This ninth edition continues to acknowledge and emphasize the essential nature of service management. Based on the research and consulting experiences of the authors, the text is organized in four parts: Part One: Understanding Services provides the historical context as well as distinguishes the distinctive characteristics of service operations; Part Two: Designing the Service Enterprise covers designing the service enterprise to support the competitive strategy; Part Three: Managing Service Operations details topics such as managing capacity, demand and waiting lines, and service supply relationships; and Part Four: Quantitative Models for Service Management addresses forecasting and managing service inventory. Each chapter emphasizes the theme of managing services for competitive advantage, which provides a focus for each management topic.
The ninth edition maintains the engaging literary style of the prior editions, and makes extensive use of examples. Emphasis is placed on the need for continuous improvement in quality and productivity in order to compete effectively in a global environment. To motivate the reader, a vignette of a well-known company starts each chapter, illustrating the strategic nature of the topic to be covered. Each chapter also has a preview, closing summary, key terms and definitions, service benchmark, topics for discussion, an interactive exercise, solved problems and exercises when appropriate, and one or more cases.
New to This Edition
• In Chapter 1, a new Service Benchmark features the pioneers of the emerging sharing economy, Uber and Airbnb.
• Chapter 2, Service Strategy, introduces two new topics: recent advances in the mathematical analysis of big data or data analytics and the IoT, an extension of the Internet into our everyday lives.
• Chapter 3 explores a disruptive technology called blockchain based on the Internet currency Bitcoin and illustrates its impact on financial services. The stages of building a service blueprint are further illustrated by visiting a San Francisco Giants baseball game.
• Chapter 7 extends the topic of Lean Service to include value-stream mapping using an example of a loan approval process.
• Chapter 9 captures the emerging idea of using multiple sources and distribution methods in the concept of omnichannel supply chain.
• Chapter 11 illustrates daily workshift scheduling problems using a new example: Marin County 911 Response.
• Chapter 14 features an interactive Delphi exercise that engages students to forecast the date that a human colony on Mars will be established.
For Connect users, the free ReadAnywhere downloadable app is available on iOS and Android mobile devices. It gives students mobile freedom to access their ebook anywhere, even offline, on their smartphone or tablet. Once chapters are downloaded, students can use the same tools that are available in the ebook and any notes or highlights they make in the ebook will sync across platforms. Visit https://www.mheducation.com/highered/explore/readanywhere.html for more information.
James Fitzsimmons received a B.S.E. in industrial engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.B.A. from Western Michigan University, and a Ph.D. with distinction from the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Fitzsimmons has held faculty appointments at UCLA, California State University–Northridge, the University of New Mexico, Boston University Overseas Graduate Program, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and the Helsinki School of Economics and Business. His research in the area of emergency ambulance location won the Stan Hardy Award in 1983 for the best paper published in the field of operations management. A computer program, CALL, has been used worldwide to plan emergency ambulance systems. Dr. Fitzsimmons is a registered professional engineer in Michigan and has held industrial engineering positions at Corning Glass Works and Hughes Aircraft Company. He served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer in charge of base construction projects.
James Fitzsimmons received a B.S.E. in industrial engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.B.A. from Western Michigan University, and a Ph.D. with distinction from the University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Fitzsimmons has held faculty appointments at UCLA, California State University–Northridge, the University of New Mexico, Boston University Overseas Graduate Program, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and the Helsinki School of Economics and Business. His research in the area of emergency ambulance location won the Stan Hardy Award in 1983 for the best paper published in the field of operations management. A computer program, CALL, has been used worldwide to plan emergency ambulance systems. Dr. Fitzsimmons is a registered professional engineer in Michigan and has held industrial engineering positions at Corning Glass Works and Hughes Aircraft Company. He served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer in charge of base construction projects.
