Model-Based Conflict Resolution in Service Internationalization: A Participatory Approach

Internationalizing service processes within internationally operating service providers requires service managers to balance the potential of internationally standardized service processes and the local needs of individual subsidiaries.2 This process bears the risk of conflicts arising from differences in prerequisites for service execution, availability of qualifications among employees or compatibility of processes to be exchanged with existing ones. Despite being pivotal to successful service internationalization, surprisingly little guidance can be found on the actual procedure of identifying and resolving such conflicts on an international scale (Bachmann/Wolf 2007). In this paper, we focus on service processes in which conflicts may lead to frictions in execution, which will in turn cause the processes to be less efficient and beneficial for both client and customer. To overcome this, we developed an approach to systematically identify, visualize, discuss and resolve conflicts while maintaining corporate standards. This approach is embedded into a comprehensive method for international service planning and implementation (Böhmann et al. 2011)