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This paper presents an approach by which potential benchmarking partners in the service sector can be matched together more efficiently. The purpose of this paper is to decide which organisations are appropriate partners based on their distinctive characteristics and problems with service management.

In the research presented in this paper, cluster analysis and other statistical analyses were applied to data from a survey of managers in service organisations with the aim of identifying groups of services related to each other in their distinctive characteristics and the problems they face.

The research found that it is possible to identify hidden “relationships” that allow superficially different services to be grouped together. The identified relationships are based on similarities in the problems which the companies face and their distinctive characteristics. Operating in a different area of activity increases the chance that a service provider will be willing to enter into a partnership and greater potential innovation value from best practice. Cluster analysis was used to identify three groups of services in the research sample which could be benchmarking partners for each other.

The research studied only a selective group of nine services in different areas of activity. A statistical survey of 388 organisations in one country verified the methodology in terms of statistical significance and the potential for successful identification and adoption of best practice within a group of related services created using the proposed procedure has also been confirmed. The real value of the approach can only be determined by its repeated use to establish benchmarking partnerships and the success of such partnerships, which can be defined as the adoption of innovative best practice.

The approach described in this paper could make it easier to develop non-competitive benchmarking in the service sector and increase the probability of success in identifying and transferring best practices between organisations in benchmarking partnerships established using it.

One of the first steps in collaborative benchmarking is to establish a partnership with a similar non-competing organisation. The procedure for this step is still not adequately defined. This paper contributes to the theoretical foundations and practical applications of research by setting out an original method for identifying suitable partners in non-competing sectors of the service industries. This will improve the prospects for successful partnership and greater innovativeness in best practice.

The purpose of this paper is to study the distinctive features of service performance measurement. It also provides an overview of current status of performance measurement in three service sectors in Finland.

The paper builds on two complementary empirical studies. In the first study, data were gathered through individual interviews in Finnish service organizations. In the second study, group interviews were held in order to enhance the understanding. The service sectors studied are knowledge-intensive, public and industrial services. There are two main units of analysis in the data set: an organization and service operations.

The results show that the specific performance measurement characteristics are more apparent at service operations level. The findings reveal three distinctive features of service performance measurement. First, the contingency perspective stresses a need to consider the characteristics of different service contexts. Second, customer-orientation implies that the measurement should also cover customers’ actions during the service operation as well as the impacts of service operations. Third, the systemic perspective proposes that performance measurement should encompass all actors participating to service operations.

The results provide support for structuring the existing research and identifying paths for future research. They also assist practitioners in their search for best measurement practices.

This paper contributes by providing empirical insights from three service sectors on the development needs of performance measurement. The findings provide understanding on what exactly makes service performance measurement problematic and suggests three paths to move forward.

The study of international business has become increasingly important in recent years. So important that the American Assembly of the Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has called for the internationalisation of business curricula. In 1992 and beyond, successful business people will treat the entire world as their domain. No one country can operate in an economic vacuum. Any economic measures taken by one country can affect the global economy. This book is designed to challenge the reader to develop a global perspective of international business. Globalisation is by no means a new concept, but there are many new factors that have contributed to its recently accelerated growth. Among them, the new technologies in communication and transport that have resulted in major expansions of international trade and investment. In the future, the world market will become predominant. There are bound to be big changes in the world economy. For instance the changes in Eastern Europe and the European Community during the 1990s. With a strong knowledge base in international business, future managers will be better prepared for the new world market. This book introduces its readers to the exciting and rewarding field of international management and international corporations. It is written in contemporary, easy‐to‐understand language, avoiding abstract terminology; and is organised into five sections, each of which includes a number of chapters that cover a subject involving activities that cross national boundaries.

The purpose of this paper is to review key research contributions that may be useful for rethinking service innovation. Service innovation is not a monolithic construct; therefore, the opportunities for further research are multidimensional and interdisciplinary.

A summary analysis of extant literature identifies valuable contributions and fundamental methodological issues from various perspectives. The proposed directions for future research entail where to innovate, how to innovate, and what to innovate in services.

The analysis and discussion lead to a multidimensional framework of service innovation, with a particular emphasis on organizational and customer cocreation perspectives.

This article contains guidelines and real‐world examples to help practitioners and policy makers develop service innovation strategies through the consideration of different levels, organizations, and perspectives.

