Services Research: A Piggy Back into the Future

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Services Research A Piggy Back into the Future

• Mark Gabbott Ph.D
• Professor and Chair of Marketing
• Monash University

2
Future of Services Marketing?

• If I could predict it, I would be here anyway.
• Everything that can be invented has been
  invented 1899 C. Duel, Commissioner, US Office
  of Patents.

3
Looking Back

• Delimiting services as a product (Shostack,
  Lovelock, Gronroos, Berry, Suprenant)
• Developing issues associated with properties
  (Zeithaml, Bateson, Brown,Webster)
• Identifying managerial tools (Zeithaml et al,
  Rust, Oliver, Gummesson, Parasuraman, Teas)
• Illuminating dimensions of delivery (Czepiel,
  Bitner, Fisk and Grove, Berry, Day)
• Exploring issues associated with consumption
• walking erect

4
Old Agendas

• Service quality (PZB 1985, 88, Carman 90)
• Satisfaction (Latour 79, Oliver 1989, Anderson
  93)
• Service Loyalty (Crosby 87,90, Czepiel 90)
• Self Service (Zeithaml Gilly 87, Bateson 85)
• Customisation (Reichheld 93, Bitner 90)
• Internationalisation (Nicolaud 89, Erramilli 90)
• Technology (Raub 81, Langeard 81)

5
Current Agendas

• Service Quality (Brady Cronin 2001)
• Satisfaction (Fournier Glen Mick 1999)
• Service Loyalty (Ganesh et al 2000)
• Self Service (Meuter et al 2000)
• Customisation (Zeithaml 2000)
• Internationalisation (Knight 1999)
• Technology (Parsu 2000, 2001)

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Business Issues

• Impact of technology (web, remoteness)
• Customer Value (understanding, creating)
• Performance Measurement (marketing budgets)
• Internationalisation (import and export)
• Knowledge (professional services, capture)
• Operations (outsourcing, process, SCM)
• Functional vs activity orientation
• Relationships (who, what, when, where,why)
• People (empowerment, micro effects)

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Current Business Trends in SE Asia

• Holistic Value Offerings
• Leveraging product through service
• Differential Packaging
• Anti-Commodification (telcos, air)
• Revenue Extraction
• Free goods, service contracts
• Cocooning Consumers
• Home service, location independent
• Non Traditional Businesses and Service Legacy
  Integration

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For us Now

• Positioning based upon distinction
• Separate, different, own agenda
• Research Infrastructure based upon
  separation/specialisation
• Journals, conferences,
• Leakage of core ideas
• walking erect but looking at our feet in
  astonishment

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Where the action is

• Supply chain management and the integration of
  service (Youngdahl 99)
• Knowledge supply chains (new)
• Organisational culture and change (Homburg 2000)
• Operations design and information management
• Customer contact and profiling options
• Accounting (pricing, demand mgt, revenue)
• Service Branding (Berry 2000)

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Whos operating.

• Management Theorists
• HRM
• Operation Management
• Psychologists
• Medical Researchers
• Mathematicians
• Accounting and Finance
• Lawyers
• Designers, Architects

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Where to go . SE Asia

• Understanding customer value
• Customer education to optimise usage
• Tracking algorithms for extended services
• New service development and deletion
• Developing service culture in organisations
• Service behaviour in open settings
• Technology as part, all or an option in delivery
• Design and human interfaces

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For me..us

• From Dyadic to Triadic to
• Organising multiple delivery components
• Integration of lead and follower cultures
• Managing the Brand
• People
• HP, Franchise, Remote CCCs, Travel

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For me.us

• Increasing diversity of markets
• One to one, one to many
• Making CRM work
• People training, selection
• Performance measurement
• Dot.com, professional services, delight,
  expectations, emotions

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For me.us

• The Dark Side
• Anger and anger management
• Building in transaction costs
• Deleting customers
• Stakeholder value
• Getting the profit thing sorted out
• Banks, Telcos, Government, Hospitals

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So back to the title

• Business is not seeing service as special but
  part of value engineering
• Service research needs to lift its head and drop
  its baggage
• We can move forward incrementally on our own
• We can hitch a ride with other researchers beyond
  our traditional area
• Weve probably reached our fractal depth

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Services Research A Piggy Back into the Future

• Mark Gabbott Ph.D
• Professor and Chair of Marketing
• Monash University