| 1. |
- Värlander, Sara
(författare)
-
The Construction of Local Authenticity : An Exploration of Two Service Industry Cases
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Service Industries Journal. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0264-2069 .- 1743-9507. ; 29, s. 249-265
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this study is to explore the process of the social construction of local authenticity. More specifically, this study intends to outline the managerial practices that are being used to construct local authenticity. The background to this is the much-discussed phenomenon of the 'death of geography', where the Internet is famously implicated. In this study, it is claimed that in parallel to companies' increased use of the Internet, there has been a revalorisation and redefinition of the role of the local. Four key marketing practices that are used to construct local authenticity are identified: adapting employees' interactive manner, adapting employees' local explicit knowledge, using a local branding strategy and applying a local branch design.
|
|
| 2. |
- Värlander, Sara, et al.
(författare)
-
The effect of the Internet on front-line employee skills : exploring banking in Sweden and France
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Service Industries Journal. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0264-2069 .- 1743-9507. ; 30:8, s. 1245-1261
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper aims to explore (1) the Internet effects on the nature of the face-to-face service encounter and (2) what demands this introduces on front-line service employee skills in a banking context. The paper draws on empirical data generated from two banks in Sweden and France, where in-depth interviews with 21 managers have been carried out. The paper argues that in light of the Internet, the face-to-face service encounter is becoming increasingly interactive and customized, where much attention is paid towards building and maintaining relationships with customers, providing advice and support in customer's decision making, and also, learning from and acquiring qualitative information about the customer. This up-scaling of the face-to-face service encounter entails an increase in job complexity and task discretion, involving demands for high-level skills such as information provisioning and evaluation, and emotional skills such as empathy, interpretive skills, conversational skills, and management of body language.
|
|
