Exploring competitive priorities in the service sector: evidence from India

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explain the components of competitive priorities of Indian service firms, to find out the competitive priorities of different service industries in India and to find out how these competitive priorities change across low- and high-performing service firms.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study of 166 firms from five different service industries is undertaken in New Delhi and its surroundings.

Findings

The results reveal the presence of three competitive priorities in the services sector in India: cost, flexibility and quality/delivery, with quality/delivery being the most distinctive competitive priority. Hotel and auto-repair industries are found to be focused on controlling costs, while hospitals, banks and private colleges prioritized quality/delivery. For high-performing firms, cost is the top most competitive priority, followed by quality/delivery and flexibility, while for low-performing firms, quality/delivery remains the top most competitive priority, followed by flexibility and cost.

Originality/value

The paper enhances the understanding of competitive priorities in the Indian services sector. The identification of competitive priorities of different service industries in India and their dynamics across different industries add value to the current literature and fill an important research gap. Additionally, surveying diverse industries in this paper reveals a holistic picture of the Indian service industry and helps achieve some degree of cross-industry perspective.

Citation

Idris, F. and Naqshbandi, M.M. (2019), "Exploring competitive priorities in the service sector: evidence from India", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 167-186. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-02-2018-0021