198,420 research outputs found

    Ideasta palveluksi : Plansupport – palvelukonseptin luominen

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    Viimeisten vuosikymmenten aikana on tapahtunut merkittäviä muutoksia yritysten liiketoimintaympäristöissä. Palvelut ovat keskeisessä asemassa kilpailuedun varmistamisessa ja samalla ne muodostavat elintärkeän osan nykyisessä liiketoiminnassa. Nykymaailmassa ei ole riittävää, että on hyvä tuote tai ratkaisu. Yritykset tarvitsevat menestyäkseen osaamista ja uusia strategioita, joissa palvelut ovat keskeisessä asemassa. Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli luoda kohdeyritykselle asiakaslähtöinen ja arvoa tuova uusi palvelukonsepti, joka tukisi yrityksen uutta strategiaa, joissa palvelut olisivat keskeisessä asemassa. Opinnäytetyön lähestymistapana käytettiin konstruktiivista tutkimusta. Työn teoriapohjana hyödynnettiin tuotteistamista, hinnoittelua sekä palvelumuotoilun kirjallisuutta. Opinnäytetyön ohjaavana prosessimallina toimivat palvelu-muotoilun keskeiset elementit kuten asiakasymmärryksen ja käyttäjäkokemuksen ymmärtäminen. Opinnäytetyössä tuotettu palvelukonsepti luotiin tukemaan Plandent Oy:n toimittamia digitaalisia kuvantamislaitteita ja ohjelmistoja. Palvelukonseptin tärkeimpänä tarkoituksena oli muuntaa ilmainen palvelu tuottoisaksi maksulliseksi palveluksi sekä parantaa palvelun laadullisia tekijöitä. Opinnäytetyön tuloksena syntyi uusi palvelukonsepti, jonka avulla muutimme ilmaisen palvelun maksulliseksi. Työn aikana kehitimme myös palvelukonseptin jatkotoimenpiteitä, jotka auttavat kehittämään palvelukonseptia yhä paremmaksi ja laajemmaksi. Työn tuloksena syntyi myös uusia asiakaskumppanuuksia, joiden yhteistyöllä pystymme kehittämään palvelukonseptia entistäkin asiakaslähtöisemmäksi. Jatkotoimenpiteenä Plandent Oy:n on kehitettävä liiketoimintasuunnitelmaansa säännöllisemmin sekä seurattava asiakasymmärryksen onnistumista systemaattisilla kyselyillä.During the last decades significant changes have taken place in the business environment. Services play a key role in ensuring competitive advantage and, at the same time, services form a vital part of the existing business. In today's world it is not sufficient to have a good product or solution. Companies need expertise and new strategies to succeed. The aim of this thesis was to create a customer-oriented and value bringing new service concept that would support the company's new strategy in which the services would play a key role. The thesis is based on a constructivist research method. The theoretical basis utilized literature on commercialization, pricing and service design. The key elements of service design, such as customer insight and understanding the user experience, were exploited as a guiding process through the whole thesis. The aim was to produce a service concept that would support Plandent Oy’s business of digital imaging equipment and software. The main purpose of the service concept was to modify a free service into a chargeable and profitable service and to improve service quality factors. The outcome of the thesis was a new service concept that allowed us to turn a free service into a chargeable service. During the work, we also developed the further measures of the service concept in order to improve the service concept to be better and wider. The work also generated new customer partnerships that allowed us to develop a more customer-oriented service concept. As a further measure Plandent Oy has to develop its business plan regularly, and monitor the success of customer understanding by systematic surveys

    Customer Success Management in the Intersection of Physical and Digital : Case: A Global Manufacturing Company

