The demand for and the supply of distribution services: A basis for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing

This paper brings together two bodies of literature. One of them is a literature on the special role of the consumer in retailing. The other one is the literature on customer satisfaction. This joining of literatures is accomplished by identifying distribution services as outputs of retail firms and fixed inputs into the production functions of consumers and relaxing the standard assumption that the demand for these services is always equal to the supply of these services. The result is a new conceptual framework for the analysis of customer satisfaction in retailing. This framework extends the basic ideas on customer satisfaction developed for manufacturing in a homogeneous single product setting to the heterogeneous multi-product setting relevant for many retailers. The paper illustrates one approach to the implementation of this framework with data for a set of supermarkets in Pamplona, Spain, that measure distribution services by asking consumers questions explicitly identifying these services. The five main categories of distribution services identified by the conceptual framework and measured in the data are economically important and statistically robust determinants of customer satisfaction with supermarkets. These results are obtained controlling for other variables typical of the customer satisfaction literature and measuring customer satisfaction in a manner consistent with that literature. The results are robust to corrections for sample selection and alternative estimation methods. Perhaps our most interesting novel result is that the effect of the determinants of customer satisfaction on future purchase intentions in the supermarket case is different when measured directly in a one stage process than when measured indirectly in a two stage process through the attributes/satisfaction/ purchase intentions chain.

THE IMPACT OF GREATER AUTONOMY ON EFFICIENCY OF WORK AND QUALITY OF SERVICES IN PUBLIC SERVICE PROVIDERS: A CASE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

ABSTRACT: The paper analyses impact of greater autonomy on efficiency of work and quality of services in public service institutions. Autonomy is one of the key principles of New Public Management that, according to the theory, increases performance in public service providers. However this assumption has been scarcely researched in practice. To narrow this gap, the experimental reform that implemented greater managerial and financial autonomy in 13 Lithuanian state vocational schools was chosen for research. In order to analyse the impact of autonomy after the reform, maximally similar institutions (those that underwent the reform and that did not) are compared using quantitative (incl. counterfactual analysis) and qualitative methods. The results indicate that institutions that have been reformed tend to have better efficiency and quality of services, even though this relationship is not causal. Moreover, the research challenges the notion that such results came from greater autonomy. Finally, the logic of the NPM of as to why more autonomous institutions perform better is also challenged.     

生产性服务业推动制造业发展的实证分析

文章在对生产性服务业推动制造业发展和升级进行理论分析的基础上,运用计量经济方法从两方面分析了我国服务业尤其是生产性服务业对制造业发展的推动作用。第一,为说明服务业发展对制造业发展的促进作用,研究了各省 （市、区） 制造业增加值与服务业总体增加值以及交通运输仓储和邮政业、金融业、批发和零售业等服务行业增加值的关系。第二,为进一步说明生产性服务业投入作为重要的中间投入对制造业发展的促进作用,研究了北京各工业行业增加值与流通服务、信息服务、金融服务、商务服务、科技服务五个生产性服务业投入的关系。计量经济分析支持服务业对制造业发展具有积极作用和生产性服务投入对制造业发展具有积极作用的原假设。但个别变量不显著,也表明服务业对制造业的推动作用尚未充分发挥出来。这为进一步促进我国生产性服务业发展并以其推动制造业发展升级提供了依据。文章相应提出了对策建议。     

促进科技服务业发展方法与措施——培养科技服务业人才,建设有产业特色的职业教育

探讨了培养科技服务业人才的意义、方法,着重论述了发展和建设有产业特色的职业教育,可以使职教类院校发挥职业教育职能,为培养科技服务业一线人才作出贡献。     

我国教育服务贸易的新发展:“入世”十周年的回顾与反思

"入世"以后,我国的教育服务贸易得到较快发展,境外消费、中外合作办学和自然人流动是贸易的主要方式。但是,我国的教育服务贸易逆差大,对教育服务的可贸易性认识不足、教育服务国际竞争力弱、教育服务贸易立法不完善、教育管理体制僵化和国际合作有限等因素限制了我国教育服务贸易发展的深度与广度。因此,我国必须尽快制定教育服务贸易战略规划,完善教育管理体制与教育服务贸易立法,加强国际交流与合作,才能推动教育服务贸易快速健康发展。     

湖北省与广东省服务业的集聚比较研究

近年来,湖北省与广东省服务业专业化水平均有提高,两省的服务业结构差异变化不大,趋同现象较明显;两省的服务业集聚现象亦明显,湖北省相对集中于传统服务业,广东省则相对集中于现代服务业;两省的生产性服务行业集聚均高于消费性服务业。为了进一步加快两省现代服务业的发展,两省应充分利用各自的人力资源优势发展现代服务业,加快两省公共服务行业的优化升级,加强两省中心城市服务业的辐射作用,促进两省服务行业的分工与合作。     

地方政府规模影响因素实证分析

本文从公共服务需求角度出发,运用中国31省面板数据检验了地方政府规模的影响因素。研究发现：（1）我国地方政府规模发展趋势符合瓦格纳法则,同时满足对外经济的效率假说和补偿假说;（2）民族多元化对地方政府规模有显著的正向影响;（3）上期政府收入对政府支出有很大的正向影响,说明二者之间互为因果关系。     

家电企业售后服务业务外包的问题与对策

当前,我国家电企业售后服务外包方面存在的问题,主要表现在企业盲目的甩包袱,追逐短期利益;承包商的选择缺乏依据;售后服务外包的质量考核与审查严重缺失等。家电行业是我国目前市场化程度最高的行业,竞争的激烈程度与日俱增,售后服务外包对整合企业资源、构建核心竞争力的作用愈发重要。家电企业在进行售后服务外包时应评定服务企业业务等级。加强对承包商的资质审查及后期监管,建立售后服务反馈机制,及时规避外包风险。     

广西科技文献共享与服务平台为东盟国家提供服务的构想

广西科技文献共享与服务平台链接中国-东盟博览会官方网站,依托广西平方软件强大的后台服务为东盟国家提供信息服务。文章详细介绍了广西科技文献共享与服务平台的优越性和可行性,并展望其辉煌前景。     

铁路货运场站拓展物流服务功能的探讨

铁路货运场站作为物流系统重要的结点,能拓展物流服务功能,提升物流增值效用,对铁路发展具有重要的意义。基于此,分析了铁路货运与物流的相互关系,提出了铁路货运场站拓展物流服务功能的发展思路,并就铁路货运场站可拓展的物流增值服务功能、物流综合服务、可增强的现有服务以及拓展物流服务功能的途径等进行了深入的探讨。