Potential for videophones in Japan: A service proposal

The author proposes the introduction of a videophone communication service to cater for workers temporarily relocated away from their homes and families. An NTT market survey suggests that there is a perceived need for such a service. If the toll for the service is kept low, and communication centres are easily accessible, significant use of videophones may be expected in Japan.     

Women, social skill and interactive service work in telephone call centres

This paper contributes to current debates about gender, work and skill in the service economy, focusing specifically on the case of women's employment in telephone call centres. The paper asks whether call centre employers are capitalising on women's 'feminine' social skills, and examines the degree to which these skills are being developed, acknowledged and recognised.     

Services innovation and the transformation of work: the case of UK telecommunications

Current transformations in technologies and industrial structure of UK telecommunications have important implications for skills and work organisation. This is examined in different divisions of a large UK telecommunications firm: call centres, customer service centres, engineering sectors and the R&D department. The effect of these transformations on the development of firm competences is discussed.     

Enabling ‘managed activism’: the adoption of call centres in Australian,British and US trade unions

This article examines how trade unions in different country settings have utilised call centre technologies. Rather than viewing union call centres as simply a means of service delivery, our research suggests they can also enable a more strategic approach to workplace organising. We explore the implications of union call centres for debates on servicing and organising models of trade unionism.     

Restructuring Public Transit Systems: Evidence on Cost Properties from Medium and Large-Sized Companies

This paper analyses the cost structure of a sample of local public transport companies operating in medium and large urban centres in Italy in order to identify the proper network configuration for the service. Technological characteristics of public transit systems are analysed by estimating both variable and total cost function models. The evidence shows the presence of short-run and long-run economies of scale, as well as of economies of network density. This suggests that a suitable network design should at least include a large urban centre, while a regulatory policy aimed at fragmenting the served area would imply an efficiency loss.      

Collaboration in R&D with universities and research centres: an empirical study of Spanish firms

Innovation is sometimes the result of collaboration between different agents with complementary resources. When companies make formal agreements to collaborate in R&D they do so with different types of organizations, such as their competitors, suppliers, and customers, or universities and research centres. This paper focuses on attempting to understand the reasons that lead companies to cooperate with universities and research centres and the characteristics of the relationship that this involves. The empirical study is based on a sample of 747 Spanish firms that took part in some type of collaborative R&D project between 1994 and 1996. Results indicate that cooperation with centres is a nation–wide phenomenon involving basic research, conducted under the sponsorship of different research support schemes promoted by central and regional administrations.     

Gender,choice and constraint in call centre employment

This paper examines the genderised experience of employment in call centres. While existing studies have acknowledged structural and agential constraints on women in the workplace, this paper goes further by illustrating the gendered nature of career choice and progression in a context which, in certain respects, appears to have benefitted women's desires for advancement. Drawing on quantitative and in‐depth qualitative data from four Scottish call centres, the study provides evidence of gender inequality shaped by structural and ideological workplace and household constraints.     

Voices from higher up the ladder: exploring the team leader role in call centres

This paper focuses on an under‐researched employee category in the call centre literature—the team leader. The paper, drawing on data from nine Australian call centres, finds that the team leader role is integral to the effectiveness of call centres, yet it is a role that consists of considerable complexity and contradictions. The research demonstrates the critical role performed by team leaders: coach, mentor, trainer, performance evaluator, communicator and supervisor. It also shows team leaders as being far more positive about many of the features of the call centre work environment compared with those on the front line. However, there does appear to be a need for greater acknowledgement of their challenging role, the contradictions that are inherent in the job and the need, in many cases, for increased support being made available to assist.     

Temporality,space and technology: time‐space discourses of call centres

This paper considers time‐space discourses within grand theories that have shaped the trajectory of research on call centres. A critical approach to telework needs to consider temporal and spatial configurations and space creation as a negotiation between a multitude of factors including capital, culture and human agency.     

Tackling the paradox: can attaining global research excellence be compatible with local technology development?

