Service Management and Operations Management (Second Edition)

Author: (USA) Heskett
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: For a long time, we have focused more on management issues in industries, manufacturing, and other fields, while research on the management of service industries has been relatively weak. This is partly because the service industry in our country is not yet well-developed, and partly because of the lack of research on the service industry, which is also one of the reasons restricting the better development of our service industry. Therefore, I believe it is timely and meaningful to introduce this work. — Professor and Honorary Dean of the School of Management, Fudan University, Zheng Shaoliang, Vice Chairman of the National Committee on Master of Business Administration (MBA) Education
This book not only provides theoretical and knowledge-based guidance on how to build an effective service management system but also offers practical and quantitative methods as well as application examples. I believe this book will provide targeted and practical help for the development of service industries in various fields across the country. — Professor Guo Baoyan, Shanghai University of Technology
Preface to Service Management and Operations
Professor Guo Baoyan of Shanghai University of Technology sent me his translation of Service Management and Operations and asked me to write a preface. Since the reform and opening-up, many excellent foreign management books have been published in Chinese to support the development of management education. However, there are still relatively few translations on service management. The existing translation is Service Management: Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology by Zhang Quancheng and Fan Xiucheng of Nankai University. This book, Service Management and Operations, is another excellent work in this field. Today, the service industry has permeated all aspects of our society, and its importance in the coordinated development of the national economy, social progress, and economic construction is becoming increasingly evident in practice. As introduced in this book, in the United States, the service industry provides 80% of employment opportunities, creates 75% of GDP, and 70% of new businesses established are in the service industry. Service exports are also becoming an important part of global international trade. For a long time, we have focused more on management issues in industries, manufacturing, and other fields, while research on the management of service industries has been relatively weak. This is partly because the service industry in our country is not yet well-developed, and partly because of the lack of research on the service industry, which is also one of the reasons restricting the better development of our service industry. Therefore, I believe it is timely and meaningful to introduce this work.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the economic activities of industrial societies have been characterized by the provision of machine-made goods, with machines and energy being the main factors restricting production, and manufacturing has become the dominant industry. In the future, the economic activities of industrial societies will be characterized by the provision of various social services, with information and knowledge becoming the main content of competition. The service industry has always been aimed at "serving people," and managing people is much more difficult and complex than managing things. The difficulty of research on the service industry also lies in its wide and diverse scope of industry fields, as it is not as clear as the boundaries of industries such as mining, manufacturing, and construction. The service industry not only includes economic industries such as commerce, transportation, communication, finance, insurance, entertainment, and hotel services but also includes non-economic public administrative and service institutions that provide services to society, such as government departments.
For both manufacturing and service industries, management is very important, and this is even more true for the service industry. This is because the challenges and situations faced by the service industry are more difficult and complex than those faced by the manufacturing industry. Therefore, exploring the growth, development patterns, and characteristics of the service industry's management has become an urgent research topic. Both qualitative and quantitative research are emphasized in this book. For a long time, I have believed that achieving a balance and combination between qualitative and quantitative research is a very important issue in management science research. Any bias toward either one is extremely detrimental to the development of management science. Although each scholar's research focus and expertise may vary, a comprehensive understanding of management science must combine both, and neither can be missing. A lack of qualitative research may lead to mistakes in direction, while a lack of quantitative research may make some ideas empty and unimplementable. The development of China's service industry must shift from an extensive to an intensive model, and strengthening the combination of qualitative and quantitative research can be said to be an urgent task. This book not only provides theoretical knowledge in this regard but also offers many interesting and enlightening cases, which I believe will be very valuable for my peers in China's management field. Currently, in universities, many research topics under the disciplines of Management Science and Engineering and Business Administration within the field of management are increasingly intersecting, permeating, integrating, and becoming inseparable, which also indicates that the management academic community in China is gradually forming a consensus on this issue.
Research in management science must not only focus on introducing advanced management theories and methods from abroad but also on exploring the achievements and theories of China's management experience. The conditions, history, and culture of countries around the world are all different, and even within the country, there are imbalances between regions. Globalization and international alignment do not mean "global uniformity," quite the opposite; their fundamental point lies in complementarity based on the differences between countries and regions. We hope not only to see the introduction of excellent foreign works but also to see management works rooted in China's management practice. In this regard, the Management Science Library led by Vice Chairman Cheng Siwei has been making efforts and has published a series of excellent management works written by Chinese management scholars. At the same time, we need to strengthen research on China's service industry practice, especially the hope for the early publication of excellent management works on service management rooted in China's management practice.
Of course, every work has its limitations. If there is any shortcoming in the service management discussed in this translated work, it is the lack of in-depth exploration of service culture and global cooperation in the service industry.
China's MBA education has developed through more than ten years of effort, and now 87 universities across the country have become training institutions for business administration master's degrees. To adapt to the strategic goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, China's MBA education will experience significant growth in both school size and student numbers, and there will also be new improvements in educational quality and curriculum structure. In MBA education, strengthening the curriculum on service management should also be a noteworthy direction.
