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Effective customer‐specific knowledge transfer is the cornerstone of customer value creation in professional service organizations. In order to formulate a coherent service offering across different expertise areas, it is crucial to share customer‐specific knowledge between professionals, business functions and units. The purpose of this study is to offer insights into the role of key account management (KAM) systems in facilitating this process.
The work is based on an explorative case study in which the implementation of the KAM system in two consulting and training companies was investigated. Comparison of the two cases in terms of KAM design and success in knowledge transfer enabled conclusions to be drawn about the role of KAM as a knowledge carrier and a “linking pin” in a loosely coupled organization.
Organizational fragmentation and insufficient communication channels among experts and subgroups of professional organizations cause problems in relation to knowledge transfer. This also makes it more difficult to combine expertise and to create innovative service concepts for customers. A KAM system, if managed effectively, provides a powerful tool for counteracting these problems. It functions as a linking pin in a loosely coupled organization, helping to maintain customer‐specific knowledge transfer and continuity in customer relationships.
Very little research has been conducted on customer‐specific knowledge transfer in professional service organizations in spite of its central role in the creation of customer value. This study is unique in offering empirical evidence of the role of KAM systems in facilitating knowledge transfer. In the future, it would be interesting to study the role of different organizational conditions and practices, including organizational structures, the use of technological knowledge tools and cooperative working methods. The effectiveness of KAM systems in terms of financial performance and the creation of value for clients also deserve more research attention.
Draws from case study research conducted in 14 UK and USA‐based manufacturing and service firms, most with mature teamworking structures. Aims to examine practitioner perspectives and current practices in teamworking and to assess the strategic contribution that work‐based teams are making to quality improvement.
Examines behaviors of doctors that influence patient evaluation of medical encounters. It examines these behaviors in both the USA and Japan and compares the findings. A list of behaviors relevant to patient evaluation of a medical encounter is developed. Performance of these behaviors in specific medical transactions is then examined and the relationship between performance of each behavior and encounter satisfaction is analyzed. Behaviors are grouped, using factor analysis from consumer surveys, into four dimensions in the USA (concern, civility, congeniality and attention) and five dimensions in Japan (concern, civility, congeniality, communication, and courtesy). Each is defined using multiple behavioral measures. Despite many differences in the cultures of these two countries and their medical delivery systems, many similarities are found in how consumers evaluate medical services in the two countries. Measures include some concepts not widely addressed in current services literature, including conversation, genuineness, attitude, and demeanor. These dimensions and constituent behaviors provide a framework for future research and medical training and management.
Presents an interdisciplinary literature review and research agenda and suggests a number of propositions, in advance of new fieldwork, to discover a revised or new theory of internal marketing as it relates to organizational change management. The literature on marketing, services marketing, corporate strategy, total quality management, operations management, human resource management, and organizational development reveals a body of work referring to or describing an “internal marketing” concept or internal customer concept. This seems to have grown out of an organizational internal communications perspective and the notion of an “inner market” in the organization comprising “internal customers”. Provides an extensive overview of tactical and strategic issues relating to internal marketing. Presents a resulting model and includes a comprehensive bibliography is included, with suggestions for some themes for possible fruitful research in this area of change management and service quality management.
This paper seeks to estimate total productivity change in retailing firms and to decompose it into efficiency change and technical change (TC) (i.e. the consequence of innovation and adoption of new technologies).
This paper adopts the efficient approach using the Malmquist productivity index for a sample of 96 supermarket chains operating in Spain between 1995 and 2003.
The results show a slight increase in average annual productivity among the firms analysed.
The generalisation of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, because only one of the players in the distribution channel has been analysed.
It is shown that the main component of productivity change is TC. This result means that new ICTs have the capacity to alter the productive structures of retail firms, favouring their productivity.
The contribution of this paper is based on the application of the Malmquist index to evaluate productivity in the service sector.
