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This chapter aims to present and analyze how the methodology/approach of service blueprinting may contribute to managing and offering high quality experiences to sport tourists.

In this study we use a combination of theoretical tools to develop a finalized services blueprint map for sport events. The method consists of a literature review and a presentation of empirical findings. First, using a case study, we present the process through which a small-scale sport event blueprint map was constructed. Secondly, based on a meeting with the management staff and the use of diaries, we analyze the comments of tourists in the sport event area. Thirdly, we compare and describe the main contact points between the front-line staff and sport event tourists in a service blueprint. Finally we apply the six dimensional construct domain analysis of service experiences and combine this information in a table format for the Failure, Effect, and Action analysis.

This study shows that observation, diaries, service blueprints, comment management, and FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) are a range of corporate research approaches and management tools that can offer new insights into the theory and praxis of service management applications and can improve the experiences of sports tourists.

This study is related to sport rural events. Researchers have to check with the same method to study the results also in other sport events.

The analysis of Small-Scale Sport Event Services Blueprinting can be combined with other useful managerial tools, like the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to better manage the contact points, the “moments of truth” of tourist experiences in the sport event service system. In addition, the SMF case study shows that it is useful to point out the problematic areas in the service system using combined methods and managerial tools with the aim of enhancing and contributing to better manage sport tourism event experiences.

It presents the new idea of combining theoretical constructs and measurement tools in order to blueprint, analyze, and create service customer experiences.

Purpose: The banking sector is facing a challenge in the quality of services rendered to the ultimate customers for the adoption of Fintech applications in an efficient way. Due to dynamic market conditions, it is difficult for the banks to win the heart of the customers. It can be done only by providing them with updated technological applications and excellent services. Here, service quality plays a major role in this regard. It acts as an optimum strategy for the service providers to attain the interest of their customers and change their perceptions towards the banks in a positive way by providing them satisfactory services. This chapter aims to critically analyse and assess the quality of banking services rendered for Fintech applications to the customers.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study evaluated the preference for public/private banks for Fintech applications across various demographic factors. In this research, users of public or private banks have been considered as respondents who are using Fintech applications. The service quality of both banks has been measured using a service quality scale, i.e., SERVQUAL. With the help of the Questionnaire, data were collected from 100 respondents from Punjab State on a convenience sampling basis. The Chi-square method was used to check the preference for different types of banks across demographic profiles.

Findings: ‘Responsiveness’ and ‘Tangibles’ are the most significant service quality dimensions. The present study revealed that the preference towards public/private sector banks has no dependency on occupation but found dependence on age and education level.

Research Limitations/Implications: The present study merely concentrates on the banking sector’s service quality towards Fintech applications. It could be used for the security market, insurance and other sectors in the future period. The present study provides implications for future interdisciplinary research addressing the need for Fintech applications as Fintech has become the need of every industry.

Originality/Value: This study is conducted to explore the opportunities for Fintech in the banking sector vis-á-vis service quality. The authors anticipate that the current study will contribute to existing literature and thus become the reference for academicians, researchers and industry professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to provide strategic recommendations to Indian hospital administrators for improving service quality by analysing performance dimensions and the importance attached to them by patients and attendants.

Patient and attendant perceptions were collected using a questionnaire.

Patients and attendants have different perceptions. Different customers have different needs of which providers need to be aware to better serve their consumers.

The study captured only 408 patient and attendants’ perceptions – a 32 per cent response rate.

Results enable hospital administrators to develop appropriate strategies to improve their structure and function by analysing their strengths and weaknesses regarding their tangible and intangible assets.

The study included attendants, specifically in an Indian healthcare context.

Scholarship on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is voluminous. Nevertheless, there is relatively little work that examines DEI from an organization development and change (ODC) or systems perspective. As a result, there is no unified framework ODC practitioners can use for DEI diagnosis and intervention. The purpose of this chapter is to review the ODC literature with respect to DEI and propose a diagnostic Context-Levels-Culture (CLC) framework for understanding and addressing diversity-related challenges in organizations. We also present a case example of how this framework can be used in DEI consulting, including implications for future research and practice.

In order to achieve excellence in manufacturing, goals like lean, economic and quality production with enhanced productivity play a crucial role in this competitive environment. It also necessitates major improvements in generally three primary technical areas: variation reduction, equipment reliability, and production scheduling. Complexity of the real world scheduling problems also increases with interactive multiple decision‐making criteria. This paper aims to deal with multi‐objective flow shop scheduling problems, including sequence dependent set up time (SDST). The paper also aims to consider the objective of minimizing the weighted sum of total weighted tardiness, total weighted earliness and makespan simultaneously. It proposes a new heuristic‐based hybrid simulated annealing (HSA) for near optimal solutions in a reasonable time.

Six modified NEH's based HSA algorithms are proposed for efficient scheduling of jobs in a multi‐objective SDST flow shop. Problems of up to 200 jobs and 20 machines are tested by the proposed HSA and a defined relative percentage improvement index is used for analysis and comparison of different MNEH's based hybrid simulated annealing algorithms.

From the results, it has been derived that performance of SA_EWDD (NEH) up to ten machines' problems, and SA_EPWDD (NEH) up to 20 machines' problems, were better over others especially for large sized SDST flow shop scheduling problems for the considered multi‐objective fitness function.

HSA and multi‐objective decision making proposed in the present work is a modified approach in the area of SDST flow shop scheduling.

The globalisation of markets, emerging concepts of sustainable development, and circular economy have defined the boundaries within which organisations must compete and address the needs of key stakeholders. As circumstances change, boundaries are often replaced by the relationships between companies and the communities they serve. Consequently, strategy has become a central aspect of sustainable leadership and the foundation for implementing strategic management in a dynamic system of relationships. Every company is born and grows within social and economic ecosystems. Drawing on the metaphor of biology, ecosystems are described as dynamic interconnections among various elements that influence and foster entrepreneurship. Interconnections between players (such as marketplaces, organisations, governments, and universities) create a flow of expertise, abilities, knowledge, experience, and tangible resources. Economic and social ecosystems involve various actors and components that continuously coexist and interact, leading to the creation of numerous mutual relationships. Consequently, it is crucial for managers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the internal and external environments. Various decision-making tools and strategies can be used to achieve this goal. These tools were developed to assist managers, researchers, and consultants in making informed decisions under complex scenarios. This chapter presents several decision-making strategies and tools, including the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix, General Electric (GE) matrix, Balanced Scorecard (BSC), PEST, PESTEL analysis, and SWOT analysis.

Despite a large and growing literature on the subject, little is understood about the phenomenon of small business growth. Specifically, the small business growth literature has often emphasized “why” opposed to “how” firms grow. This chapter sheds light on this black box of growth by investigating the phases of planning and implementation processes separately to explore the choice of strategic expansion modes. It examines a much under-researched firm category: declining small firms. Employing a three-year longitudinal study using a multi-case study method, we find that while growth approaches are typically contextually (industry) derived, formalized planning greatly affects implementation. Further, resources are the key mediating variable between formal planning and implementation – firms with slack resources will typically implement their contextually influenced planned growth course, and firms with inadequate resources will typically implement through interactive learning, which causes them to downscale the growth plans or exit the market (merger or sale).