters unika kännetecken och logik. Andra delen utgör en kort översikt av forskningsområdet tjänsteutveckling. Tjänsteutvecklingsprocessen kopplar vi till organisationens affärsstrategi och kultur och utgör diskussionen i kapitel tre, Culture & Strategy. De efterföljande kapitlen, fyra till sju, representerar fyra övergripande faser i tjänsteutvecklingsprocessen: Service Idea Generation, The Service Strategy & Culture Gate, Service Design och Service Policy Deployment & Implementation. I kapitel åtta, Supporting Methods, ges en översikt av möjliga metoder som kan användas i olika faser av utvecklingsprocessen. I det slutliga kapitlet, Prerequisites for World Class New Service Development and Innovation, summeras våra slutsatser och ett antal förutsättningar för framgång dras upp.Samtliga kapitel innehåller en eller flera fallbeskrivningar hämtade från olika svenska och amerikanska förtag i branscher som t ex telekom, försäkring, flygbolag, nöjesparker, lastvagnar och kemikalier. Dessa syftar till att illustrera den mer praktiska aspekterna av arbetet med tjänsteutveckling. Målgruppen för boken är den reflekterande praktikern som dagligen arbetar med tjänsteutveckling och förbättringsfrågor. Vår ambition är också att ge studenter vid universitet och högskolor samt andra utbildningsinstanser en praktisk och teoretisk översikt av området tjänsteutveckling.
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- Edvardsson, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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Service Portrays and Service Constructions : A Critical Review Through the Lens of the Customer
- 2004
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concept service has been defined in many different ways. Most scholars put forward that services are activities, deeds or processes and interactions (Solomon et al, 1985; Lovelock, 1991; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000). Most definitions also focus on the customer and that ser-vices are provided as solutions to customer problems (Grönroos, 2000). Does it capture the essence of services? Does it form a fruitful basis for managing services and for the creation of value through services? In service research some fundamental truths about services have for a long time been re-ferred to and used in scholarly studies. In the beginning of services research, a common way was to portray services as something different from goods. The intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability (IHIP) characteristics served as guiding principles in several academic battles to establish the research field of services (Bateson, 1979; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry 1985; Shostack, 1977). Service research has reached a point when the relevance of established truths and concepts are discussed. The critic comes from established and pioneering scholars within service research such as Christian Grönroos, Chris Lovelock and Evert Gummesson. During the 2002 Service Frontiers conference in Maasricht and the 2003 AMA ServSig conference in Reims, some service scholars expressed disappointment with the development within the discipline. The relevance of the IHIP characteristics has been questioned, especially when it comes to intan-gibility. The argument is that the characteristics do not reflect what services really are and value creation through services. A discussion has started focusing on the foundations for service research. This paper is a con-tribution to that discussion. Our focus is on one research question: How is the phenomenon Service defined and portrayed within service research? The aim is to critically examine how (1) the concept service is defined, (2) the service characteristics as an expression of the concept service and (3) value-creation through services. The three themes will be dealt with through the lens of the customer. The paper is based on a literature search and the ambition is to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the foundations for and future direction of service research.
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- Edvardsson, Bo, et al.
(författare)
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The Effect of Triggers in Customer Relationships
- 2002
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the research literature trigger is used in several different meanings and ways. The application in relationship marketing has traditionally been connected to critical incidents with implication for relationships between customers and service providers. The behavioural consequences of triggers have accordingly had a limited and narrow association with relationships. In this article we include triggers in a switching-intention model that gives not only the connection between trigger and critical incidents, but includes also the context to the behavioural consequences of triggers. The model reflects a dynamic switching path that describes on ongoing process of customer sensitiveness for switching. In other words, the trigger divides the customers due to their sensitivity for switching into customer groups indicating differing levels regarding the strength of their relationship with a certain service provider.IntroductionIn a longer time perspective as in the relationship view customers seem to fluctuate in their evaluation of their service providers. The fluctuation may be considered as changes in their perceptions of the service providers. The reasons for the changes differ regarding factors that are important for the relationship continuation. The changed perceptions again are likely to influence the stability of the relationships regardless of the seemingly existing maintenance of the relationship. Therefore, the real state of the relationship temperature regarding true stability and thus the reasons and motivation for the change becomes essential. Recent marketing literature suggests that a discrimination of switching customers from continuers deepens the understanding concerning the matter of fluctuating perceptions in customer relationships (Ganesh et al. 2000; Keaveney and Parhasarathy 2001). The authors of those articles imply further that the effect of customer relationships history on future customer perceptions of relationships is possible to discern by distinguishing the continuers from switchers. Nevertheless, the awareness of fluctuating perceptions during the distance between the initiation of and switching from relationships put pressure on the slow progress in marketing literature on the subject of deepening understanding of customer relationships. This article sets focus on triggers that influence customer relationships in order to fill the gap of lacking understanding of the deceptively and irregularly perception changes among customers. Improvement concerning the understanding of differing perception sensitivity among customers may be considered as a response to the request in recent literature regarding behavior changes and segments. Schultz (2002) indicates that customer segmentation has stagnated to reflect only physical properties, attitude or finite measures. In order to maintain