An investigation of the relative efficacy of four alternative approaches to importance-performance analysis

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science - Importance-performance analysis is a tool which has been used in several contexts to transform research results into practical marketing actions. The...     

Service strategy to improve operational capabilities in the public sector

ABSTRACT

Public institutions, such as emergency services, face unique operational challenges because they do not have a clear profit motive, operate in a political system as opposed to a market system, and have a fragmented authority structure. This study applies traditional operations and service strategy theory to the not-for-profit, public sector context. Synthesizing research from these theoretical domains, a contingency framework is developed to determine the effect of environmental uncertainty and strategic choices on operational capabilities in emergency services under different governance structures. Operations strategy research traditionally uses survey-based measures, while emergency services research focuses on mathematical modeling techniques. In contrast, this study analyzes archival data with 9800 emergency incidents using hierarchical regression. The results support that in the public not-for-profit context, strategic choices mediate the impact of environmental uncertainty on operational capability. Furthermore, governance structure moderates the impact of environmental uncertainty and strategic choices.     

Approaches to mass customization: configurations and empirical validation

Mass customization is a paradox-breaking manufacturing reality that combines the unique products of craft manufacturing with the cost-efficient manufacturing methods of mass production. Although this phenomenon is known to exist in practice, academic research has not adequately investigated this new form of competition. In this research, we develop a configurational model for classifying mass customizers based on customer involvement in design and product modularity. We validate this typology through an empirical analysis and classification of 126 mass customizers. We also explore manufacturing systems and performance implications of the various mass customization configurations.