Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Business
Metamodel For Service Analysis And Design Based On An Operational View Of Service And Service Systems, Steven Alter
Metamodel For Service Analysis And Design Based On An Operational View Of Service And Service Systems, Steven Alter
Steven Alter
This paper presents a metamodel that addresses service system analysis and design based on an operational view of service that traverses and integrates three essential layers, service activities, service systems, and value constellations. The metamodel's service-in-operation perspective and underlying premises diverge from a view of service systems as systems of economic exchange that has appeared a number of times in the journal Service Science. In addition to the metamodel itself, this paper's contributions include an explanation of eight premises on which it is based plus clarifications concerning concepts such as service, service system, customer, product/service, co-production and co-creation of value, …
Challenges For Service Science, Steven Alter
Challenges For Service Science, Steven Alter
Steven Alter
Service science is still in a formative stage, with many basic ideas still in flux and significant disagreements about definitions and implications of basic concepts. This paper suggests directions for progress in relation to eight problematic areas within service science. It uses five typical medical services to question typical definitions of service and service system. It suggests that service science should not privilege servitizing over productizing; that a series of design dimensions whose end-points are often associated with products or with services are more useful than yes/no distinctions between products and services; that the concept of "the customer" should be …
Service System Fundamentals: Work System, Value Chain, And Life Cycle, Steven Alter
Service System Fundamentals: Work System, Value Chain, And Life Cycle, Steven Alter
Steven Alter
Service systems produce all services of significance and scope, yet the concept of service system is not well articulated in the service literature. This paper presents three interrelated frameworks as a first cut at the fundamentals of service systems. These frameworks identify basic building blocks and organize important attributes and change processes that apply across all service systems. Although relevant regardless of whether a service system uses IT, the frameworks are also potentially useful in visualizing the realities of moving toward automated service architectures. This paper uses two examples, one largely manual and one highly automated, to illustrate the potential …