Keeping talents for advancing service firms in Asia

Purpose &ndash; Skill shortages worldwide have intensified the need for talent management. Few papers examine the pattern of human resource (HR) and talent management practices that help retain competent employees among service multinational companies (MNCs) in Asia. The purpose of this paper is to map out a number of HR practices used by service companies and to examine the effect of talent retention as perceived by MNC managers on service delivery capacity and business growth. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; A survey data of 281 service MNCs in six Asian countries (namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand) are used to compare country and sectoral differences. Standard multiple regression analysis is conducted to test the link between HR practices, employee retention, and service firm performance. Findings &ndash; The results confirm that there are statistically significant linkages between HR practices, talent retention and firm performance. In particular, various skill training and development programs are seen to be significantly associated with capacity to deliver quality service and on firm growth as perceived by managers surveyed. Informal recruitment methods that are used more by Asian-bred firms have contributed to better retention rates. Not all formalised HR practices lead to talent retention; and the degree to which HR is perceived to have impacted on firm performance varies. Research limitations/implications &ndash; The paper focuses on examining the perceptual impacts of human resource management (HRM) practices on firm performance, rather than actual HRM impacts. The interpretation of results should be taken with caution. Originality/value &ndash; Talent management is influenced by country specific variables. This paper shows how important it is for service firms to focus on strategic selection of both formal and informal HR practices in order to deliver high quality service and to drive service firm growth.<br /

Has Revenue Management Become Acceptable? Findings from an International Study on the Perceived Fairness of Rate Fences

Demand-based pricing is underused in many service industries, because customers are believed to perceive such pricing as unfair. Fencing can be highly effective in improving the perceived fairness of demand-based pricing. In this study, five fences were explored in a restaurant context across three countries (Singapore, Sweden, and the United States). Demand-based pricing in the form of coupons (two for the price of one), time-of-day pricing, and lunch/dinner pricing were perceived as fair. Weekday/weekend pricing was seen as neutral to slightly unfair. Table location pricing was seen as somewhat unfair with potential negative consumer reactions to this practice. Furthermore, framing demand-based pricing as discounts improved perceived fairness. The findings were largely consistent for the three countries. Specifically, framing demand-based pricing as discounts or gains showed no country-specific effect

Perceived Fairness of Revenue Management in the US Golf Industry

Experience in other industries has shown that revenue management can increase revenue without affecting customer satisfaction. Revenue management, however, is underutilized in the golf industry, as customers are believed to perceive such practices as unacceptable and unfair. This paper explores six revenue management practices that might be suitable in a golf context and examines their perceived fairness. The results show that golfers perceive arrival duration control practices in the form of reservation fees or no-show fees as fair. In addition, it was found that golfers perceive demand-based pricing in the form of coupons (two for the price of one), time-of-day and reduced tee time intervals as fair. Conversely, time-of-booking pricing was perceived as neutral to slightly unfair. Varying price levels were seen as unfair, with potential negative consumer reactions to this practice. Furthermore, the paper explores whether framing demand-based pricing as discounts rather than surcharges would make a difference. It was found that demand-based pricing presented as discounts were generally seen as fairer and therefore less likely to have a negative impact on consumer perceptions and reactions

Revenue Management in Restaurants: Unbundling Pricing for Reservations from the Core Service

A substantial minority of restaurant guests would be willing to pay separately for a restaurant reservation, while a much larger group is not supportive of this approach, according to an online survey of 297 U.S. residents. Those respondents who are most likely to accept the idea of paying for a reservation represent customers who are also relatively familiar with this practice. The survey respondents were reacting to three possible scenarios for unbundling the value of the reservation from that of the meal itself. Based in part on actual industry practice, the three scenarios are (1) a reservations company charges for a reservation but does not share the proceeds with the restaurant; (2) a reservations company charges for a reservation and shares the revenue with the restaurant; and (3) the restaurant charges a reservation fee without involving a third party. For revenue management purposes, familiarity with the unbundling practice is related to guest acceptance of that practice. Since numerous companies now sell prime restaurant reservations as a separate product, it seems likely that over time the guests’ familiarity with paying for at least some reservations will grow, along with their acceptance of the practice

Customer Satisfaction with Seating Policies in Casual-Dining Restaurants

Restaurant guests prefer the control that making reservations gives them, according to a survey conducted at Cornell University. The survey tested three strategies for managing demand in casual restaurants, namely, accepting reservations, permitting guests to call ahead for a place on a waitlist with an approximate seating time, and seating guests from a first-come, first-served waitlist. Respondents particularly favored reservations for business dinners, and well over half of the respondents would not consider a restaurant for a business meal if they could not make a reservation. Call-ahead seating was a poor substitute for reservations, in the respondents\u27 estimation, but was still seen as better than first-come, first-served seating, with an estimated wait time. The survey found that guests thought reservations gave them better control over their schedule and that reservations demonstrated that the restaurant cared about its customers. Since reservations come with their own special operational problems, managers of casual restaurants might consider using call-ahead seating if reservations do not work for the restaurant. Those that continue with seating from a first-come, first-served waitlist should consider ways to empower guests, for example, by giving accurate wait times or issuing pagers