This article offers a relevant source of ideas and guidance for anyone interested in research and practice related to rethinking service innovation.

There is a window of opportunity within the area of design for sustainability for services marketing academics and practitioners to offer their knowledge and experience to manufacturing companies and academics. Over the last decade there has been a growing interest in services within the field of sustainable development. Services are viewed as a dematerialized alternative to existing products, with reduced environmental impact (i.e. less material and less energy use to fulfil a certain need). The services considered by academics in the field of sustainable development are those related to products or those substituting products. These services are often called “eco‐efficient services”. Academics focusing on the development of eco‐efficient services can use elements of theory and experience available within the services marketing discipline. Services marketing academics and practitioners can help in developing blueprints and processes to facilitate manufacturing companies to shift towards a more service‐intensive way of doing business. This paper calls for cross‐disciplinary collaboration.

Four characteristics have been regularly applied to services: intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, perishability (IHIP). More and more exceptions occur which have resulted in substantial criticism. This paper aims to show that each characteristic is valid and useful when related to an individual aspect of services instead of being assigned to services as a single entity.

Based on customer integration, a framework (FTU framework) and a resource typology are developed. These approaches are the theoretical foundation of the analysis.

The FTU framework and a resource typology reveal different aspects of services and allow the assignment of the IHIP characteristics to them. Intangibility is assigned to the service offering, heterogeneity and inseparability to customer resources, and perishability to the facilities of the provider.

The paper is based on a theoretical analysis. Researchers may want to empirically test the approach.

Assigning the IHIP characteristics more clearly to certain aspects of services reveals their origin and makes them more tractable. For example knowing that heterogeneity of services is due to customers resources makes it more predictable and manageable.

Although the IHIP characteristics are both widely cited and criticized, existing research has only tried to find and establish new characteristic(s). The approach of this paper is original because it takes a more trenchant look at them in order to develop a framework identifying aspects of services for which they apply.

The present paper scrutinizes the extant literature on the internationalization process of service providers. It provides an overview of current insights and unresolved issues. The findings of over 100 published studies are structured and summarized under four headings: internationalization motives, country/market selection, entry mode choice, and the profile of service exporters. Although literature is closing the gap with reality, this paper concludes that (empirical) work still lacks sound theoretical bases, and – partially as a consequence – it is largely fragmented and exploratory. Per heading we formulate specific suggestion for better and more focused future research endeavors.

Examines existing models of buyer behaviour and evaluates their relevance to financial services in the light of the specific characteristics of the sector and its products. Reviews empirical work relating to both personal and corporate buying behaviour and suggests the IMP framework as a basis for future conceptual work because of its emphasis on the relationships and interactions in the buying process.

Intangibility is one of the distinctive characteristics of service. However, the literature also highlights “tangibles” as one of the basic service quality dimensions. Investigates the importance of tangibles and intangibles in perceptions of service quality as assessed by both customers and service providers. Selects four service industries to reflect a range from high to low levels of tangible components and degree of intangibility in both service process and output. Based on 400 telephone interviews with consumers, shows that the level of tangible components has a positive impact on the perceived importance of the tangible dimension in service quality. However, the second phase of this research, involving a qualitative study with managers in the studied industries, shows that the tangibles dimension is relatively neglected in service industries with high tangible involvement. Presents a model of tangibility and intangibility to aid managers in understanding customers’ perceptions, and to stimulate further research.

The purpose of the present study is to explore the pricing methods that service companies adopt in order to set their prices, along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these methods.

To achieve the research objectives, data were collected through personal interviews in 170 companies operating in six different services sectors in Greece.

The study concluded that the two most popular pricing methods are the traditional “cost‐plus” method and “pricing according to the market's average prices”, while all the other methods (including customer‐based methods) are adopted by a small number of companies in the sample. Similarly, “service cost” along with “competitors' prices” were found to be the two most important characteristics that are taken into consideration when setting prices.

Despite the importance attached to cost and competitive issues when setting prices, pricing decisions need to be treated from a more “holistic” approach, where apart from cost and competition, emphasis will also be placed on other company and environmentally related characteristics, including customers. The significance of these findings notwithstanding, the context of the study is a caveat, since it limits the ability to generalize the results to other countries.

The contribution of the paper lies in the fact that it presents the first attempt to examine empirically the potential impact of these characteristics on the pricing methods used.