服务质量提升 外文文档Service quality improvement.docVIP

Service quality improvement Bo Edvardsson The author Bo Edvardsson is Associate Professor and Director of the Service Research Centre, University of Karlstad, Sweden. Abstract The topic for this article is quality improvement in service operations. Quality improvement is used as a collective expression for quality assurance, quality management and quality control. Service operations refer to private as well as to public service operations and to services in manufacturing companies. Although services play a predominant role as regards GDP and employment in the OECD countries, we still know very little about quality management in service operations. Concepts and models in organization theories, marketing and other fields are, to a great extent, based on studies of and experience from manufacturing companies. Quality is no exception, even though it has received some attention during the past 15 years, especially from researchers in Scandinavia. Introduction During the past ten years I have devoted my time primarily to the field of quality in services, mainly as a researcher but also as a consultant. In order to understand how to manage and improve quality in service companies, we must first understand the partly unique characteristics and production logic of services. Therefore, I will begin by discussing the quality concept and the logic of service production, then go on to consider the quality concept in a service context and end with 13 propositions on quality improvement. I will also mention some trends in service quality. This study is based on recent research on and experiences from leading service companies. One important source is my research report “Service development with built-in quality” (1996, in Swedish). Service – a customer result The International Standardization Organization (ISO) defines a service as a part of the total production concept. A product is the result of a production process. To produce means to create added value, that is to say –