Today we identify service articles published in Marketing, Management, Operations, Productions, Information Systems & Practioner-oriented Journals in the last month.
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Seger-Guttmann, T., I. Vilnai-Yavetz, C.-Y. Wang and L. Petruzzellis (2018): Illegitimate returns as a trigger for customers’ ethical dissonance, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 45(), pp.120-131
This study investigates the combined impact of customer merchandise return circumstances (legitimate or illegitimate) and service employee responses on customer outcomes (loyalty and ingratiation), through the lens of the ethical dissonance framework. Respondents (N = 916) were randomly divided among six experimental conditions in a 2 × 3 between-subjects design. As predicted, returns circumstances moderated the relationship between employee responses and customer outcomes: Despite employees’ angry response to delinquent customers, the latter’s levels of loyalty toward the business as well as ingratiation toward the service employees were less damaged than in the case of normative customers exposed to the same employee angry response. This, we suggest, reflects an intention to quiet the dissonance on the part of the customers upon realizing that their delinquent behavior was evident to the service employee.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.08.014 [Google]
Töytäri, P., T. Turunen, M. Klein, V. Eloranta, S. Biehl and R. Rajala (2018): Aligning the Mindset and Capabilities within a Business Network for Successful Adoption of Smart Services, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.763-779
This paper explores the synchronized change of mindset and capability within a business network that is driven by the adoption and provision of smart services. The research is implemented as an empirical multi‐case study, and the primary data include interviews and observations in seven globally operating firms. The findings identify two categories of barriers and three categories of alignment needs to successful adoption of smart services. The study combines the institutional theory and dynamic capability perspectives to make three main contributions to the research of service innovation for an improved understanding of the determinants of successful field‐level adoption of smart services. The results show that firms need to align the change of logic and capabilities within the organization and the business network to succeed in the adoption of smart services.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12462 [Google]
Siahtiri, V. (2018): Innovation at the Service Encounter in Knowledge Intensive Business Services: Antecedents and Boundary Conditions, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.742-762
The service encounter is the primary interface and critical nexus between frontline employees (FLEs) and customers, where service innovation evolves. In knowledge intensive business services (KIBS), FLEs’ behaviors that support service innovation at the service encounter are especially important because FLEs have to engage in ad hoc innovation at that time. Ad hoc innovation means developing unplanned service solutions that can solve a customer’s ill‐structured and complex problem. Although the central role of FLEs has been acknowledged, at present, we still know little about what supports their creativity and customer‐oriented behaviors that trigger ad hoc innovation. Drawing on data from 150 KIBS firms using a multiple informant design (three respondents per firm), findings show that both internal and customer communications increase FLEs’ creativity and customer orientation. Further, the results show that FLEs’ creativity and customer orientation are strongly related to ad hoc innovation developed at the service encounter. In focusing on the contingency effects of transactional leadership, the results show that transactional leadership moderates the relationship between FLEs’ creativity–FLEs’ customer orientation and ad hoc innovation differentially. This research provides theoretical and practical implications for scholars and practitioners through unpacking the contribution of enriched service encounter on ad hoc innovation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12446 [Google]
Randhawa, K., R. Wilden and S. Gudergan (2018): Open Service Innovation: The Role of Intermediary Capabilities, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.808-838
This study examines how intermediaries, in general, and those with digital service platforms specifically, engage with clients to help them innovate their services within their service ecosystem. Based on an embedded, longitudinal case study, the results reveal the cumulative development and deployment of technological, marketing, and co‐creation capabilities by intermediaries, and how these capabilities allow intermediaries to engage with clients, so as to enable clients’ open service innovation despite their internal challenges. In turn, this article extends theory on service innovation by clarifying the role and function of intermediaries in service ecosystems in enabling clients to leverage open service innovation. Second, this study contributes to resource‐based scholarship by clarifying how these three sets of capabilities and their micro‐foundations relate to each other. Despite the obvious importance of technological capabilities, online intermediaries are more than just “virtual” service platform providers. The intermediary’s technological and marketing capabilities assist clients in dealing with project‐related and organizational challenges to open service innovation. Acting as a higher‐order capability, co‐creation capabilities—through shaping marketing and technological capabilities over time and also through conditioning their deployment—improve the proficiency of these capabilities. The findings advance insights on the agential role of the intermediary’s co‐creation capabilities, purposefully developed and deployed to foster client engagement, and thus support service organizations in leveraging open service innovation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12460 [Google]
