TABLE OF CONTENTS There are two key aspects in delivering service to customers: the service product and the service process. Designing and improving the main service process and other supporting processes is a key task in achieving superior service quality.
What is a process? Caulkin (1989) defines it as being a "continuous and regular action or succession of actions, taking place or carried on in a definite manner, and leading to the accomplishment of some result; a continuous operation or series of operations." Keller et al. (1999) defines the process as "a combination of inputs, actions and outputs." Anjard (1998) further defines it as being "a series of activities that takes an input, adds value to it and produces an output for a customer." This view is summarized in Fig. 10.1.
Processes involve a series of steps by which the inputs are converted into outputs, which may be goods, information, or services. The quality of outputs is entirely dependent upon the quality with which the processes are executed. In the manufacturing industry, the quality of a manufactured product depends on the quality of the process used to manufacture it. In a restaurant, the taste of a meal, the time from order to delivery, the cost, and customer satisfaction are all highly dependent on the quality of the service process. The quality of processes implies that the correct steps are used in the right order, the correct tools are used...
