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place in later phases of the production cycle, components are used without alteration.
Customers can choose from a set of components and these standard components are,
in turn, combined to form an end product. This conceptualization of modularity is
presented in Figure 5.2.
5.3.2 Service modularity
Although study on the development and application of modularity in services has been
proposed over half a decade ago (Menor et al., 2002), research on service modularity
is relatively scarce. Among notable exceptions are Meyer and DeTore (1999, 2001),
Sundbo (1994), Pekkarinen and Ulkuniemi (2008) and Voss and Hsuan (2009). These
authors suggested modularization for optimizing, e.g. financial and business services,
to achieve customized service provision at reasonable cost. However, as yet, research
in this emerging area has not yet led to a typology on the use and effects of service
modularity.
With modular services, we mean that final services or service packages can be combined
for customers in many ways from one or several distinct components (Sundbo, 1994,
Pekkarinen and Ulkuniemi, 2008). In this way, customization takes place. To illustrate,
Voss and Hsuan (2009) give the example of a cruise ship: each ship has an architecture
consisting of various guest services such as swimming pools, restaurants, night clubs,
and cabins. Furthermore, services are associated with the running of the ship, its
interface with shore visits, etc. A customized holiday package, consisting of components
from
each of these services, is combined for or by each guest.
Figure 5.2 Customer involvement and modularity in the production cycle (adapted from Duray
et al., 2000, p.610)
M
odular car
e
and ser
vic
e pack
ages f
or
independen
tly
living elder
ly
Chapt
er 5
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The limited research on service modularity has shown that some service characteristics
will likely influence the creation of modular service packages. Owing to the process
character of many services, the line between product and process cannot be clearly
defined (Van der Aa and Elfring, 2002); they are two complementing and intertwined
dimensions in final service provision (Pekkarinen and Ulkuniemi, 2008). As such, in
a modular service architecture, the functional elements of the service can be put into
practice by product components, process components, or both. Another characteristic
of services is the central role of people. Services come into existence in close interaction
between producers and customers in the service delivery process (e.g. Edvardsson et
al., 2005, Sampson and Froehle, 2006). Moreover, in many services employees play an
important part in service personalization and customization (Gwinner et al., 2005).
Therefore, to arrive at a coherent whole, service packages will involve both technical
and human aspects (Meyer and DeTore, 2001,
Voss and Hsuan, 2009).
5.3.3 Modularity in healthcare
First steps towards the application of modular production principles have been made
in the healthcare sector, both in cure (Bohmer, 2005, Meyer et al., 2007) and care (De
Blok et al., 2007, 2009). For several reasons, healthcare services are radically different
from other services (Lanseng and Andreassen, 2007). The production of this type of
service involves extensive customer contact (Verma, 2000, Jaakkola and Halinen, 2006).
As the service is mainly targeted at the receiver’s body or mind, healthcare services
are prime examples of customers working together with the provider in co-creating
value (Vargo and Lusch, 2004, Lanseng and Andreassen, 2007). In addition, for many
care services, the specification and delivery are greatly influenced by the knowledge,
skills and experience of the healthcare professional (Jaakkola and Halinen, 2006). The
provider of healthcare services knows much more than the receiver, who has to trust
the provider with his or her life, and an inability to meet the demand has more serious
consequences than in other services (Jack
and Powers, 2004).
On the backdrop of this complex environment, Bohmer (2005) advocated a more
patient-oriented approach in hospitals through seamless combination of standard
treatment processes. He proposed that by addressing those dimensions in which groups
of customers have the same needs, advantages in cost, time and quality can be gained.
The resources gained can, in turn, be deployed to those dimensions of needs which
are too complex or distinctive to address with standardized modules and components,
thereby leaving room for the natural heterogeneity of healthcare clients. Meyer et al.
(2007) reviewed the application of modular design to integrate patient services of a large
healthcare provider. They proposed a platform of processes common to all patient-care
services, with modular sets of processes for individual services. The authors applied
Modular Care Provision