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1 – 10 of 190Claude R. Martin, David A. Horne and Anne Marie Schultz
This paper addresses a major impediment to business‐to‐business service innovation. The focus is on the role played by the client in a service dominant offering, compared to…
Abstract
This paper addresses a major impediment to business‐to‐business service innovation. The focus is on the role played by the client in a service dominant offering, compared to product dominant offerings. Part of this concerns the concept of customer input uncertainty includng the diversity of customer demand and the customer’s disposition to participate in the innovation process. The paper concludes by tracking and innovation process in a consultation between a major global consulting firm and one of its clients.
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Claude R. Martin, David A. Horne and Winnie S. Chan
Focuses on the client in a management consulting relationship. Argues that any measure of service productivity must include some component that focues on the client side of the…
Abstract
Focuses on the client in a management consulting relationship. Argues that any measure of service productivity must include some component that focues on the client side of the service encounter. Client productivity – measurement and structure – requires more attention and research into the stage/backstage issues.
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Claude R. Martin Claude R. Martin Jr and David A. Horne
Examines the differences in internal and external inputs to the newservice development process for two innovations within the same firm.The differences are explored for the most…
Abstract
Examines the differences in internal and external inputs to the new service development process for two innovations within the same firm. The differences are explored for the most versus least successful innovations. The article is an extension of earlier work on services innovation that compared successful firms to unsuccessful firms. Here the focus shifts from the firm to the individual innovations. Significant differences were found in the innovation level of success within the same firm for input by senior management; input by customer contact and non‐contact personnel; direct input from customers themselves; and in the amount of information used about that customer at three major stages of the development process.
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Claude R. Martin Claude R. Martin Jr and David A. Horne
Reports results from in‐depth interviews with 80 senior managers in16 US‐based multinational firms and from group discussions with 388senior‐level executives from 241 firms. The…
Abstract
Reports results from in‐depth interviews with 80 senior managers in 16 US‐based multinational firms and from group discussions with 388 senior‐level executives from 241 firms. The results indicate an attempt by the majority of firms to move from product dominance towards a service orientation. Identifies two major strategic hurdles: a rethinking of the client′s role as co‐producer, including measurements of client productivity; and the design and management of a new service development process. The study identifies the client productivity measurement issue as a major strategic hurdle and the authors suggest that techniques used internally (such as behaviour modification, training, and self‐motivation) be turned externally onto the client to increase productivity. The area of new service development (NSD), another significant strategic hurdle, is an emerging and relatively untouched subject. Identifies differences between new service and new product development.
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Claude R. Martin Claude R. Martin Jr and David A. Horne
There is some acceptance of the idea that services and products areso intertwined that the process for development is the same, but therehas been no rigorous empirical evidence to…
Abstract
There is some acceptance of the idea that services and products are so intertwined that the process for development is the same, but there has been no rigorous empirical evidence to support that contention. Uses data collected in in‐depth interviews with 80 senior level managers in 16 different firms, 25 group discussion sessions with 388 executives in 241 additional firms, and from a mail survey of 217 senior managers in firms from 11 differing service categories. In all three phases, elements of the service innovation process were examined. Examines the general similarity to new product development and concentrates on the major factors differentiating successful from unsuccessful service innovation. Concludes that there is some similarity between product and service innovation processes, but that significant differences exist, with the service arena demonstrating more of a lack of new service strategic planning, reliance on competitive imitation for new concepts, and less presence of innovation champions. Successful firms in new service development more closely fit innovations with the current business than do unsuccessful firms. They also present more of an opportunity for a champion to stay and manage a new offering after launch. There is no apparent difference in the formality of the process between successful and unsuccessful managers, with most service firms reporting a more ad hoc process.
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David Walters and Geoffrey Nicholson
With the emergence of new social attitudes and styles over the last ten years or so, many of the more old‐established menswear retailers found themselves losing business to the…
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With the emergence of new social attitudes and styles over the last ten years or so, many of the more old‐established menswear retailers found themselves losing business to the trend‐setters. But Homes have built their product range on “life style”, based on a belief that the Hornes customer is an individual and not a demographic category. This article discusses the management approach of an organisation which has grown from a loosely structured family firm into a company with a 1976 turnover of more than £10m.
David Walters and Geoffrey Nicholson
In the first part of our feature on Hornes (Jan/Feb), the authors discussed objectives, and product range policy. In this second part some of the major policy areas are examined…
Abstract
In the first part of our feature on Hornes (Jan/Feb), the authors discussed objectives, and product range policy. In this second part some of the major policy areas are examined in more detail: communications, customer service, and store location. There are a number of policy aspects which involve store location and policy areas discussed earlier. This demonstrates the need for a systems management approach in modern retailing — a need that Hornes clearly recognises.
Geoffrey Sherington and Julia Horne
From the mid‐nineteenth to the early twentieth century universities and colleges were founded throughout Australia and New Zealand in the context of the expanding British Empire…
Abstract
From the mid‐nineteenth to the early twentieth century universities and colleges were founded throughout Australia and New Zealand in the context of the expanding British Empire. This article provides an analytical framework to understand the engagement between changing ideas of higher education at the centre of Empire and within the settler societies in the Antipodes. Imperial influences remained significant, but so was locality in association with the role of the emerging state, while the idea of the public purpose of higher education helped to widen social access forming and sustaining the basis of middle class professions.
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David Ahlstrom and Linda C. Wang
France's defeat by Germany in 1940 is one of the most shocking events in the annals of military history. Explanations for France's defeat have traditionally focused on battlefield…
Abstract
Purpose
France's defeat by Germany in 1940 is one of the most shocking events in the annals of military history. Explanations for France's defeat have traditionally focused on battlefield mistakes, an unmotivated population, and even bad luck. Yet, the seeds of France's failure were sown long before her 1940 surrender. The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of groupthink in the French General Staff during the interwar years with its deleterious effect on France's military preparedness.
Design/methodology/approach
Groupthink is used to understand the reasons behind France's decisive defeat at the start of World War II. Historians of the period and primary and secondary works were consulted and analyzed.
Findings
Multiple examples of the main eight groupthink symptoms were identified from the documentary evidence. Groupthink present in the French General Staff had an adverse impact on the France's preparations. Groupthink led to the downplaying of important information, the failure to question vital assumptions about German capabilities, and the misapplication of new military technology. This led to inflexibility and the inability to respond to innovative German technology and operational doctrine.
Research limitations/implications
Groupthink is useful in explaining complex historical events – events which often have been attributed to poor leadership, corrupt or incapable politicians, or simply luck. The application of social science theory and methods to well‐documented events, whether “historical” or otherwise has the potential to enrich the understanding of these events and the ways in which they may be studied.
Originality/value
This study also contributes to evidence on groupthink and the application of theory in social science and management to the study of well‐documented historical events.
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