Mani, Z. and I. Chouk (2018): Consumer Resistance to Innovation in Services: Challenges and Barriers in the Internet of Things Era, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.780-807
The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to be the next phase of the Internet revolution and to transform consumers’ service experience. It nevertheless raises challenges on innovation in services. Based on Ram and Sheth’s ( ) theoretical framework, this work attempts to provide a better understanding of the barriers that lead to consumers’ resistance to smart services as an innovation. To this end, our research adopts an integrative framework that combines functional barriers, psychological barriers, and individual barriers to explain consumer resistance to smart services. Structural equation modeling was used to test this theoretical framework. Our research enriches the existing literature by (1) adapting Ram and Sheth’s ( ) theoretical framework to the evolution of digital technologies (technological vulnerability barriers), (2) taking into account the ideological aspect of resistance (ideological barriers), and (3) considering dispositional variables (individual barriers). Moreover, it highlights the key role of skepticism toward IoT devices as a mediator between technological vulnerability barriers and individual barriers on the one hand and consumer resistance to smart services on the other.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12463 [Google]
Kroh, J., H. Luetjen, D. Globocnik and C. Schultz (2018): Use and Efficacy of Information Technology in Innovation Processes: The Specific Role of Servitization, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.720-741
Innovation activities and, particularly, service innovations, impose high demands on a firm’s information processing capabilities. IT tools are supposed to support internal and external information flows, thereby improving a firm’s information processing capabilities. However, past research is indecisive about how IT tools influence innovation performance. Furthermore, past research has not considered that services have an increasingly relevant role in a firm’s innovation portfolio that can complicate information processing. This study therefore draws on information processing theory and service innovation literature to develop a conceptual model that explains how IT use intensity—depending on the firm’s business focus—affects innovation program performance. By using a cross‐industry, multi‐informant sample of the innovation programs of 116 firms, which were collected from 887 informants, this article provides empirical evidence that (i) intensive IT use in order to exchange information with internal and external stakeholders improves the firm‐wide market knowledge, which in turn has a positive impact on a firm’s innovation program performance; (ii) the performance impact of market knowledge becomes stronger with increasing degrees of servitization; (iii) a higher degree of servitization reduces IT’s use intensity. This research demonstrates the dilemma that servitized firms face: Their business focus hinders the use of IT tools, although the latter will enable them to gain more benefits from the improved market knowledge they create. Practitioner Points: Intensive IT use positively influences the firm‐wide innovation performance. The intensive use of IT tools to strengthen internal information flows and IT tools to support exchange with external stakeholders increase a firm’s market knowledge, which enhances the innovation program performance. Service innovations have higher information requirements than product innovations and profit therefore more from intensive IT use, but services’ complexity hinders IT implementation. Firms with a higher degree of servitization use less IT, although they can profit more from the market knowledge IT tools create. Servitized firms need to install a flexible, modular, and open IT system for efficient IT use and to include all relevant internal and external stakeholders.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12445 [Google]
Chester Goduscheit, R. and R. Faullant (2018): Paths Toward Radical Service Innovation in Manufacturing Companies—A Service‐Dominant Logic Perspective, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.701-719
Research on servitization of manufacturing companies concentrates on typologies of product–service bundles, on transition pathways to increased servitization, and on resource and capabilities configurations necessary to accomplish this transition. Missing from existing research is an analysis of the degree of novelty of service innovations introduced by manufacturing companies. Therefore, this article shifts the focus from the transition process itself to the question of how manufacturing companies can introduce radical service innovations to the market. This article links servitization literature with service innovation literature and investigates how manufacturing companies can introduce radically new services in terms of three forms of innovations: service concept innovations, customer experience innovations, and service process innovations. Service‐dominant logic (SDL) is applied as the theoretical lens because it covers four