Customer feedback mechanisms and organisational learning in service operations

Quality functions' use of customer feedback as activation triggers for absorptive capacity and value co-creation

Purpose

The purpose is to understand how the role of quality functions might evolve amidst digitalisation and an increased focus on services. This study focuses on customer feedback and how it can function as activation triggers for developing absorptive capacity, as well as how it relates to the value creation processes.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a qualitative research design, the authors gathered primary data from interviews with quality managers at 17 UK and Swedish firms and triangulated it with secondary information from the firms' web pages.

Findings

The findings show that customer feedback-based activation triggers can support development of absorptive capacity in the quality function if there are established processes for acting on customer feedback. This is often the case for codified feedback, which normally concerns products. However, digitalisation offers new opportunities of engaging in value co-creation, and firms need to develop digital capabilities to manage new technologies and data analytic tools. For personalised feedback (the main category of service-related feedback), established processes are missing.

Originality/value

This study work contributes to knowledge about how quality functions respond to customer feedback on both products and services. It clarifies why the quality function sometimes struggles to contribute to service quality as much as to product quality. From a theory development perspective, the authors contribute to understanding customer feedback-based activation triggers, how they lead to development of absorptive capacity and their relation to value co-creation on a functional level.

Virtuous cycles of service quality: an empirical test

Purpose

Research on the service–profit chain (SPC) provides important insights regarding how organizations attain service excellence. However, this research stream does not shed light on the mechanisms by which service organizations sustain such excellence, despite the struggles of many organizations to do so. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop the SPC as a more dynamic system characterized by feedback loops, accumulation processes, and time delays based on the service operations, human resources, and marketing literatures.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors posit the feedback loops operate as virtuous cycles, such that increases in customer perceptions of service quality and in profit margins lead to subsequent increases in the quality of the internal working environment, which ultimately reimpacts performance in a positive way, and so on. The authors test the hypotheses using five years of archival data on 417 full-service US hotels. The unique data set combines longitudinal data from multiple functions, including employee assessments regarding their tools, practices, and abilities to serve customers, customer perceptions of service quality, and objective measures of financial performance.

Findings

The authors find support for the idea that some organizations provide customers with high-quality service over time by reinvesting in the inputs responsible for generating the initial success, i.e., in various aspects of the internal working environment.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis of 417 hotels from a single firm may influence the extent to which the findings can be generalized.

Originality/value

By expanding the boundaries of previous conceptual and empirical models investigating SPCs, the authors offer a deeper understanding of the cross-functional character of modern operational systems and the complex dynamics that these systems generate.

Content analysis in SCM research: past uses and future research opportunities

Purpose

Content analysis is a methodology that has been used in many academic disciplines as a means to extract quantitative measures from textual information. The purpose of this paper is to document the use of content analysis in the supply chain literature. The authors also discuss opportunities for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conduct a literature review of 13 leading supply chain journals to assess the state of the content analysis-based literature and identify opportunities for future research. Additionally, the authors provide a general schema for and illustration of the use of content analysis.

Findings

The findings suggest that content analysis for quantitative studies and hypothesis testing purposes has rarely been used in the supply chain discipline. The research also suggests that in order to fully realize the potential of content analysis, future content analysis research should conduct more hypothesis testing, employ diverse data sets, utilize state-of-the-art content analysis software programs, and leverage multi-method research designs.

Originality/value

The current research synthesizes the use of content analysis methods in the supply chain domain and promotes the need to capitalize on the advantages offered by this research methodology. The paper also presents several topics for future research that can benefit from the content analysis method.

The role of human resource-related quality management practices in new product development

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to adopt the dynamic capability (DC) view as a theoretical framework to empirically investigate the relationships among human resource (HR)-related quality management (QM) practices: new product development (NPD) as a specific DC, learning orientation, knowledge integration, and strategic flexibility. Learning orientation and knowledge integration represent two antecedents of strategic flexibility, and strategic flexibility is the developed ability that facilitates NPD.

Design/methodology/approach

To empirically test the relationships, the authors used data from 236 European firms and performed structural equation modeling.

