Managerial Service Research

• Managerial Foundations and Research Topics– Mary Jo Bitner, ASU

• Crafting and Executing Successful Research Partnerships– Stephen W. Brown, ASU

• The Practice of Management Research– Mark Gabbott, Monash University

Managerial Foundations and Topics for Service Research

AMA SERVSIG Doctoral ConsortiumFrontiers in Services Conference

October 4, 2007

Mary Jo Bitner

W. P. Carey School of Business

Early Service Research

• Growth of service sector

• Complexities of managing services

• Strong pockets of global interest

• Establishment of journals, conferences

Today: Emerging Interest

• IBM’s Catalytic Role

• Mushrooming of conferences, workshops, publications

• Cross-disciplinary including engineering, computer science, business, social sciences

Communications of the ACM July 2006

An Historical Perspective

• Journal of Retailing, Spring 1993– “Building a New Academic Field—The Case of Services

Marketing” by Berry and Parasuraman– “Tracking the Evolution of the Services Marketing Literature,” by

Fisk, Brown and Bitner

• Services Marketing Self-Portraits, 2000– Introspections, Reflections, and Glimpses from the Experts, by Fisk,

Grove, and John, American Marketing Association.

• Journal of Marketing, January 2004– “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing,” by Vargo and

Lusch

Characteristics of the research

• Problem-based

• Global community from the beginning

• Method-neutral

• Partnerships with business

Topics Explored• Service marketing – customer focus

– service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, service encounters, servicescapes, blueprinting, customer-centric innovation, generating revenue and loyalty through service(s), technology-delivered service, co-production and co-creation of service, self-service technologies

• Service operations – internal system and process focus– service operations design, queuing theory, efficient delivery of

services, technology-delivered service, yield management

• Service management – employee focus– service-profit chain, service orientation, frontline service, service

culture and climate, linkage theory, hiring practices for service, service strategy

• Note: There is intriguing overlap in the research represented by the three disciplinary streams

Dependent Variables

What do business service researchers attempt to understand and predict?

• Service profitability• Lifetime value of customers• Customer satisfaction and loyalty• Service quality, service excellence• Employee performance related to

service• Service brand image• Service productivity and efficiency• Competitive advantage and differentiation through service• Linkages between employee performance, service outcomes, and customer

behavior

Why Services Research is Relevant to Business

• Services frequently provide higher profit margins and new growth opportunities

• Customer satisfaction and loyalty are driven by service excellence

• Services can be used as a differentiation strategy in competitive markets

Service Excellence and Customer Goals

Getting

Satisfying

Retaining

Enhancing

Copyright Mary Jo Bitner

The Service Profit Chain

Source: An exhibit from J. L. Heskett, T. O. Jones, W. E. Sasser, Jr., and L. A. Schlesinger, “Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 1994, p. 166.

Strategic Services Pyramid

(Parasuraman 1996)

Company

CustomerProviders

Technology

Growing Demand for Services Knowledge

• National focus on innovation and growth– Services are the engine for growth for companies, organizations

and nations

• Job opportunities for our students– Growth in services and knowledge-worker jobs and need for

specialized skills

• Demand for new research and better use of existing knowledge

• Need to bridge academic and functional silos

PhD Seminar in Service Science• Marketing 791 – PhD Seminar• Service Science: Marketing, Management and Technology• Fall 2007• Professor: Mary Jo Bitner• Office: BAC 451• Office Hours: By appointment• Contact: 480-965-1992; maryjo.bitner@asu.edu• Class meeting: Thursdays, 8:30-11:30 AM Overview • Service Science draws on strong research foundations in the field of services marketing, management

and technology to focus on challenges and opportunities relevant to service innovation and competing through service(s). This emerging trans-disciplinary field is substantively grounded in real, cross-functional issues of business and its theoretical roots lie in the business disciplines, engineering, technology and the social sciences.

• This is an exciting time to be involved in services science and research. Service research is a relatively young (by academic standards) and very dynamic cross-functional research area, with its deepest roots being in the marketing and management disciplines. While services research struggled for recognition in the 1980s, it has evolved over the last two decades to be a prominent field of its own. Today there is growing attention worldwide to service research including services marketing and management, service engineering, and service innovation. This seminar will provide students with foundational understanding of services research, exposure to current and award-winning publications, and opportunities to learn about new, emerging research areas. Through the seminar, I hope that you will catch the excitement of the field and see opportunities for your own development as a researcher.

PhD Seminar 2007 – Topics• Aug 23 Course Introduction/Overview• Aug 30 Services Marketing – History/Topics/Trends• Sept 6 Service Encounters and Service Quality• Sept 13 Service Science/Service Innovation

Guest Faculty: Stefan Michel• Sept 20 Customers as Co-Producers/Co-Creators of Services• Sept 25 B2B Services/IT Services - Manufacturers and Service

Guest Faculty: Michael Goul• Oct 2 Service Design and Servicescapes• Oct 11 Service Recovery • Guest Faculty: Stephen Brown• Nov 7-9 CSL’s Compete Through Service Symposium• Nov 15 Funding Proposal Presentations • Nov 29 Employees’ Roles/Service-Profit Chain• Guest Faculty: David Bowen• Dec 6 Technology and Service, SSTs• Guest Faculty: Amy Ostrom• Dec 11 Final paper presentations

Research Opportunities

• Build on characteristics of the Services Literature – Focus on substantive business issues– Cross-functional integration– Global contributions– Multiple methodologies

Research Opportunities

• Build on existing research streams – add depth and strengthen what we know– Service quality– Service/customer experiences– Technology and service– Service recovery– Customer satisfaction and loyalty– Customer co-production– Financial impact of services and service quality

Research Opportunities

• Chart new directions– Non-profit applications of services– Synergies with customer experience work– B2B services – strategy and implementation– Service solutions in manufacturing– Service supply chains and service outsourcing– Service networks– Service design– Services branding– Cross-disciplinary collaboration on services topics– Macro issues in services– Global challenges and integration

Managerial Foundations and Topics for Service Research

AMA SERVSIG Doctoral ConsortiumFrontiers in Services Conference

October 4, 2007

Mary Jo Bitner

W. P. Carey School of Business