Uzay Damali, Enrico Secchi, Stephen S. Tax and David McCutcheon
Customer participation (CP) has received considerable interest in the service literature as a way to improve the customer experience and reduce service providers' costs. While its…
Abstract
Purpose
Customer participation (CP) has received considerable interest in the service literature as a way to improve the customer experience and reduce service providers' costs. While its benefits are not in question, there is a paucity of research on potential pitfalls. This paper provides a conceptual foundation to address this gap and develops a comprehensive model of the risks of customer participation in service delivery, integrating research from the marketing, operations and supply chain management, strategy, and information technology fields.
Design/methodology/approach
The model is derived deductively by integrating insights from research in marketing, operations and supply chain management, strategy, and information technology.
Findings
This paper identifies three categories of potential risks of CP (i.e. market, operational, and service network) and discusses ways that firms can mitigate these risks. Building on the model, it develops a CP risk assessment tool that managers can use when evaluating increases in CP.
Research limitations/implications
The conceptual model proposed in this paper can serve as a robust basis for future research in customer participation, particularly in such areas as sharing economy services, service delivery networks, and experiential services. The risk assessment tool offers clear guidelines for managers who are considering an increase in customer participation in their service.
Originality/value
This is the first attempt to conceptually define customer participation risk and develop a comprehensive model of its drivers and strategies to mitigate it. This paper develops a straightforward method for managers to evaluate CP risk.
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Over the past eight years, the MELVYL catalog has become one of the largest public access catalogs in the world, and now plays a central role in providing access to the library…
Abstract
Over the past eight years, the MELVYL catalog has become one of the largest public access catalogs in the world, and now plays a central role in providing access to the library resources of the University of California. Currently, under heavy load, the MELVYL catalog supports many hundreds of simultaneous terminal connections, servicing over a quarter of a million queries a week and displaying more than two million records a week to its user community. This article discusses the history of the network that has supported the MELVYL catalog from the early days of its prototype to the present. It also describes both the current technical and policy issues that must be addressed as the network moves into the 1990s, and the roles that the network is coming to play in integrating local automation, the union catalog, access to resource databases, and other initiatives. Sidebars discuss the TCP/IP protocol suite, internet protocol gateways, and Telenet and related inter‐operability problems.
F. Ian Stuart and David McCutcheon
Investigates the change in requirements to sustain supplier alliances as the relationship matures. Notes that the trend to outsource more materials and services has made firms…
Abstract
Investigates the change in requirements to sustain supplier alliances as the relationship matures. Notes that the trend to outsource more materials and services has made firms more reliant on their sources of supply. This has led to a move towards increasingly collaborative supplier relationships, referred to as supplier alliances. Widespread use of these relationships is new and relatively little is known about the attributes that may promote success or failure. A recent paper concludes that such “partnership” relationships tend to expand and be more successful with each year following establishment. Tests this assumption using a longitudinal survey of 41 buyer‐supplier relationships. Finds that the purchasing firms perceived some improvements in benefits from their alliance‐like relationships but not significantly more than those which maintained traditional relationships. Also finds that the factors leading to improved benefits changed significantly as the alliance matured, with specific information flows becoming key. Proposes a profile of the relative importance of these factors over time.
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Jack R. Meredith, David M. McCutcheon and Janet Hartley
Identifies four factors as constituting the primary basis for globalcompetition in providing customers with value: customization, quality,response time, and price. However, finds…
Abstract
Identifies four factors as constituting the primary basis for global competition in providing customers with value: customization, quality, response time, and price. However, finds that these factors interact in a multiplicative rather than the commonly‐assumed additive manner, giving competitors with multiple strengths additional competitiveness and disqualifying firms which lack performance on even one dimension. Presents a simple model to aid managers in analysing the competition in their industry as well as in making decisions about the best actions to take for strengthening their firm′s competitiveness.
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Robert F. Marsh, Jack R. Meredith and David M. McCutcheon
When a functional layout is converted to a cellular layout, the cell design is generally based on a static picture of production volume and part mix, but manufacturing…
Abstract
When a functional layout is converted to a cellular layout, the cell design is generally based on a static picture of production volume and part mix, but manufacturing environments face ongoing changes in these parameters. It is expected that, eventually, changes in production volume and part mix will cause a deterioration in cell performance to the point that a cell’s machine layout must be redesigned, marking the end of the cell’s life cycle. Tests the existence of cell life cycles and performance deterioration attributed to changes in production volume and part mix through an exploratory field study which was undertaken at 15 firms using cellular manufacturing. Finds that cell life cycles did exist, but usually either in anticipation of declining cell performance ‐ rather than in reaction to it ‐ or in anticipation of potential improvements in cell performance due to changes in the marketplace.
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Corporations and businesses have been a major influence on society since before the industrial revolution, but academic focus on corporate responsibilities is a recent phenomenon…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporations and businesses have been a major influence on society since before the industrial revolution, but academic focus on corporate responsibilities is a recent phenomenon which focuses predominantly on globalised multi-national corporations of the late twentieth century. The purpose of this paper is to consider the evolution of the corporate responsibility and community involvement tracing the development of corporate behaviours in the UK from medieval guilds to the modern form of corporation seen at the end of the last century.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis considers the institutional forces which have shaped responsible business behaviours in a context of changing power and influence.
Findings
Drawing on Weber's notion of the ideal-type, this paper demonstrates that many “modern” corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts such as codes of conduct, stakeholder consultation, and corporate donations have considerable heritage.
Originality/value
This paper develops an important precedent by examining the evolution of CSR and other aspects of corporate engagement. It develops a long-term instrumental context for corporate donations, whilst revealing that practices such as employee volunteering are considerably more recent, and less institutionally developed.