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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 May 2023

Peter Samuelsson

This study aims to explain the effects of different types of innovations on organizational performance in terms of firms’ external effectiveness and internal efficiency. The study…

2951

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explain the effects of different types of innovations on organizational performance in terms of firms’ external effectiveness and internal efficiency. The study examines the interrelationship of technical and nontechnical innovations in complex services and the mediating effect of customer participation on the relationship between innovation type and organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on a neo-Schumpeterian model for innovation to examine the complex service setting of healthcare provision. Data from Statistics Sweden, containing 38 hospitals and 242 primary care units in Sweden, provided the study's results.

Findings

The findings show the importance of combining different types of innovations in complex services, demonstrating a mediating effect of nontechnical innovation on both the relationship between technical innovations and external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Moreover, the results show that customer participation has a positive mediating effect for technical innovation and nontechnical innovation on external effectiveness. However, there is no such significant effect on internal efficiency.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are based on self-assessment data, which has inherent limitations. The innovation data used were cross-sectional, which may lack reliability (although self-assessed data counter this risk to some extent).

Practical implications

Managers should pursue both technical and nontechnical innovations for gains in external effectiveness and internal efficiency. However, complex services call for technical innovations to be accompanied by nontechnical innovations to support positive effects. The results cause a dilemma for managing customer participation in complex services. As the results show customer participation resulting in external effectiveness, they also fail to establish an effect on internal efficiency.

Originality/value

The primary contribution is to add to the knowledge of different types of innovation in complex services by demonstrating their interdependent effects on both external effectiveness and internal efficiency. Furthermore, the study tests and advances the mediating effect of customer participation in complex services on organizational performance.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 57 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 March 2017

Wendy L. Tate, Lisa M. Ellram and Ulrich Schmelzle

The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of how purchasing can become meaningfully involved in complex business-to-business service purchases.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of how purchasing can become meaningfully involved in complex business-to-business service purchases.

Design/methodology/approach

A single in-depth case study method of an exemplar organization was applied to better understand the purchasing function’s role in adding to the value proposition in complex, non-traditional business-to-business service purchases.

Findings

Powerful allies or advocates can mediate purchasing involvement in service procurement. However, once the involvement is initiated, purchasing must make a positive contribution with respect to the specific needs and expectations of the budget owner to retain its influence.

Research limitations/implications

This research extends institutional theory to show how powerful allies or advocates can mediate purchasing involvement in the complex services spend.

Practical implications

This study describes the potential impact of purchasing’s involvement in complex services spend and highlights the opportunities for purchasing managers to improve supplier management and drive out additional costs.

Originality/value

For the business practitioner, this research provides evidence regarding how individual functions can gain influence in the organization. A conceptual model describes the meaningful involvement of purchasing in complex business-to-business service purchases.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 May 2016

Chris Raddats, Tim Baines, Jamie Burton, Vicky Mary Story and Judy Zolkiewski

– The purpose of this paper is to identify the commonalities and differences in manufacturers’ motivations to servitise.

3966

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the commonalities and differences in manufacturers’ motivations to servitise.

Design/methodology/approach

UK study based on interviews with 40 managers in 25 companies in 12 sectors. Using the concept of product complexity, sectors were grouped using the Complex Products and Systems (CoPS) typology: non-complex products, complex products and systems.

Findings

Motivations to servitise were categorised as competitive, demand based (i.e. derived from the customer) or economic. Motivations to servitise vary according to product complexity, although cost savings and improved service quality appear important demand-based motivations for all manufacturers. Non-complex product manufacturers also focus on services to help product differentiation. For CoPS manufacturers, both risk reduction and developing a new revenue stream were important motivations. For uniquely complex product manufacturers, stabilising revenue and increased profitability were strong motivations. For uniquely systems manufacturers, customers sought business transformation, whilst new service business models were also identified.

Research limitations/implications

Using the CoPS typology, this study delineates motivations to servitise by sector. The findings show varying motivations to servitise as product complexity increases, although some motivational commonality existed across all groups. Manufacturers may have products of differing complexity within their portfolio. To overcome this limitation the unit of analysis was the strategic business unit.

Practical implications

Managers can reflect on and benchmark their motivation for, and opportunities from, servitisation, by considering product complexity.