Findings

Results indicate that HR-related QM practices contribute to creating a learning-oriented company, integrating knowledge, and supporting successful NPD. Furthermore, knowledge integration is positively related to NPD through strategic flexibility.

Practical implications

This study is relevant for practitioners because it identifies key points in QM implementation that enable firms to be more strategically flexible and thus better able to regularly develop new products.

Originality/value

When organizations must sustain their competitive positions by continuously adapting to environmental changes, it is important to study not only how QM implementation is positively related to the firm performance on which a significant portion of the QM literature has focused but also to study whether QM implementation is related to strategic variables and can make a contribution to strategic processes. To fill the void in the HR and QM literature, this study offers an integrated framework with empirical support that identifies the role of HR-related QM practices in learning orientation, knowledge integration, strategic flexibility, and NPD.

Gathering, evaluating and managing customer feedback during aircraft production

This paper proposes a systematic approach for gathering requirements during production through customers' remote access to the partially and fully assembled aircraft and its modules. The paper also proposes an evaluation and management of these recorded requirements and their utilization in the development of an aircraft. Modular product architecture is used for the modular organization of the product, product-service, and production system for the gathering, evaluation and management of feedback for product development perspectives. A mobile and wearable augmented reality system is used to virtually walk through the partially or fully manufactured product and to compare the status of the production with the product model to be produced. Change requests are captured as customer feedback. The knowledge thus acquired can be overlaid (augmented) on the real product, i.e. the aircraft. This approach is able to record the dynamic requirements of targeted customers. These changes can be carried out in the current version of the aircraft, and also incorporated into future versions. The implementation using case studies is presented for gathering feedback during assembly as well as for evaluating and managing the recorded feedback for exemplary modules (cabin and galley) of an aircraft. The use of the evaluation results in the development of an aircraft is also presented in the paper.

Organisational learning in SMEs: a process improvement perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organisational learning (OL) can occur through process improvement (PI) activities, leading to sustained improvements over time in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors study PI practices in six engineering-oriented SMEs via interview-based case studies. The authors draw from a range of literature and use an OL conceptual framework informed by Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I framework as an analytical lens.

Findings

The OL perspective provides new insights to conceptualise the nature of PI as a multi-level practice in SMEs. Effective PI practices within SMEs are shown to be consistent with OL concepts, enabling firms to translate individually identified improvement opportunities into organisational-level changes that result in sustained benefits. A new conceptual model is presented that explains how SMEs can learn through improvement activities. The key role of management support, both operational and strategic, is highlighted. It is necessary for management to provide sufficient PI opportunities to enable and sustain beneficial learning.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a sample of engineering-oriented SMEs located in the UK. Further case-based, longitudinal, and survey-based research studies with firms of different types will enhance the generalisability of the findings, allowing the confirmation and extension of the new conceptual model.

Practical implications

The findings provide a theoretically underpinned framework for achieving OL in engineering-oriented SMEs through PI activities. The new model highlights the key mechanisms that enable learning from improvement activities. The findings highlight the key role played by management in introducing additional learning opportunities in the form of new business that requires exploratory learning. Without this, the reduction in improvement opportunities reduces the benefits that can be realised from PI.

Originality/value

OL provides a multi-level perspective to understanding how smaller firms are able to undergo systematic improvements and the support required to continually improve.

Measuring customer satisfaction: a study of the Swedish real estate industry

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify the strategies of formal customer evaluations and the use of satisfied customer index in the Swedish commercial real estate industry.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research is based on an inventory of 24 commercial real estate companies use of formal customer evaluations and an analysis of 15 interviews with top-level managers in the Swedish commercial real estate sector.

Findings

– Only half of the companies included in the study conduct formal evaluations, although they are considered to work customer oriented. Two different strategies for using formal evaluations is, for improvement work and for signalling quality. One proposed explanation to why only half of the companies conduct formal evaluations is the possibility that the official Swedish Real Estate Barometer is not sufficient if the company would like to use the result for organisational development. There are instead indications that this barometer mainly is used in publicity and marketing purpose, to signal quality.

