Over the years manufacturing managers have been unified by their acceptance of certain terminology to describe generic production processes. This has facilitated the sharing of ideas and management techniques and the development of our understanding of process choice implications on manufacturing strategies. In the service literature, no process model has been so powerful or pervasive as the manufacturing model. Postulates that a service typology which transcends narrow industry boundaries may lead to some cross‐fertilization of ideas and to an understanding of the management methods and techniques appropriate to each service type. Proposes a model analogous to the production process model, which has achieved such universal recognition in the world of manufacturing. Just as production volume is used in the latter model to integrate a wide range of production process dimensions, so suggests that the volume of customers processed per business unit per day correlates with six classification dimensions developed from the service operations literature. Proposes that the three types of service process, professional service, service shop and mass service, give rise to different management concerns, and that service strategy, control and performance measurement will differ significantly between the three.

This paper reports the result of an exploratory study of the application of Heskett, Sasser and Schlesinger’s service profit chain to a single organisation, one of the UKs leading grocery retailers. The results showed correlations between profit, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, service value, internal service quality, output quality and productivity; however there was no support for the claim that these are driven by employee satisfaction and loyalty. In fact, to the contrary, there was a strong correlation between employee dissatisfaction and store profitability. This research raises questions about the robustness of a central premise of the service profit chain, which is that strong business performance is the result of a mirror‐effect between employee and customer satisfaction. The paper considers the implications for management and calls for the development of a contingency based understanding of the drivers of business success.

Purpose – The financial supply chain, running parallel to the flow of goods and information, is common to all economic supply networks, and its integration with the physical supply chain is therefore a critical and ubiquitous aspect of supply chain integration (SCI) largely ignored in the literature. This paper aims to develop a model of physical and financial SCI, which is based on a process view from both buyers' and suppliers' perspectives, and explores the role of banks in enabling SCI. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports an exploratory study of the role of banks in improving SCI, by presenting a case study analysis of two international banks. Findings – The findings show that banks can support buyers and suppliers by contributing to the enablers of SCI, namely coordination, collaboration, information sharing and information visibility. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited in that it is explorative; further studies are required in order to quantify the impact of banks' interventions on SCI. Practical implications – Improved SCI requires an understanding of the flow of physical and financial resources across supply networks. Banks can help buyers and suppliers develop a more holistic understanding of the supply chain, thus improving integration and optimising working capital. Originality/value – The paper presents a process model of physical/financial SCI which uniquely recognises the role of banks in enabling buyers and suppliers to improve SCI, synchronisation and performance.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply Heskett, Sasser and Schlesinger's service profit chain to a single retail service with a view to developing a better understanding of the performance linkages between employee perceptions and performance, customer perceptions and behaviour, and financial performance.Design/methodology/approachThe research was based on the case study of a UK home improvement store chain. Measures of each of the variables in the service profit chain were analysed using Pearson's correlation coefficient, with a dataset based on 75 stores.FindingsAlthough analysis of the performance relationships revealed many interesting correlations, the data lent little support for some of the expected linkages; in particular, the “satisfaction mirror” effect between employee and customer satisfaction and loyalty, and the link between customer loyalty and financial performance. The possible asymmetries and non‐linearity of certain performance relationships may also have added to the difficulty in applying the model to this organisation. Furthermore, the study revealed many performance linkages between variables which are not aligned in the service profit chain model.Originality/valueThe value of the paper lies in the conclusions directed at both practising managers and academics. It is contended that the service profit chain model cannot be applied generically to services but that managers should undertake the development of context‐specific models of their organisations. Unquestioning acceptance of Heskett et al.'s configuration of the service profit chain may indeed constrain managerial understanding of the complexities of business performance; whilst there is also a danger of applying a strait‐jacket to academic thinking on performance relationships and performance improvement.

An evaluation of nurse rostering practices in the National Health Service The scheduling of nursing time on hospital wards is critical to the delivery of patient care, resource utilization and employee satisfaction. Over the past decade many hospital wards in the United Kingdom (UK) have moved away from the traditional planning of rosters by a single manager, towards more participative processes known as self-rostering and team rostering. This paper tests the hypothesis, developed from the literature, that the three types of rostering approach may be positioned along a continuum. Self-rostering at one extreme, is conducive to staff empowerment, motivation and roster effectiveness, whilst departmental rostering, at the other, leads to perceived autocracy, reduced empowerment, lower levels of staff motivation and roster effectiveness. Team rostering is positioned mid-way on this continuum. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study of nurse rostering practices in the UK National Health Service (NHS), with a view to developing an understanding of the implications of implementing these three rostering approaches and testing the above hypothesis. The survey of rostering practices in 50 NHS wards, and in-depth case studies of seven wards, revealed that each of the three rostering approaches has benefits and limitations and a picture emerges quite different from that implied by the research hypothesis. Whilst the literature suggests that the choice of rostering approach determines the level of perceived autocracy, staff motivation and roster effectiveness, it is proposed in this paper that selection of rostering approach should be contingent upon operational context. The paper concludes with a framework which stipulates that the choice of rostering approach for a ward should be determined on the basis of four contingent variables, namely, ward size, demand variability, demand predictability, and complexity of skill mix. It is recommended that departmental rostering be applied in large wards with complex rostering problems, whilst team rostering is more appropriate for medium sized wards, and self-rostering appropriate for small wards.