significant factors influencing the success of companies’ innovation activities: actor value networks, resource liquefaction, resource density, and resource integration. Based on a multiple case study of 24 Danish business‐to‐business manufacturing small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises and through a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, different configurations of the principles of SDL are analyzed. They describe the paths to radical service innovation. Digitalization appears as a central causal condition in the bulk of the configurations. Big and rich data generated internally within the focal company in combination with for instance customer data can enhance the innovativeness of the service offerings. However, digitalization is not a sufficient condition for launching radical service innovation—it should be combined with an efficient mobilization of resources internally within the focal company and/or collaboration with other organizations within the value system. In addition, the analysis hints to a need to detach from immediate customers as the prime driver of service innovation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12461 [Google]
Alexiev, A. S., M. Janssen and P. den Hertog (2018): The Moderating Role of Tangibility in Synchronous Innovation in Services, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(5), pp.682-700
A synchronous pattern of innovation as between technological and management innovation, for example, can help firms improve their performance. This article explores this idea with respect to servitizing companies that introduce service delivery innovation as a means of gaining competitive advantage. It finds that the degree of tangibility, an indicator of the firm’s position on the product–service continuum, affects whether and how managers recognize the need for management innovation when introducing service delivery innovation. Using a socio‐technical perspective in conjunction with insights from managerial cognition, the relationship between management innovation and two central types of service delivery innovation—technological and customer interface—is examined. Tangibility shapes the managerial cognitive structures that are related to the enterprise’s technical and social subsystems in a paradigm that is capable of demonstrating contrasting effects. Technological delivery innovation is related to management innovation in firms with high tangibility. Customer interface delivery innovation, on the other hand, relates to management innovation in firms with low tangibility. This study uses a sample of diverse firms with varying degrees of tangibility to provide support for this theory.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12459 [Google]
Nath, P., J. Devlin and V. Reid (2018): The effects of online reviews on service expectations: Do cultural value orientations matter?, Journal of Business Research, 90(), pp.123-133
This study aims to explore the moderating influence of cultural value orientations of consumers on their use of positive and negative electronic word of mouth eWOM (PWOM and NWOM) to develop service expectations. It uses two experimental studies. Study 1 involves analysis of the manipulated effects of consumer-generated eWOM valence with 266 consumers from three different countries. Study 2 comprises of replication of study 1 but with added marketer generated information (imagery of the firm) with 84 consumers. The findings show that cultural value dimensions of power distance and long-term orientation influence how consumers react to PWOM and NWOM. For low power distance and short-term oriented consumers, the degree of impact on expectations is much higher when they encounter NWOM versus PWOM as compared to high power distance and long-term oriented consumers. It suggests a new segmentation strategy for practitioners based on the relationship between the interpretation of online reviews and cultural orientation of individual consumers.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.001 [Google]
Béal, M. and W. Sabadie (2018): The impact of customer inclusion in firm governance on customers’ commitment and voice behaviors, Journal of Business Research, 92(), pp.1-8
Customer inclusion in firm governance offers a potential strategy to develop customers’ commitment, as well as their voice behaviors. Such practices are widespread in member-owned businesses (MOBs), which represent alternatives to traditional shareholder governance models (investor-owned businesses [IOBs]) by providing for customers’ legal ownership and control over managers. However, relationship marketing research on these firm governance strategies is sparse; to address this knowledge gap, the current study investigates the influence of customers’ inclusion in firm governance on their commitment to the firm and voice behaviors (i.e., willingness to suggest service improvements and issue complaints). A field study of 310 French customers in the retail banking sector reveals that MOB customers have stronger feelings of psychological ownership of firms than IOB customers, which leads to their greater commitment to firms and their greater voice intentions. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and further research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.07.019 [Google]
Lim, S. F. W. T. and J. S. Srai (2018): Examining the anatomy of last-mile distribution in e-commerce omnichannel retailing, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 38(9), pp.1735-1764