This paper uses the case of the IMEC (microelectronics research centre) to examine the compatibility between strategic IPR management of large independent research centres, and regional industrial policy missions given to such centres in return for government funding. In particular, the issue of whether a balance can be found between a necessary drive for international recognition and critical mass of funding, and a policy of IPR valorization towards regional firms is examined.
The first section sets out the mission of IMEC and the evolution over time of its strategic approach to building global industrial partnerships based on a sophisticated model of IPR management. Drawing on a recent evaluation, the subject of the second section is the extent to which the results of the industrial and exploratory research activities of IMEC are then commercialized in local Flemish industry.
The concluding section offers policy conclusions in terms of the instruments and objectives which public policy makers can apply to maximize the local impact of large globally operating research centres.     

An evolutionary framework for service innovation: Insights of complexity theory for service science

There is an increasing need for a theory-based and industry-oriented framework for service innovation in both research and practice. However the study of service innovation has been somewhat limited. This paper applies two models of complexity theory (Kauffman's NK model in biology and organizational ambidexterity in organization science) for service innovation and proposes a novel perspective on service innovation as an evolutionary process, which is interactive, local, unpredictable, and emergent. The paper also proposes a typology of service innovation that includes eight different strategic orientations of service innovation; also included are illustrations from a knowledge-intensive service industry, particularly the IT-based consulting and service industry sector. Drawing from this complexity theory perspective, the paper discusses numerous implications for future conceptualization of service, multidimensionality of service innovation, and service innovation strategies.     

The construction of control: the physical environment and the development of resistance and accommodation within call centres

The paper explores the impact of the physical environment on employee resistance and accommodation. The findings suggest that the physical nature of call centres, whether purpose built or not, can be a focus of employee dissatisfaction and reflect broader, less concrete conflicts. It notes that the advantage of the physical environment as an arena for resistance lies in its tangibility.     

Why do off‐shored Indian call centre workers want to leave their jobs?

Employee turnover is a major problem in off‐shored Indian call centres. Agents who service Western customers often face hostility and racial abuse because of who they are and where they are located. A substantial part of job‐related training focuses on teaching employees to manage their identity and modify their accent. Based on a sample (n = 211) of Indian call centre workers servicing international customers, we explore these issues and investigate how they affect employee turnover intentions. The study utilises Taylor and Bain's (2005) distinction between factors particular to the Indian context and those more generic to the call centre labour process to better understand the drivers of turnover. We found that a number of distinctive factors including accent modification difficulty, stigma consciousness, racial abuse and perceived favouritism were associated with turnover intentions. The study also revealed that certain job‐related factors related to intentions to leave, including routinisation and poor promotional opportunities.     

A Marriage Made in Heaven? Mismatches and Misunderstandings between Worker Centres and Unions

Worker centres, community‐based mediating institutions that provide support to low‐wage workers in the United States, have grown from five in 1992 to 160 in 2007. With unions increasingly targeting low‐wage immigrant workers employed in non‐footloose industries for organizing drives, it would seem that worker centres and unions are a match made in heaven. On the ground, however, it has been more of a mismatch. This article examines the underlying sources of the mismatch embodied in the structures, ideologies and cultures of worker centres and unions.     

Do low-quality products affect high-quality entry? Multiproduct firms and nonstop entry in airline markets

This paper studies the effect of product ownership and quality on nonstop entry in the airline industry. Specifically, this paper empirically examines the decision of an airline to offer high-quality nonstop service between cities given that the airline may or may not be offering lower quality one-stop service. I find that airlines that offer one-stop service through a hub are less likely to enter that same market with nonstop service than those that do not. In addition, the quality of the one-stop service is an important determinant of entry. Airlines are more likely to enter a market with nonstop service if their own or their rival's one-stop service in the market is of lower quality. Estimates suggest that the entry of a rival nonstop carrier diminishes the probability a carrier enters the market with nonstop service. However, airlines offering one-stop service respond differently to nonstop rivals. In particular, relative to other carriers, those offering one-stop service are more likely to enter markets if there are nonstop rivals, suggesting that cannibalization effects are diminished in the presence of nonstop competition.     