How do innovators stay innovative? A longitudinal case analysis

Purpose – How can some companies be the innovation leader in their industry over prolonged periods of time, while others cannot? The purpose of this study is to understand a firm’s capability to be a successful serial innovator and to generate a constant stream of industry-leading innovations. Design/Methodology/Approach – The paper uses a longitudinal case study approach to gain an understanding of what and how Singapore Airlines (SIA) sustained service innovation for over 30 years. The study uses triangulation, whereby the core data from in-depth interviews with senior and middle management, and frontline employees were complemented with academic research, case studies, annual reports, observations, and archival documents. 240 single-spaced pages of interview transcripts with over 130,000 words were analyzed and coded using MAXQDA for identifying repeated patterns of meaning. Findings – We identified three key institutional foundations for service innovation: (1) innovation climate (i.e., leadership and service culture), (2) human capital (i.e., recruitment, training and development, and engagement and incentives), and (3) resource configurations (i.e., systems, structure, and processes). These foundations enabled the organization to build the following four service innovation-related dynamic capabilities: (1) embrace ambidexterity, (2) institutionalize learning and knowledge integration, (3) orchestrate collaboration, and (4) reinvent customer value. Interestingly, these institutional foundations and capabilities remained largely stable across 30 years; what changed were the contexts and specifics, not the foundations and capabilities. Research Limitations and Implications – Data were collected only from one company. Due to the method of thematic analysis the generalizability of our findings needs further investigation. Originality/ValueOriginality/Value – This study is the first to investigate the drivers of industry-leading sustained service innovation over a prolonged period of time. The proposed framework provides a fuller and more integrated picture of sustained service innovation than past cross-sectional studies

How Long Should Dinner Take? Measuring Expected Meal Duration for Restaurant Revenue Management

Restaurants have two strategic levers for revenue management: duration control and demand-based pricing. Reducing dining times, especially during peak periods, can add considerable revenue for the restaurant. Managing meal duration, however, can be far more complex than manipulating the price. This paper examines dinner duration expectations for a casual restaurant using an adaptation of a price sensitivity measurement tool, naming it \u27Time Sensitivity Measurement\u27 or TSM. TSM is then used to derive the expected dining time, the optimal and indifference duration points. The results show that there is a relatively wide spread of acceptable dining duration times. Furthermore, the optimal and indifference points were significantly shorter than the mean expected dining time, suggesting that many restaurants may be able to shorten dining duration significantly (some 20 per cent in this present study) without compromising customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the paper explores whether demographic variables have an impact on time preferences and finds only nationality effects to be significant. Specifically, North Americans and Asians have similar duration expectations, while Europeans preferred a significantly longer dining time

The strategic role of unused service capacity

Pre-print; author's draftServices are by nature perishable. As such, managing a service firm's capacity to match supply and demand has been touted as one of the key problems of services marketing and management practice. This paper advances an alternative perspective of unused service capacity. Based on a review of current literature and an exploratory study, this paper employs a theory-in-use methodology to map out a set of capacity strategy propositions. These propositions show a divergence between what literature suggests and what service firms actually practice with regard to reducing the occurrence of unused service capacity. The paper also demonstrates that capacity can be employed as a resource to achieve a series of strategic objectives that serve to improve the performance of the firm. Service firms should therefore approach capacity management not only from the standpoint of operations management but from that of marketing as well

Revenue Management: Resolving Potential Customer Conflicts

Revenue management is a sophisticated form of supply and demand management that helps a firm maximize revenue by balancing pricing and inventory controls. In recent years, an increasing number of firms have recognized the importance of revenue management in their ability to increase sales and profitability. When a firm that is fundamentally customer oriented also embraces revenue management, however, a series of customer conflicts can result and be detrimental to the firm\u27s long-term success. This paper outlines these potential conflicts and explores various marketing and organizational strategies that can be used to resolve such conflicts

Proactive handling of flight overbooking:How to reduce negative eWOM and the costs of bumping customers

This research examines the extent to which proactivity in handling flight overbooking reduces negative electronic word-of-mouth (NeWOM) and the required costs of compensation, thus increasing firm profitability. It answers recent calls to use a multimethod approach (i.e., we include archival data, qualitative interviews, seven experiments, and a Monte Carlo simulation for a total of ten studies), and to adapt recovery to specific contexts (i.e., airlines) and heterogeneous customers (i.e., voluntary/involuntary bumping or offloading). The preliminary studies indicate that overbooking and offloading are pervasive and that a proactive approach is both feasible and desirable. The experiments show that, compared to the default reactive approach (informing passengers at the gate), a proactive approach (informing them before they leave for the airport) substantially reduces NeWOM and the sought compensation. Further, a very reactive approach (informing them in the plane) significantly increases NeWOM and the sought compensation, especially when offloading occurs involuntarily. We also unveil the mechanism explaining the effects of proactivity on NeWOM, through the serial mediation of justice and betrayal. Finally, the results of a Monte Carlo simulation show that offering reduced compensation through a proactive approach allows more aggressive overbooking, higher capacity utilization and increased net revenue of up to 1.3%