Originality/value

The first study to categorise servitisation motivations by product complexity. Identifying that some customers of systems manufacturers seek business transformation through outsourcing.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 36 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1998

James F. Devlin

This study explores practitioner views regarding which elements of the service offering to emphasise when formulating strategies to add value and, hence, gain competitive…

2961

Abstract

This study explores practitioner views regarding which elements of the service offering to emphasise when formulating strategies to add value and, hence, gain competitive advantage in services markets. In particular, the case of retail financial services is emloyed to investigate hypotheses regarding variations in importance of elements of the service offer in adding value due to increased complexity and intangibility of some offerings and the resultant implications for consumer evaluation. Evidence suggests that these issues may be particularly relevant in the context of services and that consequently many of the common prescriptions regarding strategy formulation may be rather more difficult for services organisations to implement. It is found that factors such as image and reputation of the organisation, as well as functional service quality, are perceived to be particularly important in adding value to more complex financial services offerings. More surprisingly, the features and quality of the core service provided are also perceived to be more important in adding value to complex services. In addition, factors such as price, location and recovery are perceived to be significantly more important in adding value to more simple, rather than complex, offerings. Finally, conclusions are presented.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 32 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

Jennifer Rankin and Sue Regan

Too many health and social care services are failing to meet people's complex needs. In this paper, ‘complex needs’ is presented as a framework to help understand multiple…

Abstract

Too many health and social care services are failing to meet people's complex needs. In this paper, ‘complex needs’ is presented as a framework to help understand multiple interlocking needs that span health and social issues. The concept encompasses mental health problems, combined with substance misuse and/or disability, including learning disability, as well as social exclusion. The paper outlines a strategy for promoting the well‐being and inclusion of people with complex needs. At the heart of this strategy is a new kind of delivery model: connected care centres, a type of bespoke social care service, a model which has been endorsed by the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU). In addition, the paper describes how new responses from existing services can promote better support for people with complex needs, such as a reformed commissioning process and a new ‘navigational’ role for the social care worker.

Details

Housing, Care and Support, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-8790

Book part
Publication date: 1 August 2019

Anna V. Shokhnekh, Olga A. Mironova, Lidiya A. Sizeneva, Marina N. Semenova and Al-Muttar Mohammed Yousif Oudah

The chapter presents a mechanism of innovational development of cluster of the hospitality industry in the system of region's economic security, which formation takes place in the…

Abstract

The chapter presents a mechanism of innovational development of cluster of the hospitality industry in the system of region's economic security, which formation takes place in the conditions of complex turbulent state of economy, which leads to crises of various scales and volumes. Cluster is treated as a platform that unifies efforts and partnership interactions between large, medium, and small business and synthesizes expectations of consumers on the basis of territorial concentration of readiness to care about a customer in the form of provision of the need: (1) selection and readiness of consumer to accept a specific complex service of the hospitality industry (with tourist service complexes); (2) movement (with transport complex); (3) accommodation (with hotel complex), (4) readiness for catering (with catering complex); (5) entertainment (with participation of complex of entertainment); (6) security (with security complex). The process of clustering leads to a new treatment of the notion of competition, development of capabilities to be a business partner, and finding advantages in generation of innovations together with intermediaries and neighbors.

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2013

Robin Johnson

The purpose of this paper is to conclude a two-part review of past and current approaches to meeting the more “complex” needs of individuals in the UK context. It explores the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conclude a two-part review of past and current approaches to meeting the more “complex” needs of individuals in the UK context. It explores the dilemmas of commissioning, the development of personalisation approaches in funding or care planning mechanisms, the need to address power relations and lessons from the introduction of the role of a “lead professional” in the Care Programme Approach (CPA), concluding with the development of more systemic approaches at locality level.

Design/methodology/approach

This, being the second of two papers, extends the historical narrative approach of Part 1 to the analysis of the term “complex needs” and its role in contemporary service delivery.

Findings

The first responsibility of services has been to find ways to engage these more “at risk” individuals and their needs more effectively; and innovation and guidance on this is valuable. But the paper also needs to address the nature of the net itself, that lets so many through. Reliance on individuating mechanisms of service delivery to respond to individual complexity may be less effective in tackling complex needs, unless accompanied by more effective collective representation, and systemic change.

Originality/value

This overview paper brings together themes that are more commonly treated in isolation; in addition, there is hitherto unpublished material on the CPA, and illustration with examples of contemporary developments.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. 17 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 January 2021

Nina Servizzi

As the demand for new services strains library resources, directors of research libraries must practice efficient cost management and demonstrate alignment with institutional…

