Refunds and collusion in service industries

This paper investigates industry-wide agreements on joint refund policies, and how they influence price competition. We compute the profit of fully-colluding, competing, and semicolluding service providers who offer refunds to those consumers who do not show up at the time of service. Our main findings are that both a monopoly serving all consumer types, and semicollusive service providers offer full refunds. In contrast, competing service providers offer only partial refunds. Finally, refund policies are investigated under moral hazard behavior.     

Reputation and product tampering in service industries

This theoretical paper aims to identify the role of trust and reputation between consumers and firms when there is product tampering or other types of product liability. When product tampering occurs, trust implicitly built towards brand or corporation by consumers or customers can be dissipated. This article assesses the impact of quality uncertainty and measurement costs on the trust relationship between consumers and corporations. The ideas are also applied to the case of bank runs. Preliminary findings indicate that in cases where the trust between consumer and firms is strong, and there are high measurement costs and uncertainty, the reputational relationship between customers and firms can experience strong repercussions.     

Price discrimination through multi-level loyalty programs

Loyalty programs often feature multiple rewards with different requirements; for instance, an airline offering a free domestic ticket for 10 K miles, and an international ticket for 20 K miles. This research focuses on the role of multi-level rewards as a segmentation and price discrimination mechanism: Multi-level rewards can increase firm profits when buyers differ in purchase frequency and/or time discount factor. We propose that a program with two rewards can be designed in such a way that (i) it is more profitable than a one-reward program, and (ii) buyers self-select. Light users prefer to receive the smaller reward two times over receiving the larger reward one time, even though the smaller reward is less than half of the larger reward. We show that the smaller reward helps the firm enlarge its base in the light user segment. We also compare multi-level programs with quantity discounts.     

Nine issues for Internet-based survey research in service industries

Internet-based surveys have recently become a popular means of data collection among researchers in the service industries. However, there has been little discussion regarding the validation of Internet-based surveys in this services discipline. From the perspective of positivist and quantitative research, failure to organise a scientific and rigorous research design will damage the validity, reliability, and generalisability of a study's findings and, in turn, its contributions. This paper identifies nine key issues from theoretical discussions and accordingly examines the Internet-based survey studies published in The Service Industries Journal between 2001 and 2008 to demonstrate the current status of the Internet-based survey development in this field. Further, an empirical study with a carefully designed methodology is presented to serve as a useful guide in planning and executing Internet-based surveys.     

上海传统服务业正走第三条路

现在的上海，一方面有店铺的商业面积在日长夜大，据市经委、市商业研究中心《上海市零售商业网点面积调研报告》显示，到2005年上海的商业面积达3200万平方米，人均1．75平方米，到2007年将上升到4000万平方米，人均2平方米；另一方面无店铺销售作为新的业态．进入新的成长期．表现得十分活跃．如今在全国有网民1．3亿，2000万人上网购物，成交额达年100亿元．较高比例向上海人集聚。集成两方面的优势，沪上的餐饮、     

Realising competitive advantage through HRM in New Zealand service industries

An emerging source of competitive advantage for service industries is the knowledge, skills and attitudes of their employees. Indeed, achievement of a ‘service quality’ culture, considered imperative for competitive advantage in service organisations, supposedly results from the use of best practice human resource management (HRM), and from a strategic approach to their implementation. This paper empirically explores the use of these dimensions of HRM as a source of competitive advantage. It finds high-performing service organisations actively engage best practices across the areas of recruitment and selection, training and development, communication and team working. Evidence of a strategic approach to the implementation of these practices is also found.     

Entrepreneurial applications of the lean approach to service industries

Service industries have grown significantly in recent years, especially in the advanced economies. The applicability of the Toyota system for manufacturing excellence to other industries has been widely studied. This paper seeks to contribute to this growing body of research by exploring the applications of the Toyota approach, particularly the lean system in the service sector. The paper examines the information systems that have enabled benefit in the service industries, to include vendor-managed inventory systems and variants, and then compares the benefits from information systems in support of supply chains. We also review why enterprise systems provide more opportunities in aiding the implementation of the lean systems. We present a case study of a South Korean supply chain system to demonstrate the entrepreneurial application of such approaches.     

世界大都市服务业发展及对上海的启示

对于世界大都市来说,最大特点是同外部世界有着广泛联系,这种联系是跨国境的不受国家和民族的束缚。世界大都市人口高度集中、流动性大,与之相适应的     

加快商业地产咨询服务业的发展

过去几年中,国内城市化进程的不断推进,为商业地产在中国的快速发展创造了难得的机遇。2001年至今,全国商业地产供应年增长率达34％,越来越多的资金和投资主体被吸引到商业地产领域中来。但是,由于我国商业地产发展历史较短,相应的商业地产咨询服务业的发展尚处于初级阶段,且缺乏专业引领;由于商业地产的盲目放量,商业用房的空置率在持续扩大（2007年的全国空置率上升到了33％,每年的商业地产空置率增长速度达到惊人的15％……）。     

Managing innovation and creativity in organizations: an empirical study of service industries in Taiwan