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between configuration dimensions (network structure, network flow, relationship governance, and service architecture) of last-mile supply networks (LMSN) and the underlying mechanisms influencing omnichannel performance.Design/methodology/approach Based on mixed-method design incorporating a multiple embedded case study, mapping, survey, and archival records, this research involved undertaking in-depth within- and cross-case analyses to examine seven LMSNs, employing a configuration approach.Findings The existing literature in the operations management (OM) field was shown to provide limited understanding of LMSNs within the emerging omnichannel context. Case results suggest that particular configurations have intrinsic capabilities, and that these directly influence omnichannel performance. The study further proposes a taxonomy of LMSNs comprising six forms, with two hybrids, supporting the notion of equifinality in configuration theory. Propositions are developed to further explore interdependencies between configurational attributes, refining the relationship between LMSN types, and factors influencing omnichannel performance.Practical implications The findings provide retailers with a set of design parameters for the (re)configuration of LMSNs and facilitate performance evaluation using the concept of fit between configurational attributes. The developed model sheds light on the consequential effects when certain configurational attributes are altered, preempting managerial attention. Given the global trend in urbanization, improved LMSN performance would have positive societal impacts in terms of service and resource efficiency.Originality/value This is one of the first studies in the OM field to critically analyze LMSNs and their behaviors in omnichannel retailing. Additionally, the paper offers several important avenues for future research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-12-2016-0733 [Google]
Finne, M. (2018): Improving university teaching: a professional service operation perspective, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 38(9), pp.1765-1795
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to take a professional service operation (PSO) perspective to reconceptualise a persistent pedagogical dilemma of teaching large classes into a process design challenge. This enables developing a solution that reduces labour intensity and improves the customisation of teaching.Design/methodology/approach This work is based on a single-case analysis of an undergraduate operations management course taught at a UK-based global top-50 business school. The research process follows the design science approach where a prior course design is analysed and a redesign is presented, refined and tested using data on student satisfaction.Findings The course redesign is based on the flipped learning pedagogy, and uses a combination of process analysis and educational science perspectives. The redesign seems to provide the benefits to students without increasing labour intensity. The developed six-step systematic approach should reduce the labour intensity of university-level teaching operations, while providing additional possibilities for customisable in-class active learning.Research limitations/implications The empirical findings from the single-case design cannot be directly generalised to other contexts. However, the developed six-step systematic approach for redesigning the university-level teaching process should be applicable to other teaching operations to drive value creation and improve processes.Originality/value This study shows how the resource-constrained value creation of teaching operations can be improved systematically using process analysis perspectives. The work also scrutinises the flipped learning pedagogy from a PSO perspective and shows its benefits for improving teaching operations compared to traditional lecturing.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-12-2016-0729 [Google]
Weigel, S. and K. Hadwich (2018): Success factors of service networks in the context of servitization – Development and verification of an impact model, Industrial Marketing Management, 74(), pp.254-275
Due to the commoditization of products and the increasing competition, manufacturing companies aim at providing additional services to secure their competitive position. Since many firms are often not able to offer services besides products, they join forces with service providers in so-called service networks in order to provide services for their customers. Despite the relevance of this topic, research on managing these service networks in the context of servitization is still scarce. Thus, this paper explores the effect of six identified success factors on service networks during servitization: process of partner selection, partner manager, communication, service level agreements, customer orientation, and professional competence. Based on a quantitative study with 257 subjects, we demonstrate that the success factors have significant positive impacts on the overall performance, innovation performance, customer satisfaction, and long-term partner retention of service networks in the context of servitization. Besides theoretical implications, our research provides practical insights to better manage service networks during servitization. Highlights • A model with six success factors and four success-indicating variables is proposed. • The relational view forms the theoretical foundation of the model. • Formal and informal aspects raise success of service networks during servitization.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.06.002 [Google]
Heirati, N., S. C. Henneberg, A. Richter and R. Harste (2018): Differential importance of social and economic determinants of relationship performance in professional services, Industrial Marketing Management, (), pp.
