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Productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations

Evert Gummesson (Professor of Service Management and Marketing, School of Business, Stockholm University, Sweden)

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

ISSN: 0959-6119

Article publication date: 1 February 1998

16510

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to draw the reader’s attention to service productivity and its connection to service quality and eventually to profits. In service operations the customer plays an active role in influencing productivity and quality. Furthermore, contemporary companies are networks, not delimited hierarchies, and the productivity and quality issues affect all members of a network, not just the provider and the customer. This is clear from the new developments in relationship marketing and imaginary (virtual) organizations. In order to assess the financial outcome, the concept of return on relationships is introduced based on the notions of intellectual capital and the balanced scorecard. The article ends with challenging questions as well as recommendations for practising managers.

Keywords

Citation

Gummesson, E. (1998), "Productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 4-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596119810199282

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1998, Company

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