Synchronicity and alignment of productivity: the real value from Service Science?

Abstract

The ability of services to pervade all aspects of productivity creates the need for an interdisciplinary framework of service to be developed. It is, however, critical that any proposed service framework is jointly developed between the service purveyor and the stakeholders involved. An expected outcome from a focus on productivity in the Service Science arena is that a much closer relationship between the purveyor of a service and the customer is initiated and fostered. This requires a clear focus on the requirements of the customer and the various ways in which the service can be conveyed. This is not too far removed from what is required in other areas such as product specification that should also be carefully crafted from the needs of the customer. The research utilises two case studies to highlight the impact of Service Science as a co-producer of service productivity. We find from the case studies that human factors play an extremely important role in improving service productivity.

Guest editorial: information technology-enabled supply chain management

“…Maguire et al (2012) used two case studies in Greece to show that information and communications technology (ICT) provides many benefits for the public sector, illustrating how the service productivity of the public sector is improved with the implementation of ICT. These benefits include enabling better communication between departments in the government sector; facilitating electronic data exchange; ensuring timely and updated information for the introduction of new laws; and reducing time for file processing.…”

“…A significant body of the relevant literature demonstrates that organizations receive benefits in many forms (e.g., Caniato, Longoni, & Moretto, 2012;Lewis, Åhlström, Yalabik, & Mårtensson, 2012;Maguire, et al, 2012;Smith, Ng, & Maull, 2012). These benefits include enabling firms to simplify the business process by restructuring the internal organizational process and innovatively performing tasks.…”

“…The transformational benefits of IT adoption are also available for the public sector. Maguire et al (2012) reported that internal process simplification and better workflow were the results of IT adoption in government departments.…”

“…Their study showed that APS enabled firms to optimize their plans according to their financial and strategic objectives, while solving the capital budgeting problem. Maguire et al (2012) reported the numerous strategic benefits of ICT adoption for the public sector. These benefits include providing better customer care to citizens; reducing bureaucracy; promoting e-government activities and strategic interconnectedness of case departments with other government information systems (IS) (i.e., easy data exchange with other government departments); and improving human resource allocations.…”

“…Two studies have focused on the co-creation of business value (Holimchayachotikul, Derrouiche, Damand, & Leksakul, 2013;Maguire, et al, 2012). In an experimental study in France, Holimchayachotikul et al (2013) introduced the concept of measuring value along the supply chain from a collaborative and balanced scorecard (BSC) perspective in the business-to-business (B2B) context.…”