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    Digitalization, servitization and rising customer expectations are shaping business markets, including the more traditional industries such as manufacturing. As software is increasingly involved in the offerings of manufacturing companies, the industry is also adopting practices and business models that have earlier been mostly associated with the software industry. For example, subscription- and outcome-based business models have become more common in manufacturing business. Due to rising customer expectations, the focus has shifted from products to services – and finally, to the outcomes. This has made Customer Success Management, proactive prioritization of maximal value in use, a highly relevant concept for companies in business markets. This thesis focuses on Customer Success Management in the context of a digital service offering of a manufacturing company. This study aims to identify the critical factors of CSM when combining digital and physical offerings and as another objective, this study aims to understand how CSM processes can be applied to this context. As the data generation is conducted within a single case company, the scope of this study is limited to this specific case company that operates globally in the field of material handling machinery. The theory review of this study presents the definitions of customer success and customer success management as well as discusses the existing literature on processes, drivers, customer perceptions, related concepts of CSM, and explains the characteristics of a Customer Success Manager role. Theoretical framework is focused on an existing framework of value-in-use management process and emphasises the concept of usage center as a definitive factor of business relationships. This case study was conducted in an abductive manner, meaning that the data generation, analysis, and theory review were conducted as simultaneous processes instead of following a linear process. Qualitative methodologies were found most suitable for the study. Semi-structured interviews were utilized as the data generation method. Ten interviewees were selected among the customers and internal stakeholders of the case company. ATLAS.ti software was used in the content analysis for identifying themes from the transcribed interview material. Based on the analysis, four critical factors for CSM in the presented context were identified: customer know-how and motivation, supplier know-how and motivation, involvement of customer usage center and seamless integration of digital and physical. The findings and the interview material were also reflected to the value-in-use management framework and the framework was found suitable for the context. Results indicated that the processes should be enhanced with systematic data collection and data sharing throughout the CSM process. Based on the research interviews, several practical CSM activities were identified to enhance the process. This study provided new understanding of CSM as an emerging research topic by applying the concept in the context of a manufacturing company that provides digital services as a part of the total offering. Customer Success Management should be understood as a holistic concept and competence-intensive approach to managing customer relationships. The results of this study also provided practical guidance for manufacturing companies that are attempting to grow their business in terms of digital offerings

    Refinement of SDBC Business Process Models Using ISDL

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    Aiming at aligning business process modeling and software specification, the SDBC approach considers a multi-viewpoint modeling where static, dynamic, and data business process aspect models have to be mapped adequately to corresponding static, dynamic, and data software specification aspect models. Next to that, the approach considers also a business process modeling viewpoint which concerns real-life communication and coordination issues, such as meanings, intentions, negotiations, commitments, and obligations. Hence, in order to adequately align communication and dynamic aspect models, SDBC should use at least two modeling techniques. However, the transformation between two techniques unnecessarily complicates the modeling process. Next to that, different techniques use different modeling formalisms whose reflection sometimes causes limitations. For this reason, we explore in the current paper the value which the (modeling) language ISDL could bring to SDBC in the alignment of communication and behavioral (dynamic) business process aspect models; ISDL can usefully refine dynamic process models. Thus, it is feasible to expect that ISDL can complement the SDBC approach, allowing refinement of dynamic business process aspect models, by adding communication and coordination actions. Furthermore, SDBC could benefit from ISDL-related methods assessing whether a realized refinement conforms to the original process model. Our studies in the paper are supported by an illustrative example

    Muslim tourists' perceived value, satisfaction, religiousity and behavioural intention in patronizing Muslim friendly hotels

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    The increasing number of Muslim travellers has led to an increase in the demand and supply of Islamic tourism in the hospitality industry. Because of this trend, hotels have started to provide innovative services, in particular, the Muslimfriendly services to specifically cater to the needs of Muslim travellers. While the services have gained popularity, only a few empirical studies have investigated the relationship between the perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions of Muslim tourists towards Muslim-friendly hotels. Perceived value has been acknowledged as an influential measure of customer satisfaction and behavioural intention. Researchers have proposed a measure of theoretical knowledge and provided empirical evidence on the concept of perceived value, but only a few have applied this concept from the Muslim tourists’ perspective. Thus, this study aims to fill this gap by empirically investigating the mediating effect of Muslim tourists’ satisfaction in the relationship between tourist perceived value and tourist behavioural intention in patronising Muslim-friendly hotels in Malaysia. In addition, this study also examines how Islamic Religiosity moderates the relationship between tourist satisfaction and behavioural intention. By drawing upon the Theory of Reasoned Action, a conceptual framework was developed. Data was collected via a questionnaire survey distributed to 384 Muslim tourists, who experienced the services provided by eight selected Muslim-friendly hotels in Malaysia. The data collected were then analysed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) via Smart PLS3 software. The findings of this study indicate that service quality, emotional, Islamic physical attributes, and Islamic nonphysical attributes are interrelated factors that collectively contribute to Muslim tourists’ satisfaction. Findings also confirm the role of satisfaction as a mediator in the relationship between (i) service quality, (ii) emotional, (iii) Islamic physical attributes, (iv) Islamic nonphysical attributes and behavioural intention. Lastly, the results of this study reveal that Islamic religiosity does not moderate the relationship between customer satisfaction and behavioural intention. Hence, this study offers conclusive insights for various stakeholders, such as academicians, practitioners, and policymakers. This study also calls for the government and other related agencies to engage in various cautionary strategies. In sum, the availability of Islamic attributes, along with conventional dimensions (service quality and emotional attributes) could increase the satisfaction of Muslim tourists during their stay at Muslim-friendly hotels