Abstract

As the demand for new services strains library resources, directors of research libraries must practice efficient cost management and demonstrate alignment with institutional objectives. For technical services, this requires managing the effective cost of metadata services, assessing core functions, and evaluating operational performance. This paper uses Complex Adaptive Systems (CASs) as a framework to expose the network of local and global dependencies that currently define the field of operation for technical services. Comparative analyses using a CASs framework were conducted on reports by the Library of Congress, the Heads of Technical Services in Large Research Libraries Interest Group, and the British Library. Each report addresses financial pressures placed on bibliographic control services in response to the 2008 recession. Statements within the reports were assigned to one of three dominant systems: bibliographic control, institutional identification, and distributive networks. The statements were then mapped to the CASs characteristics to determine environmental pressures and areas of adaptation. The reports exposed long-standing dependencies that tie local bibliographic control to a complex network of external agencies. Institutional shifts toward user-centered services coupled with growing fiscal restraint has disrupted the stability of these networks. The analyses found that in all cases network instability led to localized institutional adaptation to existing economic pressures. The paper recommends applying a CASs model to assess the alignment of distributed metadata standards and systems development to local institutional objectives.

Details

Technical Services in the 21st Century
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-829-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2017

Katrien Verleye, Elina Jaakkola, Ian R. Hodgkinson, Gyuchan Thomas Jun, Gaby Odekerken-Schröder and Johan Quist

Service networks are inherently complex as they comprise of many interrelated actors, often driven by divergent interests. This can result in imbalance, which refers to a…

2524

Abstract

Purpose

Service networks are inherently complex as they comprise of many interrelated actors, often driven by divergent interests. This can result in imbalance, which refers to a situation where the interests of at least one actor in a network are not secured. Drawing on the “balanced centricity” perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of imbalance in complex service networks.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a qualitative case-based approach, this paper examines a public health service network that experienced imbalance that was detrimental to the lives of its users: the Mid-Staffordshire National Health Service (NHS) Trust, UK. Drawing on service-dominant logic and stakeholder theory, case evidence provides insight into the origin and drivers of imbalance in complex public service networks.

Findings

The origin of imbalance stems from competing institutional logics of various actors (patients/public, employees, managers, regulatory bodies, etc.), but the degree to which these competing institutional logics lead to imbalance is moderated by accountability, communication, engagement, and responsiveness within the service network.

Research limitations/implications

By uncovering causes of imbalance in complex public service networks, this paper pinpoints important research avenues for developing the balanced centricity perspective.

Practical implications

The inherent existence of multiple parallel institutional arrangements makes networks imbalanced, but value creation can be achieved when the appropriate mechanisms are fostered to manage balance between divergent logics.

Originality/value

By examining imbalance as the underlying cause of network dysfunction, this research contributes to understanding of the dynamics in, and performance of, complex public service networks.

Article
Publication date: 23 September 2019

Oscar Barros

The purpose of this paper is to present a process architecture pattern for designing particular components of a complex service. The proposal emphasizes the design of the service

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a process architecture pattern for designing particular components of a complex service. The proposal emphasizes the design of the service production flow component, following modularity ideas, which determines the sequence of actions needed to generate a high quality and efficient service. The authors report its applications to the design of the flow in a single emergency department (ED) case.

Design/methodology/approach

In complex services, production design is usually lacking because production activities are not clearly defined and, in many cases, they are dynamically determined as the service is produced according a client’s particular needs. In health services, for example ED, this generates a chaotic production flow that uses resources very inefficiently. The methodology uses a reference architecture, integrating it with disciplines – modularity, analytics and evaluation methods – that provide ideas for formally designing these complex services. This is mainly justified by the fact that, in many such services, no formal design exits and their production processes are the result of practice evolution.

Findings

Methodology was applied to the ED of a large public hospital. The authors first analyzed ED’s production and performance data. The authors found two patients’ groups that used more than 90 percent of resources. Therefore, design focused on these groups, defining specialized production lines for them and with physical space remodeled by an architecture project, resulting in well-defined separated workflows for each production line. Design also includes coordination with complementary shared services, including specialists consultations’ requests and execution, and request, processing and reception of laboratory and radiology examinations. The authors implemented new workflows producing a decrease of 26 percent in patients’ delays. More detailed results based on three months of observations also showed, for example, a reduction in examinations waiting times of 80 percent and an increase in the consultation resolution for cardiological patients from 24 to 80 percent in the same day, which means a significant quality increment.

Research limitations/implications

Thus, the authors conclude the plausibility of the idea they proposed that an important design problem in health services, in terms of potential improvements in capacity utilization, is production design. This provides the opportunity to reduce investing large amounts of resources in new hospitals and to instead use the alternative to generate large amounts of capacity by production performance improvements.

Practical implications

The authors are replicating the approach in other hospitals with extensions to inpatient and ambulatory services.

Social implications

Approach produces better service in public hospitals, which is a problem in emergencies in the world.

Originality/value

Formal design approach in health production services is proposed that provides great value by generating capacity, due to better use of resources, that reduces investment needs in new facilities.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

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