DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why is it challenging to innovate, design, and develop services?
A primary objective of this chapter is to have students understand the complexities and challenges of
innovating, designing and developing services. The inherent challenges in so doing relate back to
Because services are intangible, they are difficult to describe and communicate. This characteristic
Because services are typically delivered by employees to customers, they are inherently
Another challenge relates to the simultaneous production and consumption aspect of services.
2. Why is service innovation so critical for firms and countries?
Service innovation is absolutely critical for firms and countries today. As suggested by the Global
Feature in this chapter, many countries around the globe have put a new emphasis on growth through
To be competitive in service requires both innovation in processes to improve service productivity
and innovation in offerings to increase revenues. Almost every competitive business today is looking
3. What are the risks of attempting to describe services in words alone?
The risks of describing services in words alone are: oversimplification, incompleteness, subjectivity
4. Compare and contrast the blueprints in Figures 8.5 and 8.6.
A comparison of the two blueprints is presented in the text on pp. 241-242. The point of this
5. How might a service blueprint be used for marketing, human resource, and operations decisions?
Focus on one of the blueprint examples shown in the text as a context for your answer.
The benefits and uses of blueprints are discussed in the text. As pointed out in the text, one of the
From a marketing perspective, the blueprint can be used for: communicating with customers and
getting their feedback at the concept and service development stages of the process; making the
From a human resources perspective, the blueprint can be used for: understanding roles and
responsibilities in the service delivery process; showing individual employees how they fit in the total
From an operations perspective, the blueprint can be used for: identifying potential operational fail
6. Assume that you are a multiproduct service company that wants to grow through adding new
services. Describe a logical process you might use to introduce a new service to the marketplace.
What steps in the process might be most difficult and why? How might you incorporate service
blueprinting into the process?
The logical process referred to here is shown in Figure 8.1, and each step is described in detail in the
In the early stages of developing a new service, a basic concept blueprint can be used to communicate
7. Discuss Figure 8.2 in terms of the four types of opportunities for growth represented there. Choose a
company or service, and explain how it could grow by developing new services in each of the four
cells.
Figure 8.2 provides a nice vehicle for discussing generic growth strategies. The examples in the text
Students can then apply the four generic strategies to a company they are familiar with. Or, the
professor could provide background on a company and ask students to discuss specific growth