The interaction between companies internal processes and the service encounter and its affect on the perceived quality A case study in the automotive industry

The competition in the automotive industry is constantly increasing and it is no longer sufficient for a company to only deliver a physical product. The companies’ ability to fill a need and provide a solution including a combination of both tangible and intangible products is becoming increasingly important. The service a company offers can be a critical factor for success why a company needs to understand what actions that creates a good service encounter and high perceived quality for the customer. Purpose The purpose is to describe and analyse the interaction between companies’ internal processes and the service encounter and its affect on the perceived quality, within the automotive industry. Methodology To fulfil the purpose a case study was preformed with a combination of descriptive and explanatory approaches. A starting point was to define the three different concepts, internal process, service encounter and perceived quality, out of existing literature. Existing literature was also used to form a theoretical framework, consisting of the three models: process mapping, service blueprint and seven criteria for good perceived quality. These were later applied on empirical data from the case company. The empirical data was gathered through interviews and observations on workshops owned or authorized by the case company. This was also complemented with data collected in customer interviews as well as observations and interviews at an extra case company used for comparison. Conclusions In the two examined case companies the internal processes and the service encounters are organised differently, since the customers’ demands for perceiving high quality are different. Which probably is a result of the carand truck workshops acting on different markets, C2B and B2B. In the car workshops there are less people involved and a personal service encounter is satisfying the customers needs. In the truck workshop there are a lot of people involved, but it gives them a possibility to be flexible. This enables delivery of fast correction and qualified staff, which is most important to their customers. What can be concluded is that the internal processes and the service encounters are organised based on the workshops customers’ needs, for the customers to perceive a high quality. But how it is done differs depending on market, customer structure and the size of the workshop

Immune reconstitution syndrome presenting as probable AIDS-related lymphoma: a case report

We report an unusual case of HIV-related immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome, presenting as suspected AIDS-related lymphoma. Symptoms, initial investigations including fine-needle biopsy and 18F-FDG PET/CT scan were highly compatible with high grade AIDS-related lymphoma, however subsequently IRIS was diagnosed. We discuss pitfalls in the interpretation of diagnostic results in ARL versus IRIS

Draft genome sequences of three <i>Escherichia coli </i>strains with different <i>In Vivo</i> pathogenicities in an avian (Ascending) infection model of the oviduct

Here, we present three draft genome sequences of Escherichia coli strains that experimentally were proven to possess low (strain D2-2), intermediate (Chronic_salp), or high virulence (Cp6salp3) in an avian (ascending) infection model of the oviduct

Vitamin D vitamers affect vitamin D status differently in young healthy males

Dietary intake of vitamin D includes vitamin D3 (vitD3), 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25OH-D3), and vitamin D2 (vitD2). However, the bioactivity of the different species has not been scientifically established. The hypothesis in this study was that vitD3, 25OH-D3, and vitD2 have an equal effect on 25-hydroxyvitamin D in serum (vitamin D status). To test our hypothesis, we performed a randomized, crossover study. Twelve young males consumed 10 µg/day vitD3 during a four-week run-in period, followed by 3 × 6 weeks of 10 µg/day vitD3, 10 µg/day 25OH-D3, and 10 µg/day vitD2. The content of vitD3, vitD2, 25OH-D3, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 (25OH-D2) in serum was quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The hypothesis that the three sources of vitamin D affect vitamin D status equally was rejected. Based on the assumption that 1 µg vitD3/day will show an increase in vitamin D status of 1.96 nmol/L, the results showed that 23 µg vitD2 and 6.8 µg 25OH-D3 was similar to 10 µg vitD3. These results demonstrate that further investigations are necessary to determine how to quantify the total vitamin D activity based on chemical quantification of the individual vitamin D metabolites to replace the total vitamin D activity assessed in biological rat models