Darshini: emergence of focused service design in Indian restaurant industry

Abstract

The recent decades have seen a rapid growth of service sector in the world economy. Jobs in this sector have increased tremendously (Kano, 1996) and organizations offering financial services, healthcare, communication and food, hospitality, transportation have proliferated. Many organizations in this sector have encountered rapid changes in regulations, technologies and customer preferences. These changes have forced service industries to identify ways in which to remain competitive. Firms are forced to increase their focus on customer satisfaction, quality of service at affordable cost of service (Schemenner, 1986). Traditional service sectors have seen emergence of new design, with increased customer focus and reduced cost of services. Focus in service organisations is the differentiation and selection of market segments, and the adjustments of the process and infrastructure parameters of the service delivery system to meet the needs of customer's (Mclaughlin et.al., 1995). The literature on focus in services is sparse, yet the examples are quite interesting (Heskett 1983, Yang, et.al, 1992). Focusing in services is not just marketing related, but involves obtaining strategic fit between the service delivery system and competitive strategy. Designing a service delivery systems involves issues such as facility design and layout for effective customer and work flow, procedures and job definitions for service providers, measures of quality, extent of customer involvement, technology/equipment selection and service capacity.