The multi-channel challenge: A dynamic capability approach

The maturing of e-commerce, the diffusion of call centres into the B2B space and purchaser demands on price and service are leading to rapid change in the route to market in many B2B sectors, with shifting combinations of channels being offered to the customer in the search for advantage. In this situation managers can no longer rely on the channel resources that they have assembled to provide their extant competitive position. Instead they must be able to combine resources in new ways, gain additional resources and dispose of superfluous resources, and to do this repeatedly and rapidly if they are to compete successfully. The term ‘dynamic capabilities’ has emerged in the strategic management literature for these activities. Using four case studies and the analytic induction approach to data analysis, we identify seven dynamic capabilities for channel transformation.     

A service science framework to enhance value creation in service innovation projects. An RFID case study

This paper describes an IT-driven service innovation with an in-depth case study. The case study shows the different stages of RFID implementation in the jewellery supply chain of a retailer including all stakeholders. Based on a review of the literature on service engineering, information systems and management, we propose a framework to enhance IT-driven service innovation. Service science lacks procedures, methods and tools for developing new services. The main contributions of this paper lie in proposing a framework that supports service innovation in an IT-driven case. We illustrate our framework with an in-depth case study and infer lessons that can be useful to managers who wish to duplicate IT-driven service innovation for RFID technology. This framework includes both strategic and operational dimensions to help managers anticipate key challenges and pitfalls in service innovation projects.     

Towards a model of dynamic capabilities in innovation-based competitive strategy: Insights from project-oriented service firms

With the growing significance of services in most developed economies, there is an increased interest in the role of service innovation in service firm competitive strategy. Despite growing literature on service innovation, it remains fragmented reflecting the need for a model that captures key antecedents driving the service innovation-based competitive advantage process. Building on extant literature and using thirteen in-depth interviews with CEOs of project-oriented service firms, this paper presents a model of innovation-based competitive advantage. The emergent model suggests that entrepreneurial service firms pursuing innovation carefully select and use dynamic capabilities that enable them to achieve greater innovation and sustained competitive advantage. Our findings indicate that firms purposefully use create, extend and modify processes to build and nurture key dynamic capabilities. The paper presents a set of theoretical propositions to guide future research. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Finally, directions for future research are outlined.     

IBM's service journey: A summary sketch

IBM is an iconic corporation, whose history of innovation and growth has been told many times in many ways. In this short retelling, the focus is from the perspective of service and service growth. In the early 1990s, during what was arguably IBM's darkest days, it was a return to service and service growth that saved IBM and dramatically grew the IT services industry. This paper shares some personal reflections on the history of IBM from a service perspective, and advocates for more service research to advance our understanding of service systems and service growth.     

Sectoral Heterogeneity in New Service Development: An Exploratory Study of Service Types and Success Factors

The service industry is of fundamental relevance for the economies of industrialized countries, as the service industry produces the highest growth in the gross domestic product. In this regard, new service development (NSD) represents a critical resource for competitive survival and a decisive factor of growth in the service industry. However, service firms across many industries are increasingly faced with the challenge of determining how best to manage their development of new service offerings. Although researchers have shown growing interest in NSD issues, this area is still underutilized. Furthermore, although the heterogeneity of the service industry has been emphasized for years, the current body of research on NSD mainly focuses on specific service environments, providing data that are often not comparable across different service sectors. Additionally, there is no study to date that comprehensively examines innovation activities and the relevance of service innovations’ success factors within different service industries. The aim of this exploratory study is to establish a more balanced picture of the nature of innovation activities in terms of NSD characteristics and success factors in the heterogeneous service industry. From this perspective, this paper begins with an examination of the factors that contribute to the success of NSD. Based on a meta‐analysis of new service success factor studies, 17 different success determinants are classified and aggregated to service‐related success determinants. Subsequently, a cluster analysis of 1016 service companies is used to identify different service innovation types. For the service sector, four service innovation types are determined: efficient developers, innovative developers, interactive adopters, and standardized adopters. Furthermore, based on interviews with service innovation managers, the previously identified success factors are examined for each innovation type using a standardized survey. Finally, based on the results of this exploratory study, the paper concludes with recommendations for NSD management and research propositions for each service innovation type. These propositions support innovation managers to successfully manage service innovations for the innovation type they are operating in.