A Dynamic Theory of Service Management: Implications for Managing Service Improvements Avoiding the 'Service Jungle'

摘要

Despite the demonstrated benefits of industrial services in driving competitive advantage, most companies found it extremely difficult to manage the transition from product manufacturer to service provider successfully. In this context, we observed different phenomena. One phenomenon we term the “service jungle”. The service jungle describes the phenomenon that service programs have often led to declining business because of increasing costs, which could not be recovered with corresponding returns. That leads overall to decreasing margins and weakens company’s competitive positions. Despite of the high popularity of services and numerous service programs, just few companies have gone into what we call “service garden”. For the last four years, we have worked with a variety of firms to understand the processes that lead to the “service jungle”. This paper discusses the phenomenon on the basis of a dynamic theory of service management and describes guidelines to overcome it.