Managing business relationships successfully is critical for many professional service firms (PSFs) in order to be able to address complex client needs. Furthermore, the project-based nature of PSFs’ work puts pressure on them to retain clients across project periods. Drawing on both net effect and configurational perspectives, this study provides a holistic understanding of the relative importance and of the interplay of social and economic determinants of business relationship performance in the context of dynamic relationships between PSFs and their clients. Using data from 297 business clients, the results reveal that, overall, social determinants are more important than economic determinants as drivers of the client’s willingness to cooperate with a PSF in future. The importance of social determinants increases further in later relationship lifetime phases. The configurational analysis also reveals several equifinal constellations of social and economic determinants across the lifetime phases to drive a client’s willingness to cooperate in future. Therefore, no single determinant by itself is sufficient for ensuring relationship performance. We advance the literature by showing that distinct constellations of social and economic determinants are required to achieve the desired outcome, and that these constellations change across business relationship lifetime phases.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.07.009 [Google]
Wang, Q., C. Voss and X. Zhao (2018): Deployment Strategies for Service Innovation, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, (), pp.1-15
In large organizations, local use of innovations is not enough; extracting the full use of the innovation requires deployment across the organization. The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies for the deployment of service innovations and factors influencing success. We adopt an inductive theory-building approach with a longitudinal embedded case study of ten successful service innovations. We find two deployment strategies: required adoption, in which subsidiaries are required to adopt innovations, and voluntary adoption, in which adoption is not compulsory—innovations are showcased, but the adoption decision is left to the subsidiaries. We have investigated the factors influencing deployment, including the decentralized nature of service innovation, fit with the internal and external context, extrinsic and intrinsic motivations, and handovers. Based on analyses of case evidence, we put forward research propositions accordingly. This study provides managerial guidance for multidivisional organizations to extract full value from service innovations. Although some results may be particular to the Chinese context, research in other contexts can broaden the generalizability of the findings.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2018.2850452 [Google]
Ming, Z. (2018): Alibaba and the Future of Business, Harvard Business Review, 96(5), pp.88-96
Alibaba is not a retailer in the traditional sense. It doesn’t source or keep stock, and logistics services are carried out by third-party providers. Instead, Alibaba is what you get if you take all the functions associated with retail and coordinate them online into a sprawling, data-driven network of sellers, marketers, service providers, logistics companies, and manufacturers. Indeed, Alibaba does what Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Google, FedEx, all of the wholesalers, and a good portion of manufacturers in the U.S. do, with a healthy helping of financial services for garnish. Alibaba achieves this by leveraging the new technologies of network coordination and data intelligence. It harnesses the efforts of thousands of Chinese businesses to create an ecosystem that is faster, smarter, and more efficient than traditional business infrastructures. This is an emerging business model that Ming Zeng, the chair of Alibaba’s Academic Council, calls smart business. Players in the ecosystem share data and apply machine-learning technology to identify and better fulfill consumer needs. This article provides a framework for transforming a company into a smart business.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/ [Google]
Skourtis, G., J.-M. Décaudin, I. Assiouras and E. Karaosmanoglu (2018): Does the Co-Creation of Service Recovery Create Value for Customers? The Underlying Mechanism of Motivation and the Role of Operant Resources, European Management Review, 0(0), pp.
This study focuses on the underlying mechanism that leads to co-recovery behaviour and favourable co-created value as response to a service failure. It argues that consumers? ability to integrate their operant resources (e.g., knowledge and skills) to co-recover from a service failure motivates them to express higher value co-recovery in-role behaviour and hence enjoy higher hedonic and utilitarian values. To test this claim, our study investigates the impact of consumers? ability to co-recover on value co-recovery in-role behaviour by taking into account extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as mediators. The results reveal that extrinsic motivation only partially mediates the relationship between ability to co-recover and value co-recovery in-role behaviour. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrate that value co-recovery in-role behaviour increases utilitarian value but decreases hedonic value.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emre.12301 [Google]
Kim, E., S. L. Beckman and A. Agogino (2018): Design Roadmapping in an Uncertain World: Implementing a Customer-Experience-Focused Strategy, California Management Review, 61(1), pp.43-70
Technology is rapidly changing, and customers are seeking not just products and services but experiences. Traditional approaches to strategic planning using product and technology roadmaps are no longer sufficient. This article describes the emergence of what the authors call “design roadmapping” approaches that are grounded in the creation of customer experiences, and which drive the choices of features, functionality, and technology. Design roadmapping provides stability for the future, even as technologies are changing, and keeps organizations more focused on the customers they are serving.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0008125618796489 [Google]
