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This study analyses the factors that can influence the quality of service provided by the bus rapid transit (BRT) system in the state of Pernambuco. It is incipient, considering that the system was implemented in this state in 2014 to the World cup. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to identify the factors considered important for the services provided by this system and their impact on perceived quality.

The authors analyzed the data using exploratory factorial analysis, and linear and quantile regression techniques. Regarding the classification, this research is applied, exploratory, descriptive and in the form of a case study describing the situation experienced by the users of BRT in Pernambuco.

The results showed that it was possible to identify five factors that impact the level of satisfaction of the offered services: fluency in the provision of the service; staff training; physical conditions in the provision of the service; convenience/accessibility; and integration between transport lines.

With initial identification, factors 1, 3, 4 and 5 have been found to have an impact on overall service quality in a positive and statistically significant way. Factors 3 and 4 have a different impact with high- and low-quality standard perceived by users, and these should be the guiding elements by companies in establishing actions to improve the services offered.

This study aims to investigate routines as a conceptual tool to analyze resources management in small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) productive processes.

The authors developed a qualitative multiple case study with Brazilian companies in the bakery industry. Data were collected through interviews, on-site observation and documentary analysis. Plus, the authors used business process modeling (BPM) techniques to map the observed routines.

The restrictions of SMEs accentuate the improvisation of routines. However, contrary to expected, many of these deviations expand the possibilities of organizational action as they become successful in terms of operational efficiency, which allows these companies to extract performance from ordinary resources and imitable management practices.

The BPM shows its value to track the allocation of resources in SMEs by recording the evolution of its routines and helping to preserve an operational memory. This finding could be useful to help public agencies to develop accessible management tools to assist small business owners.

Most of the conceptual tools developed to analyze the resources management are based on the study of large organizations, which may limit the analysis and lead to restricted or mistaken results if used in another context without proper adaptation. The authors apply an objective and representational epistemological lens to organizational routines to adapt it to the pragmatic context of operations management. Also, the authors suggest that better than a resource-based view, the practice-based view is a theoretical approach more compatible with the resource constraints context of SMEs.

Routine dynamics provide a robust theoretical framework to explore a wide range of organizational phenomena. However, the study of routines and the effect of technology on its performativity in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still lack attention by researchers. This paper aims to analyze how the balance between process technology and human cognition affects routines' performativity in SMEs.

It was conducted a multicase study composed of Brazilian SMEs in the bakery industry. Data collection took place through interviews with managers and employees, observation of operational processes and document analysis. Thematic content analysis was adopted for categorization and data analysis.

The authors’ findings allow inferring there is no primacy of a more automated or artisanal production process to achieve competitiveness, which breaks the paradigm of the superior performance of automated production over the artisanal process that haunts SMEs. Though technology increases production efficiency, the artisanal approach can be valuable at promoting a company by commercially using this know-how to explore other business models appreciated by the public.

The authors’ proposals became relevant in a practical perspective once it works as a parameter for SME managers' decision-making about new investments in production resources and to foster public policies and other actions developed by support services for small businesses.

This study expands the frontiers in routines literature on SMEs, which lacks deepening. From this, SME managers can intensify actions to optimize process routines performativity through technologies or human cognition to keep the routines on track.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to guide organizations according to the relative importance of customer's satisfaction about six quality service dimensions: reliability, empathy, assurance, tangibility, responsiveness (Parasuraman et al., 1985) and price.

The present study uses SERVPERF customer requirements and weights of ELECTRE TRI multicriteria method to provide guidance on an appropriated action plan. Subsequently, it was demonstrated how the proposed model applied to the Inn.

SERVPERF is based on the subjective and cognitive perception of customer's service analyses. ELECTRE TRI decreases the deviation of subjectivity and develops manager's energy flow, focussed on enterprise resources.

Measuring quality is hard work and usually the customer perceptions are not well understood, because it changes many times. In addition SERVPERF and ELECTRE TRI weights do not order the quality importance.

Together, SERVPERF and ELECTRE TRI allow managers to prioritize the service level desired by the customer.

The importance of this analysis follows the competitiveness approach: productivity, quality and flexibility (Boljwin and Kumpe, 1990). The paper develops an approach to lead organizational quality performance based on the customer view. It provides a sustainable competitive advantage.

This paper aims to present a hybrid approach to measure the efficiency of virtual contact centers (VCCs) started during the pandemic and benchmark them for service performance. The results are used to plot the VCC's efficiency score (performance) and customer perception (Importance) to propose appropriate strategies.

Using the survey method, 854 responses were collected from customers who used VCC services during the pandemic. This data was then employed to assess the performance of VCCs using SERVPERF and DEA methods, followed by the development of the model for performance analysis.

Results reveal the ranking of different VCCs started during the pandemic for the telecom company using SERVPERF and DEA methods. Further, the performance analysis model highlighted the strategies appropriate for each VCCs.

The findings add to the body of knowledge on how multiple service units of a large organization can assess service efficiency utilizing a combination of SERVPERF-DEA. The present work also contributes to the performance analysis field by proposing a model to assess the service centers and provide improvement guidelines.

The work is one of the first to assess the service efficiency of the VCCs started during the pandemic by using a unique hybrid approach of SERVPERF and DEA. This approach provides a direction to whom to benchmark and to what degree service quality should be improved. Further, the study proposes a unique performance analysis model based on performance scores and customer perception.