Competitive Advantage through Service Differentiation: Evidences from Italian Manufacturing Firms | Chapter 07 | Emerging Issues in Science and Technology Vol. 1
The culture and the operational methods
of service management have become a formidable competitive weapon even for
manufacturing firms. The term "service factory" has been proposed for
identifying that particular integration of products and services, achieved by
the excellent manufacturing firm, where "service is a multidimensional
concept". The creation of a service factory necessarily implies a radical
change in the operational and organizational characteristics of the firm. In
order to support manufacturing firms in adopting a service strategy, it is
relevant on the one hand to identify the bundle of services which have to be
provided for the customers and, on the other hand, to understand the
implications for firm management model. As regards the first point, the paper
proposes a framework which classifies the services along with two dimensions:
time-dimension and target-dimension. The proposed framework is of interest for
manufacturing firms because it allows a better recognition of services that are
more perceptible for the customers. In the second part of the paper, authors
discuss the implications of a service strategy adoption on the management model
of manufacturing firms. In order to carry out this analysis, authors propose a
model that combines four service dimensions with three decision-making
categories (Organization, Methodologies and Technologies). In the end, the
proposed framework has been applied in a sample of Italian hot water heater
manufacturers and a case study analysis has been carried out.
Author(s) Details
Prof. Roberto Panizzolo
Department of Engineering
& Management, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Alberto Maria de Crescenzo
Department of Engineering
& Management, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
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