Service Management : Theory and Practice

This textbook offers a fully integrated approach to the theory and practice of service management, exploring the operational dynamics, management issues and business models deployed by service firms. It builds on recent developments in service science as an interdisciplinary research area with emphasis on integration, adaptability, optimization, sustainability and rapid technological adoption.

The book explores seven fundamental processes that are key to successfully managing service businesses, helping students gain insights into:

• how to manage service businesses, with coverage of both small firms and large transnationals
• service business models, operations and productivity
• managing service employees
• how service firms engage in product and process innovation
• marketing, customers and service experiences
• internationalization of service businesses
• the ongoing servitization of manufacturing

This unique textbook is an ideal resource for upper undergraduate and postgraduate students studying service businesses and practitioners.

John R. Bryson is Professor of Enterprise and Competitiveness at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham, UK. His research interests include understanding the growth and dynamics of knowledge-intensive service firms, innovation and services, the interactions between services and manufacturing and the impacts of robotics and artificial intelligence on services. 

Jon Sundbo is Professor in Business Administration and Innovation at Roskilde University, Denmark. His research interests include service firms and the service economy, innovation, service processes, marketing and the management of service firms.

Lars Fuglsang is Professor at the Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University. He currently leads the research group on Innovation in Service and Experiences. His research interests include how institutional and organizational frameworks are created to deal with the impacts of innovation, technology and other forms of change on business and society.

Peter W. Daniels was Emeritus Professor of Geography in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. His research focused on advanced business and professional services.