This paper validates the customer contact measurement model by performing a replication using three different sample groups. The impact of customer, managerial, and cultural differences is examined. Findings indicate that all validation groups use similar variables when defining the customer contact construct. The measurement model is robust when compared to US customer and managerial validation groups. However, the applicability across culture is questioned.
A synthesised service quality model with managerial implications is
presented. This synthesised model is based on the works of the Nordic
and the North American schools of service research. The model presents
the overall service quality gap as a result of both technical and
functional quality gaps. The core of the synthesised model is the idea
that management must determine both
Although the industrial service sector represents an increasingly important sector in the economy, only a tiny fraction of research has probed the secrets of how new industrial service processes are structured. Reports the results of two case studies of internal producer services in firms to develop a new pump and to upgrade existing test facilities. By using a qualitative, interpretative data collection method, quality elements, representing underlying quality dimensions, were elicited from unrestricted verbal materials produced by participant actors in the development process. Elements were then modelled as quality blueprints depicting the structural aspects of how different kinds of qualities were contributed by actors. Based on empirical case data, two types of elements were distinguished. Core dimensions, which had to be met for the project to succeed, were classified as defining elements. Remaining elements, which were seen as consequences, were termed derived. Argues that, by using qualitative blueprints, management can become more aware of different quality dimensions connected with industrial development work and is able to allocate resources according to set priorities. Finally, draws some tentative conclusions regarding the “underground” character of initial development work, the high dependence on external competence and the similar stages of the developing process.
Studies focusing on service quality management suggest that service firms spend too little effort on planning for service quality. The ensuing costs associated with poor service quality planning lead to lower profitability as part of the “cycle of service failures”. Examines how a quality planning technique (quality function deployment) (QFD) can be modified and adapted for use in a service environment to help prevent service failures. Illustrates the potential for the quality function deployment process as an effective tool at both the strategic planning level and the tactical level using the front‐desk activities in a hotel as an example. Also discusses the potential application of the QFD process to other design and planning challenges.
This article aims to examine the negative effects of loyalty programs from the perspective of frustration theory. It seeks to develop a model of customer frustration on the basis of frustration theory and an exploratory qualitative study.
First, frustration is defined as a special form of dissatisfaction and a general model of frustration in business relationships is developed by evaluating the literature on frustration theory. Second, an explorative and qualitative focus group study among participants of a loyalty program for frequent travelers is conducted. A multi‐level iterative content analysis of the participants' statements reveals the existence of different categories of frustration incidents. Third, the findings of the study are used to develop a system of propositions that generate a specific model of customer frustration in loyalty programs.
Seven categories of frustration incidents that were triggered by the loyalty program and lead to frustration sensation and subsequent frustration behavior, like protest or avoidance, could be identified. With four categories of incidents – inaccessibility, worthlessness, qualification barrier and redemption costs – customers' frustration sensation and behavior are directed on the program itself (program‐related frustration incidents). For the other three – discrimination, economization and defocusing – frustration sensation and behavior also affect the perception of the relationship with the firm (relationship‐related incidents).
The exact differentiation of frustration from related constructs should be the topic of further research. The findings of the empirical study are of limited generalizability because the object of investigation was a single company's loyalty program in a special industry sector. Hence, the introduced propositions should be further specified and tested in a large‐scale quantitative study in different sectors and with a number of companies and programs. Further work is necessary to allow deeper insights into the relationships between the elements in the customer frustration model.
Several implications for planning and implication arise from the results of the study. Management has to make sure that program‐related and relationship‐related negative effects are avoided. That calls for offering only those benefits that represent genuine additional value to customers and for ensuring that the benefits can be claimed at any time and without any additional effort by the customer. Furthermore, the perceived quality of the program should be monitored to obtain prompt information about possible customer frustration and indications of protest (i.e. customer complaints) should be viewed with particular attention.
This paper provides new insights into the so far highly neglected negative side effects of loyalty programs. Also, innovative is the first‐time application of the frustration construct to the analysis of customer behavior in the context of loyalty programs. The contribution is of high value for all who research in the field of customer relationship management and customer loyalty.
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