Managing knowledge to create customer service value

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the services management literature by identifying a sequence of the different processes of knowledge management (KM) to create customer service value. Design/methodology/approach – The context for the research hypotheses is the Spanish banking industry. The authors conducted a study including 76 banks and 1,832 customers of these banks. This paper uses the partial least squares method to conduct the data analysis. Findings – The authors find support for all the hypotheses proposed in the model. The results show that service firms that are able to apply more knowledge or apply knowledge more effectively are likely to generate more benefits for their customers, and/or reduce their sacrifices, contributing significantly to a higher perception of service value. Research limitations/implications – The study focusses on one particular industry in a single point in time. A longitudinal analysis of a variety of service industries would enrich the study. Practical implications – It is argued that KM constitutes a key capability for service firms for the delivery of service value. According to the research, if service firms want to improve the application of knowledge, it is important to focus on knowledge retention while they create new knowledge. Originality/value – Although a considerable amount of research has been carried out in the fields of KM and customer value, there has been less research that has taken both into consideration simultaneously. This paper addresses this gap in the literatureMinisterio de Educación ECO2011-28 641-C02-0

El valor percibido de un servicio

En los últimos años, las empresas y los académicos son cada vez más conscientes de los beneficios que se derivan de la creación y entrega de valor a los clientes. Sin embargo, la investigación empírica desarrollada sobre el valor de un servicio es todavía escasa. Este articulo se orienta hacia esta cuestión, centrándose en la medida del valor percibido en el ámbito del consumidor de servicios (telefonía móvil) y desde una perspectiva relacional. Después de una revisión de la literatura relevante sobre el concepto de valor percibido, proponemos dos instrumentos alternativos de medida del mismo y utilizamos la estrategia de modelos estructurales competitivos para comparar y apreciar la validez y fiabilidad de los modelos alternativos propuestos

Los frentes de investigación dominantes en marketing

En este trabajo se pretende identificar las principales corrientes o frentes de investigación que en el pasado reciente (1992-2002) han definido el área científica del marketing. A diferencia de otras propuestas de sistematización, en este estudio se ha utilizado un método empírico mediante el análisis de las referencias bibliográficas de los artículos publicados en algunas de las principales revistas de nuestro campo de estudio

Los frentes de investigación dominantes en Marketing

En este trabajo se pretende identificar las principales corrientes o frentes de investigación que en el pasado reciente (1992-2002) han definido el área científica del marketing. A diferencia de otras propuestas de sistematización, en este estudio se ha utilizado un método empírico mediante el análisis de las referencias bibliográficas de los artículos publicados en algunas de las principales revistas de nuestro campo de estudio

The moderating effect of tourist’s involvement on the relationship between destination’s image and its future behavior

Building on the services-marketing literature, the present study develops an innovative model for evaluation of the effect of customer perceptions on the loyalty intentions of customer. The study then explores whether market heterogeneity affects this relationship by performing a latent cluster analysis in the tourism industry. Three major clusters of tourists emerge—according to the tourists’ involvement. The results show that there are significant differences among these segments in terms of the effects of a destination’s image on tourists’ intentions to return to a destination and their intentions to recommend it to friends and relatives

Influence of the boundary conditions on the natural frequencies of a Francis turbine

Natural frequencies estimation of Francis turbines is of paramount importance in the stage of design in order to avoid vibration and resonance problems especially during transient events. Francis turbine runners are submerged in water and confined with small axial and radial gaps which considerably decrease their natural frequencies in comparison to the same structure in the air. Acoustic-structural FSI simulations have been used to evaluate the influence of these gaps. This model considers an entire prototype of a Francis turbine, including generator, shaft, runner and surrounding water. The radial gap between the runner and the static parts has been changed from the real configuration (about 0.04% the runner diameter) to 1% of the runner diameter to evaluate its influence on the machine natural frequencies. Mode-shapes and natural frequencies of the whole machine are discussed for all the boundary conditions testedPostprint (published version