Research limitations/implications

– The research in this paper is limited to Swedish commercial real estate sector. But, the overall strategies for conducting formal evaluations should be applicable in general.

Practical implications

– The insight the paper provides regarding how the industry perceive the Swedish Real Estate Barometer gives direct implications of improvements of the barometer.

Originality/value

– It provides an insight regarding the use of formal customer evaluations and a proposition of how the Swedish Real Estate Barometer could be changed to better support and fulfil the aim of being a barometer for benchmarking.

Supply chain relationships as a context for learning leading to innovation

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to integrate the literature on learning in the context of boundary spanning innovation in supply chains. A two-dimensional framework is proposed: the learning stage (exploration, assimilation, exploitation) and the learning facet (structural, cultural, psychological and policy). Supply chain management (SCM) practices are examined in light of this framework and propositions for further empirical research are developed.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 60 empirical papers from the major journals on supply chain relationships published over an 11-year time span (2000-2010) were systematically analyzed.

Findings

– The paper reveals a comprehensive set of best practices and identifies four gaps for future research. First, assimilation and exploitation are largely ignored as mediating learning stages between exploration and performance. Second, knowledge brokers and reputation management are key mechanisms that foster assimilation. Third, the iteration from exploitation back to exploration is critical though underdeveloped in efficiency seeking supply chains. Fourth, the literature stresses structural mechanisms of learning, at the expense of a more holistic view of structural, cultural, psychological and policy mechanisms.

Research limitations/implications

– The search could be extended to other journals that report on joint learning and innovation.

Practical implications

– The framework provides guidelines for practitioners to develop learning capabilities and leverage the knowledge from supply chain partners in order to continuously or radically improve boundary spanning processes and products.

Originality/value

– The study is multi-disciplinary; it applies a model developed by learning scholars to the field of SCM.

Modelling the SCM implementation barriers

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop the relationships among the identified supply chain management barriers (SCMBs) and understand mutual influences of these SCMBs on supply chain implementation. Further, this paper seeks to identify driving and dependent SCMBs using an interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC (Matrix of Cross-Impact Multiplications Applied to Classification) analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology used in the paper is the ISM with a view to evolving mutual relationships among SCMBs. The identified SCMBs have been classified further, based on their driving and dependence power using fuzzy MICMAC analysis.

Findings

– This paper has identified 15 key SCMBs which hinder the successful supply chain management (SCM) implementation in an organization and has developed the relationships among the SCMBs using the ISM methodology. Further, this paper analyses the driving and dependent SCMBs using fuzzy MICMAC analysis. The integrated approach is developed here, as the ISM model provides only binary relationship among SCMBs. The fuzzy MICMAC analysis is adopted here, as it is useful in specific analysis related to driving and the dependence power of SCMBs.

Research limitations/implications

– The weightage for the ISM model development and fuzzy MICMAC is obtained through the judgement of academics and industry experts. Further, validation of the model is necessary through questionnaire survey.

Practical implications

– The identification of SCMBs, ISM model development and fuzzy MICMAC analysis provide academics and managers a macro picture of the challenges posed by the SCM implementation in an organization.

Originality/value

– The results will be useful for business managers to understand the SCMBs and overcome these SCMBs during the SCM implementation in an organization.

An Empirical Exploration of Hospital Service Quality Assessment Criteria in China

This paper reports on a research project within the context of the Chinese healthcare sector. From a functional quality aspect, the research identifies, selects and confirms the service quality assessment criteria suitable for Chinese hospitals via literature search, focus group and survey investigation; the numbers of the criteria have also been reduced based on principal component analysis; then through importance-performance analysis, provides further understanding/prioritisation on the criteria and also groups them accordingly to reflect their influence on service quality. The research produces a set of appropriate service quality criteria suitable for evaluating hospitals' performance in a Chinese context. Meanwhile, the learning obtained from the research and the grouped criteria (quality performance indicators) can support consequential empirical research projects for obtaining more insights into running hospital businesses, and provide guidance to a wider range of Chinese hospitals on their business operations. They can also be used to guide foreign healthcare providers on developing/implementing their business management strategies while planning to enter the Chinese healthcare marketplace.