Weiss, E. N. and C. Tucker (2018): Queue management: Elimination, expectation, and enhancement, Business Horizons, 61(5), pp.671-678
Queues in a service process represent an unmet customer need and can detract from the value an organization provides. In this article, we present a framework based on three principles for managing customer queues to reduce the discomfort experienced while waiting: (1) eliminate or reduce the wait through process enhancements, (2) manage expectations through timely and relevant communication with one’s customers, and (3) enhance the waiting experience. We provide examples of historical and recent innovations along all three dimensions in multiple situations and suggest practical approaches for managers to add additional value to customers while they wait.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2018.05.002 [Google]
Su, L., L. C. Wan and J. R. S. Wyer (2018): The contrasting influences of incidental anger and fear on responses to a service failure, Psychology & Marketing, 35(9), pp.666-675
Abstract: Customers’ disposition to register a formal complaint about an inferior product or poor service is often mediated by attributions of responsibility. However, the anger or fear that people happen to be experiencing for totally irrelevant reasons can also influence this disposition. Two field studies and four laboratory experiments indicate that when people feel angry at the time they encounter a service failure, they are more likely to blame the service provider for the failure and more likely to register a complaint. When they experience fear, however, they are uncertain about the cause of their misfortune and decrease their negative reactions relative to conditions in which fear is not experienced. The effects of these incidental emotions are evident both when a service failure is personally experienced and when it is only observed. These effects are eliminated, however, when individuals do not have the cognitive resources available to assess the reasons for the service failure and the conditions surrounding it.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.21114 [Google]
Cohen, M. C. (2018): Big Data and Service Operations, Production & Operations Management, 27(9), pp.1709-1723
This study discusses how the tremendous volume of available data collected by firms has been transforming the service industry. The focus is primarily on services in the following sectors: finance/banking, transportation and hospitality, and online platforms (e.g., subscription services, online advertising, and online dating). We report anecdotal evidence borrowed from various collaborations and discussions with executives and data analysts who work in management consulting or finance, or for technology/startup companies. Our main goals are (i) to present an overview of how big data is shaping the service industry, (ii) to describe several mechanisms used in the service industry that leverage the potential information hidden in big data, and (iii) to point out some of the pitfalls and risks incurred. On one hand, collecting and storing large amounts of data on customers and on past transactions can help firms improve the quality of their services. For example, firms can now customize their services to unprecedented levels of granularity, which enables the firms to offer targeted personalized offers (sometimes, even in real‐time). On the other hand, collecting this data may allow some firms to utilize the data against their customers by charging them higher prices. Furthermore, data‐driven algorithms may often be biased toward illicit discrimination. The availability of data on sensitive personal information may also attract hackers and gives rise to important cybersecurity concerns (e.g., information leakage, fraud, and identity theft).
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/poms.12832 [Google]
Retana, G. F., C. Forman, S. Narasimhan, M. F. Niculescu and D. J. Wu (2018): TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT AND POST-ADOPTION IT SERVICE USE: EVIDENCE FROM THE CLOUD, MIS Quarterly, 42(3), pp.961-978
Does a provider’s technology support strategy influence its buyers’ post-adoption IT service use? We study this question in the context of cloud infrastructure services. The provider offers two levels of support, basic and full. Under basic support, the provider handles simple service quality issues. Under full support, the provider also offers education, training, and personalized guidance through two-way interactions with buyers. Using unique data on public cloud infrastructure services use by 22,179 firms from March 2009 to August 2012, we find that buyers who receive full support use the service 34.85 percent more than other users. We further show that buyers who have full support deploy infrastructure services more efficiently, increasing the fraction of servers they run in parallel by 3.53 percentage points relative to those who do not. Furthermore, buyers who drop full support and switch back to basic support continue using 15.01 percent more of the service and have a proportion of servers running in parallel that is 2.82 percentage points higher compared to buyers who have never received full support. These findings provide suggestive evidence of buyer learning as a result of provider support.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2018/13064 [Google]
Taylor, T. A. (2018): On-Demand Service Platforms, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 20(4), pp.704-720
