Business Service Management White Paper - Volume 2
Page 13 of 46
Service Classifications
Cook, Goh and Chung (1999) believe that ‘no single definition of service is capable of encompassing
the full diversity of services and the complex attributes that accompany them, a conclusion which is
arrived at by many researchers. Zeithaml et al. (1985, p.43) suggest that ‘Diverse
businesses, such as
garbage collection, retail banking, and management consulting are often tied together under the
heading of "services"
in the literature, based on
little more than a perception that they are intangible
and do not manufacture anything
. Such definitions inadequately identify managerial
and operational
implications common among, and unique to, services.’ Therefore, many authors have turned to
typologies, taxonomies, or classification schemes to more fully address the complexities of services.’
Service classification schemes ‘identify key commonalities across
seemingly disparate service
businesses’ (Sampson & Froehle, 2006). The suitability of a classification scheme depends on its
purpose. Most service classification schemes have been developed in the Marketing field (e.g.
Lovelock, 1983) with a few from the field of operations management (Wemmerlöv, 1990), and may
not be suitable in other contexts. Wemmerlöv (1990) contends that when considering a taxonomy ‘it is
necessary to address the following four issues:
Purpose
: ‘A taxonomy should structure a complex field of interest and facilitate its
understanding. It can also be used as a decision-making device for design-related problems.’
(p. 24)
Level of Analysis
(at which the taxonomy is to be applied): ‘The chosen level of analysis can
vary depending on purpose. A classification scheme for organisations (macro level) is not
likely to be applicable with the same relevance to individual work activities (micro level), and
vice versa.’ (p. 24)
The categorising variables
: The key dimensions used for distinguishing the different
types of
services.
Possibility of operationalising the variables
: ‘If a taxonomy is to be more than just an aid to
stimulate thinking, the variables it relies on should be measurable. ... However,
if the intent
with a taxonomy is to analyse and evaluate organisational design issues, the analyst is more
interested in relative than absolute comparisons. Categorisation of processes can then be done
based more on judgement than on objective measurement.’ (p.28)
A
survey by Cook, Goh and Chung (1999) of four decades of service typologies found that different
classification schemes have different levels of analysis, and even at the same level of analysis, may
use differing
set of categorising variables, because they are conceptualised for different purposes
(some of which are discussed below). Below, we review some of the key classifications to highlight
the range of purposes and categorising variables used in these classifications.
Business Service Management White Paper - Volume 2
Page 14 of 46
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