    Correct and Control Complex IoT Systems: Evaluation of a Classification for System Anomalies

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    In practice there are deficiencies in precise interteam communications about system anomalies to perform troubleshooting and postmortem analysis along different teams operating complex IoT systems. We evaluate the quality in use of an adaptation of IEEE Std. 1044-2009 with the objective to differentiate the handling of fault detection and fault reaction from handling of defect and its options for defect correction. We extended the scope of IEEE Std. 1044-2009 from anomalies related to software only to anomalies related to complex IoT systems. To evaluate the quality in use of our classification a study was conducted at Robert Bosch GmbH. We applied our adaptation to a postmortem analysis of an IoT solution and evaluated the quality in use by conducting interviews with three stakeholders. Our adaptation was effectively applied and interteam communications as well as iterative and inductive learning for product improvement were enhanced. Further training and practice are required.Comment: Submitted to QRS 2020 (IEEE Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security

    The impact of Digital Platforms on Business Models: an empirical investigation on innovative start-ups

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    Digital platforms have the ability to connect people, organizations and resources with the aim of facilitating the core interactions between businesses and consumers as well as assuring a greater efficiency for the business management. New business concepts, such as innovative start-ups, are therefore created based on innovation, scalability and the relationships within the community around them. The purpose of this work is to deeply understand the evolution of business models brought by innovative and dynamic companies operating through online platforms. In order to achieve the objectives set, an exploratory multiple-case study was designed based on in-depth structured interviews. The aim was to conduct a mixed analysis, in order to rely both on qualitative and quantitative data. The structured interview protocol was therefore designed to collect and then analyse data concerning the company profile and managers’ perspectives on the phenomenon of interest. The interview protocol was submitted in advance and then face-to-face interviews were carried out with the following professional figures: Chief Executive Officer (CEO), General Manager, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Marketing Manager and Developers. Collected data were analysed and processed through the Canvas Business Model in order to clearly outline similarities and differences among the sample. Results can be considered under two viewpoints. On the one hand, this work provides a detailed overview of the companies interviewed, according to the dimensions of: reference market dynamics, type and number of customers, scalability. On the other one, they allow to identify some success patterns regarding key activities, key resources, channel mix strategy, costs management, value proposition, customer segmentation, key partners and the way to obtain revenues. Results from the multiple-case study with 15 Italian start-ups provide interesting insights by comparing the innovative business models developed and highlighting key differences and similarities. verall, the start-ups analyzed, operating in several sectors, showed great growth prospects and the possibility to create value for their customers through innovative products and services offered through digital platforms

    An Ontology for Product-Service Systems

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    Industries are transforming their business strategy from a product-centric to a more service-centric nature by bundling products and services into integrated solutions to enhance the relationship between their customers. Since Product- Service Systems design research is currently at a rudimentary stage, the development of a robust ontology for this area would be helpful. The advantages of a standardized ontology are that it could help researchers and practitioners to communicate their views without ambiguity and thus encourage the conception and implementation of useful methods and tools. In this paper, an initial structure of a PSS ontology from the design perspective is proposed and evaluated

    Service Implementation Framework in Manufacturing Firms: A Case Study

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    The culture and the operational methods of service management have become a formidable competitive weapon even for manufacturing firms. The term "service factory" has been proposed for identifying that particular integration of products and services, achieved by the excellent manufacturing firm, where "service is a multidimensional concept". The creation of a service factory necessarily implies a radical change in the operational and organizational characteristics of the firm. In order to support manufacturing firms in adopting a service strategy, it is relevant on the one hand to identify the bundle of services which have to be provided for the customers and, on the other hand, to understand the implications for firm management model. As regards the first point, the paper proposes a framework which classifies the services along with two dimensions: Timedimension and target-dimension. The proposed framework is of interest for manufacturing firms because it allows a better recognition of services that are more perceptible for the customers. In the second part of the paper, authors discuss the implications of a service strategy adoption on the management model of manufacturing firms. In order to carry out this analysis, authors propose a model that combines four service dimensions with three decision-making categories (Organization, Methodologies and Technologies). In the end, the proposed framework has been applied in a sample of Italian hot water heater manufacturers and a case study analysis has been carried out
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