An on-demand service platform connects waiting-time-sensitive customers with independent service providers (agents). This paper examines how two defining features of an on-demand service platform—delay sensitivity and agent independence—impact the platform’s optimal per-service price and wage. Delay sensitivity reduces expected utility for customers and agents, which suggests that the platform should respond by decreasing the price (to encourage participation of customers) and increasing the wage (to encourage participation of agents). These intuitive price and wage prescriptions are valid in a benchmark setting without uncertainty in the customers’ valuation or the agents’ opportunity costs. However, uncertainty in either dimension can reverse the prescriptions: Delay sensitivity increases the optimal price when customer valuation uncertainty is moderate. Delay sensitivity decreases the optimal wage when agent opportunity cost uncertainty is high and expected opportunity cost is moderate. Under agent opportunity cost uncertainty, agent independence decreases the price. Under customer valuation uncertainty, agent independence increases the price if and only if valuation uncertainty is sufficiently high. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0678.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0678 [Google]
Sun, X. and W. Whitt (2018): Creating Work Breaks from Available Idleness, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 20(4), pp.721-736
We develop new rules for assigning available service representatives to customers in customer contact centers and other large-scale service systems in order to create effective work breaks for the service representatives from naturally available idleness. These are unplanned breaks occurring randomly over time. We consider both announced breaks as well as unannounced breaks. Our goal is to make the mean and variance of the interval between successive breaks suitably small. Given a target break duration, we propose assigning idle servers based on the elapsed time since their last break. We show that our proposed server-assignment rules are optimal for the many-server heavy-traffic (MSHT) fluid model. Extensive simulation experiments support the proposed server-assignment rules in practical cases and confirm the MSHT approximation formulas when the number of servers is very large. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0682.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0682 [Google]
Qi, W., L. Li, S. Liu and Z.-J. M. Shen (2018): Shared Mobility for Last-Mile Delivery: Design, Operational Prescriptions, and Environmental Impact, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 20(4), pp.737-751
Two socioeconomic transformations, namely, the booms in the sharing economy and retail e-commerce, lead to the prospect where shared mobility of passenger cars prevails throughout urban areas for home delivery services. Logistics service providers as well as local governments are in need of evaluating the potentially substantial impacts of this mode shift, given their economic objectives and environmental concerns. This paper addresses this need by providing new logistics planning models and managerial insights. These models characterize open-loop car routes, car drivers’ wage-response behavior, interplay with the ride-share market, and optimal sizes of service zones within which passenger vehicles pick up goods and fulfill the last-mile delivery. Based on theoretical analysis and empirical estimates in a realistic setting, the findings suggest that crowdsourcing shared mobility is not as scalable as the conventional truck-only system in terms of the operating cost. However, a transition to this paradigm has the potential for creating economic benefits by reducing the truck fleet size and exploiting additional operational flexibilities (e.g., avoiding high-demand areas and peak hours, adjusting vehicle loading capacities, etc.). These insights are insignificantly affected by the dynamic adjustment of wages and prices of the ride-share market. If entering into this paradigm, greenhouse gas emissions may increase because of prolonged car trip distance; on the other hand, even exclusively minimizing operating costs incurs only slightly more emissions than exclusively minimizing emissions. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0683.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2017.0683 [Google]
Sun, Z., N. T. Argon and S. Ziya (2018): Patient Triage and Prioritization Under Austere Conditions, Management Science, 64(10), pp.4471-4489
In war zones and economically deprived regions, because of extreme resource restrictions, a single provider may be the sole person in charge of providing emergency care to a group of patients. An important question the provider faces under such circumstances is whether or not to perform triage and how to prioritize the patients. By choosing to triage a particular patient, the provider can determine the health condition and thus the urgency of the patient, but that will come at the expense of delaying the actual service (stabilization or initial treatment) for that patient as well as all the other patients. Motivated by this problem, which also arises in other service contexts, we consider a service system where finitely many patients, all available at time zero, belong to one of the two possible triage classes, where each class is characterized by its waiting cost and expected service time. Patients’ class identities are initially unknown, but the service provider has the option to spend time on triage to determine the class of a patient. Our objective is to identify policies that balance the time spent on triage with the time spent on service by minimizing the total expected cost. We provide a complete characterization of the optimal dynamic policy and show that the optimal dynamic policy that specifies when to perform triage is determined by a switching curve, and we provide a mathematical expression for this curve. One insight that comes out of this characterization is that the server should start with performing triage when there are sufficiently many patients and never perform triage when there are few patients. Finally, we carry out a numerical study in which we demonstrate how one can use our mathematical results to develop policies that can be used in mass-casualty triage and prioritization, and we find that there are substantial benefits to using one of these policies instead of the simpler benchmarks. The online supplement is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2855. This paper was accepted by Assaf Zeevi, stochastic models and simulation.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2855 [Google]