Finally, I am grateful to Professor Guo Baoyan and Professor Shi Qiliang for providing us with such an excellent translated work. I also hope that my peers in China's management academic community can work together to make continuous contributions to the development of China's management discipline.
Preface to Service Management and Operations
The first edition of Service Management and Operations was published ten years ago, and compared to the first edition, this book has many significant changes. We have made major revisions to 7 chapters and added 7 new chapters. The book is divided into 4 parts, with many new cases added. The new content includes various objects in service management, the globalization of services, the design and development of services, and research on service productivity, among others. These topics have become important subjects for both managers and scholars and are worth further exploration. The additional 3 new chapters cover the customer-centric approach in service management, competition and strategy in services, and the management of government and private non-profit organizations.
Part I, consisting of Chapters 1 to 6, is an introduction to service management. It introduces the general concept of services and provides background information on several important areas. Chapter 1 introduces the role of services in society. Chapter 2 introduces the characteristics of services and discusses the importance of service objects. Chapter 3 introduces the status of consumers as service objects and the motivations behind their demand for and purchase of services. Chapter 4 examines services from a global perspective and discusses the challenges brought by economic globalization. Chapter 5 briefly touches on three major themes: service quality, customer satisfaction, and value creation, and introduces the impact of service strategy on competition. Chapter 6 studies the interrelationship between marketing activities and operational activities in service organizations.
Part II focuses on how to create customer value and enhance customer satisfaction through first-class services and how to establish a service management system. Chapter 7 explains the role of technology in service management. Chapter 8 demonstrates the principles of service design and discusses how to apply effective technologies from manufacturing to ensure quality and create value in the service industry. Chapter 9 focuses on how to develop human resources to create customer value and enhance customer satisfaction. This chapter also includes a supplementary discussion on how to evaluate work and labor. Chapter 10 covers two important topics in establishing a service management system: how to allocate service facilities and how to position service locations.
Part III discusses the operation of service systems and the challenges faced by managers of service organizations, as well as how to address the demand and supply of services. This includes the management of supply-demand matching, queuing and simulation methods, service quality management, service productivity, and performance evaluation. The final part of this section discusses an important branch of the service industry: government agencies and non-profit service organizations. We will discuss the nature of these organizations and the challenges faced by their managers.
Part IV provides a comprehensive and detailed introduction to the techniques and methods of service management. Managers in service management who need to focus on quantitative control should pay special attention to this part.
This book is written from an interdisciplinary perspective. The discussion of each topic involves theories from multiple fields, including economics, psychology, marketing, international management, decision science, human resource management, and management science, among others. This book can be used as a textbook for service management courses. In teaching, instructors can use econometric methods or choose not to. Of course, the book can also be used in a traditional manner, emphasizing only service as a textbook for management courses.
The content of this book cannot be completed within a semester with conventional teaching arrangements. However, each chapter is relatively independent, so instructors can freely choose chapters for teaching or arrange the order of chapters to suit different teaching objectives. Some instructors place great emphasis on case studies, dedicating a significant amount of time to organizing student discussions of cases. They prefer textbooks with more cases, especially those with very detailed cases. Some instructors, while using cases, allocate little time to them and prefer textbooks with short cases. We have attempted to take a balanced approach by including a short case and a long case at the end of most chapters that do not involve econometric analysis. At the end of each chapter, we have also designed discussion questions. For chapters that require econometric analysis, we have prepared some exercises. This arrangement is similar to the first edition.
Sengiz Heskett
Barry Rendel
Roberta S. Russell
Robert G. Meredith
China's service industry is in a critical period of rapid development. This book explores service management from a multidisciplinary perspective, such as economics, psychology, operations management, marketing management, international management, strategic management, and human resource management, integrating the latest international concepts, theories, skills, and methods of service management. It is an excellent textbook for service management, addressing issues that are urgently needed in the development of China's service industry. Understanding, digesting, mastering, and applying this knowledge will undoubtedly help promote the rapid development of China's service industry.
The book is divided into 4 parts and 19 chapters. Part I is an introduction to service management, primarily introducing the concept and strategic significance of the service industry. From a global perspective, it focuses on three major themes: service quality, customer satisfaction, and value creation, as well as the impact of service strategy on competitiveness. Part II introduces how to create customer value and enhance customer satisfaction through first-class services and how to construct a service management system, emphasizing the overall design of the service system, including technical design, organizational design, location design, and service market positioning. Part III primarily discusses the operation of service systems, the challenges faced by managers of service organizations, and how to address the demand and supply of services, including the management of supply-demand matching, queuing and simulation methods, service quality management, service productivity, and performance evaluation. Part IV provides a comprehensive and detailed introduction to the techniques and methods of service management.
This book can be used as a teaching and reference book for teachers of management majors in universities and colleges across the country, senior undergraduate students, graduate students, and MBA students. It can also serve as a training textbook for service industry management personnel, as well as a must-read reference for consultants, service management researchers, and the general public interested in service management.
This book can be used as a textbook for service management, quantitative or non-quantitative-oriented service management, and management of traditional service operations.