Nest Material Shapes Eggs Bacterial Environment

Selective pressures imposed by pathogenic microorganisms to embryos have selected in hosts for a battery of antimicrobial lines of defenses that includes physical and chemical barriers. Due to the antimicrobial properties of volatile compounds of green plants and of chemicals of feather degrading bacteria, the use of aromatic plants and feathers for nest building has been suggested as one of these barriers. However, experimental evidence suggesting such effects is scarce in the literature. During two consecutive years, we explored experimentally the effects of these nest materials on loads of different groups of bacteria (mesophilic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus and Enterococcus) of eggshells in nests of spotless starlings (Sturnus unicolor) at the beginning and at the end of the incubation period. This was also explored in artificial nests without incubation activity. We also experimentally increased bacterial density of eggs in natural and artificial nests and explored the effects of nest lining treatments on eggshell bacterial load. Support for the hypothetical antimicrobial function of nest materials was mainly detected for the year and location with larger average values of eggshell bacterial density. The beneficial effects of feathers and plants were more easily detected in artificial nests with no incubation activity, suggesting an active role of incubation against bacterial colonization of eggshells. Pigmented and unpigmented feathers reduced eggshell bacterial load in starling nests and artificial nest boxes. Results from artificial nests allowed us to discuss and discard alternative scenarios explaining the detected association, particularly those related to the possible sexual role of feathers and aromatic plants in starling nests. All these results considered together confirm the antimicrobial functionality mainly of feathers but also of plants used as nest materials, and highlight the importance of temporally and geographically environmental variation associated with risk of bacterial proliferation determining the strength of such effects. Because of costs associated to nest building, birds should adjust nest building effort to expected bacterial environments during incubation, a prediction that should be further explored.This work was financed by Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, European funds (FEDER) (CGL2010-19233-C03-01, CGL2010-19233-C03-03, CGL2013-48193-C3-1-P, CGL2013-48193-C3-3-P). MRR and DMG received a postdoc from the programmes “JAE-Doc” and CRC had a predoctoral grant from the Spanish Government. GT was supported by Juan de la Cierva programme (Spain) and by Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación del Ecuador (SENESCYT) through a Prometeo research grant.Peer reviewe

Techno-Economic Assessment of Heat Transfer Fluid Buffering for Thermal Energy Storage in the Solar Field of Parabolic Trough Solar Thermal Power Plants

Currently, operating parabolic trough (PT) solar thermal power plants, either solar-only or with thermal storage block, use the solar field as a heat transfer fluid (HTF) thermal storage system to provide extra thermal capacity when it is needed. This is done by circulating heat transfer fluid into the solar field piping in order to create a heat fluid buffer. In the same way, by oversizing the solar field, it can work as an alternative thermal energy storage (TES) system to the traditionally applied methods. This paper presents a solar field TES model for a standard solar field from a 50-MWe solar power plant. An oversized solar model is analyzed to increase the capacity storage system (HTF buffering). A mathematical model has been developed and different simulations have been carried out over a cycle of one year with six different solar multiples considered to represent the different oversized solar field configurations. Annual electricity generation and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) are calculated to find the solar multiple (SM) which makes the highest solar field thermal storage capacity possible within the minimum LCOE

Optimization of 100 MWe Parabolic-Trough Solar-Thermal Power Plants Under Regulated and Deregulated Electricity Market Conditions

Parabolic-trough solar-thermal power-plant investments are subordinate to radiation availability, thermal-energy storage capacity, and dynamic behavior. Their integration into electricity markets is made by minimizing grid-connection costs, thus improving energy-availability and economic-efficiency levels. In this context, this work analyzes the sizing-investment adequacy of a 100 MWe parabolic-trough solar-thermal power plant regarding solar resources and thermal energy into power-block availability for both regulated and deregulated electricity markets. For this proposal, the design of a mathematical model for the optimal operation of parabolic-trough power plants with thermal storage by two tanks of molten salt is described. Model calibration is made by using a currently operated plant. Solar-resource availability is studied in three different radiation scenarios. The levelized cost of electricity and production profit relating to the investment cost are used to analyze plant sustainability. Thus, the levelized cost of electricity shows the best plant configuration for each radiation scenario within a regulated market. For deregulated markets, the optimal plant configuration tends to enhance the solar multiple and thermal-storage capacity thanks to an increment on selling profit. The gross average annual benefit for electricity generation of deregulated against regulated markets exceeds 21% in all radiation areas under study