This study proposes a non-recursive model based on Amabile’s (Res Organ Behav 10:123–167, 1988) componential theory of organizational creativity and innovation to explain how resources, management practices, organizational motivation, expertise, creativity skills, and intrinsic motivation affect innovation and creativity in organizations. Based on the results of a longitudinal survey, with 586 leader–follower dyadic data drawn from firms in the service industries in Taiwan, we found that resources, management practices, and organizational motivation have unique positive direct effects on innovation, while expertise, creativity skills, and intrinsic motivation have unique positive direct effects on creativity. Most important of all, the results of this empirical study provide evidence for the reciprocal relationship between organizational innovation and creativity in the service context. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Entrepreneurial failure and discrimination: lessons for small service firms

This paper draws lessons from a case decided by the USA Supreme Court, wherein the firm failure was perceived by the minority entrepreneur as an outcome of racial discrimination. Implications of this case are significant because the failure rate of minority-owned US businesses has been consistently higher than the average failure rate of US business. We argue that the impact of discrimination by a customer is greater for small service firms. Through the Domino's Pizza case, we assert that issues relating to equal employment, inter-company contracting and choice of business organisation must be managed by the owner of a service firm.     

现代服务业集聚区的特点及其功能开发

对于经济中心城市上海而言,在全球化和知识经济的时代背景之下,无论是自身发展的内在需要,还是产业融合和产业升级的驱使,均离不开现代服务业强有力的支撑,所以加快发展现代服务业是上海目前的当务之急,而现代服务业集聚区将极大地促进其发展。基于此,本文对现代服务业集聚区促进现代     

The relative importance of social responsibility in determining organizational effectiveness: Managers from two service industries

This paper investigates the relative importance of social responsibility criteria in determining organizational effectiveness as seen by managers of two service industries. The Organizational Effectiveness Menu (Kraft and Jauch, 1988) was used as a questionnaire with a sample of 53 firms. The conclusion is that while managers view ethical conduct as among the most important determinants of organizational effectiveness, numerous other social responsibility criteria are assigned relatively low priority. A question remains as to what managers will actually do when faced with limited resources.Kenneth L. Kraft is currently an Associate Professor of Management at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. His recent papers explore the relationships between strategy, structure, social responsibility, and organizational effectiveness in a variety of settings.     

Improving the effectiveness of academic-business models: an analysis of obstacles in R&D activities in service industries

This study aims to analyze how obstacles to industry–university relations affect the success of their cooperation models, using a sample of collaborations coordinated by the Technological and Industrial Development Center (CDTI) in research and development activities in service industries. The results show that for the industry partner the key considerations affecting the dynamics of cooperation with research organizations are missed deadlines and problems associated with the appropriation of results. The importance of these obstacles also has a negative effect on success, especially in aspects related to the results of the project and its overall performance.     

Parent control mechanisms,knowledge attributes,knowledge acquisition and performance of IJVs in Taiwan service industries

The study explores parent companies' use of control mechanisms in their international joint venture (IJV), IJV knowledge acquisition and IJVs' performance. Traditionally, control mechanisms are criticized for potentially limiting autonomous learning. However, we propose that knowledge-oriented control mechanisms used by the parent company on its subsidiaries could facilitate knowledge acquisition and learning. This study takes samples from 104 Sino-foreign joint ventures in service industries in Taiwan. The results of the study indicate that in IJV, parent companies require a ‘personnel training’ control mechanism as a guide for gaining codified knowledge from foreign partners. MNCs should apply ‘culture’ and ‘performance’ control mechanisms to gain non-codified knowledge. In turn, the tacit knowledge of IJV results in a better economic, competency-based performance, while explicit knowledge more significantly influences the synthetic performance.     

Probabilistic selling vs. markdown selling: Price discrimination and management of demand uncertainty in retailing

Markdown selling (i.e., price reductions over the course of the selling season) is a strategy to implement price discrimination and to manage market uncertainty that has been widely adopted by retailers. This paper explores the potential advantage of introducing an additional tool to the arsenal of retailers, probabilistic selling (i.e., offering consumers a choice to buy a product that can turn out to be any item from a predetermined set of distinct items). We show that both probabilistic and markdown selling strategies serve as price discrimination tools by offering buyers an option to purchase a “damaged” good (an uncertain product under the former and delayed consumption of a product under the latter). However, the two strategies segment markets based on different types of buyer heterogeneity: buyer preference strength under probabilistic selling and buyer patience under markdown selling. Our analytical model reveals that, compared with markdown selling, probabilistic selling can (1) improve margin management by increasing revenue from full-price sales and reducing the magnitude of discounts; and (2) improve inventory utilization by reducing stockouts and the amount of excess inventory. We identify the conditions required for probabilistic selling to be more profitable than markdown selling.     

The effect of knowledge complexity on the performance of franchise systems in the service industries: an empirical study

The literature of knowledge transfer studies complexity as a knowledge characteristic which influences organisations’ performance since it hinders this process. However, complex knowledge is richer and more complete and its influence on performance may be positive. So, the purpose of this study is to analyse the influence of knowledge complexity on the performance of franchise systems in the service industries. With this aim, a linear regression analysis is conducted on a sample of franchisee of different franchise chains of the several service industries operating in Spain. The findings seem to indicate that complexity has a positive impact on the performance of franchise systems.     

Turbulence in growing and declining industries

Turbulence over the industry life cycle is examined for the case of Portugal using the lowest possible level of industry aggregation, thus allowing for the use of panel data to study the evolution of product markets. Replacement of exiting firms by subsequent entrants plays a primary role in generating turbulence in high growth markets, while displacement of incumbents by recent entrants is the main selection force in declining markets. As the industry life cycle progresses, trial-and-error entry and entry mistakes decrease, and turbulence subsides.