behavioural data for segmentation an increased understanding of behavior changes is needed.Accordingly, those kinds of basic differences among customers have implications for their sensitivity for episodes that challenge their current relationships. In this article we propose a loyalty-predicting model with ultimate focus on switching intentions. The model includes sensitising factors labelled triggers. The role of the trigger is defined according to Roos (1999; 2002: Edvardsson et al. 2002), where the energy and direction of the trigger influence describes a switching path. The trigger effect described here is on top of and affects the relationships when customers have perceived or constantly perceive situational, influential or reactional factors that they in some way relate to the relationship with their service provider. Consequently, the source of the influencing factors does not have to be directly related to the relationship, also the context has established its noticeable and additional significance as trigger source and contributor (Edvardsson et al. 2002). In sum, the trigger effect on customer perceptions is in this study accordingly defined as factors with sensitising and directing influences on customers evaluations processes with behavioral consequences for the relationship (Roos 1999; 2002: Edvardsson et al. 2002).In this paper, we also report the results from an empirical study of a large Swedish telecommunication company, where a loyalty-predicting model has been tested. The results show differences among customers concerning the evaluation of service providers depending on whether customers are on switching paths or not. We find that the models built for customers that are on the switching path have a larger R2 indicating that the models fit better for them. The implication is that these customers are more critical towards the service provider and are better at evaluating the company compared to customers that does not have a trigger.The triggerThe literature describes triggers of varying nature. Generally the trigger concept is used in psychological literature indicating the causal factor of a change of the conditional state or in medical literature as the final reason for breaking down the defence against deceases (Eby et al. 1999; Karpa 2000; Supphellen and Nelson 2001). In the financial literature trigger is used, although rarely, as the articulation of explanations for prompt capital outflows and rapid deterioration of stable economies (Paasche 2001). In marketing literature trigger is most frequently given the role of alarm clocks (Gardial et al. 1996), where the function concentrates on energy to provide signals for further actions either in organisations (Schindehutte et el. 2000) or in perception processes (Roos and Strandvik 1997; Edvardsson and Strandvik 2000). Such view on triggers was edified by Olsen (1992) as triggers were characterized equal to critical steps in an episode of a customer relationship. The trigger was seen as the source of the critical incident with energy to influence the progress of the incident. However, literature does not usually use trigger significance in the way it is used in the present article where the trigger function is seen as a change of the relationship character caused by typical factors with long-lasting effect. The effect on the specific customer is a change to more conscious and sensitive approaches to all perceptions of the relationship (Edvardsson et al. 2002). Therefore, the triggered customers have distinct and different characters concerning their awareness of their service providers services and products compared to those customers who have not perceived a trigger. Based on the logic of satisfaction it has been suggested in the literature (Day 1976; Woodruff 1993; Gardial et al. 1996) that the triggering effect causing behavioural changes on the relationship has to be associated with critical incidents. It is therefore crucial to define the difference between critical incidents and criticality. Day said nearly 30 years ago: In general, something out of the ordinary must occur either prior to the purchase process, during the purchase process, or during the consumption phase to alert the consumer or call his attention to some aspect of the purchase situation (italics added: Day 1976). That definition represents the traditional view on critical incident with no outspoken implication for customer relationships.Gardial et al. (1996) again consider triggers as events with five different kinds of responses among customers. One response is categorised as Change in Behavior or Product use, another is Change in Evaluation followed by Re-evaluation, Change in Standards Level and Emotional Response. That categorization reflects the authors view on the consequences of the events. The static view on the consequences of the events makes their categories appear as detached elements of a relationship. When customers describe their actual switching behavior as a process (Roos ), for example, they include emotions and changes in perceptions as factors of their switching paths. The factors of the paths only describe the progress and the character of the switching paths, the paths characterize the customers and their sensitiveness for switching. In a switching perceptive we follow therefore the definition of criticality that pays attention to actual change of behavior with implication for the relationship (Roos 1999; Edvardsson and Strandvik 2000). Accordingly, when a change in behavior occurs the reason of the change is revealed and derived, not only from traditional critical incidents but also from other factors both in the typical relationship and in the context of it. The traditional association between critical incidents and the change in behavior becomes thus included in the trigger definition used for this article. In other words, the defintion of triggers is thereby extended from a precise location associated to some critical incident causing immediate change in perception, evaluation or behavior to a more long-standing effect that not always has direct influence on the relationship. In sum, in this article the trigger effect is defined and analysed as: Situational, Influential and Reactional triggers, which gives not only the distinctive relationship definition but also simultaneously prompts the segmenting function. The segmenting effect of the trigger The segmenting effect of triggers is embedded in the customer description of switching paths. Triggers are divided in: Situational, Influential and Reactional. The categorization is made due to a numerous qualitative studies and a method labelled SPAT. We are not going to present and deliberate SPAT any further in this study, because that particular tool for qualitative analysing of actual switching behavior has been previously published (Roos 1999; 2002; Edvardsson et al. 2002 a and b).Customer sensitiveness regarding their evaluation of service providers are divided into groups labelled: Situational Influential Reactional.The situational, influential and reactional characteristics identify
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