Service Success! Lessons from a Leader on How to Turn Around a Service Business

Singled out by Fortune and The New York Times as a remarkable manager, Dan Kaplan has pioneered a revolutionary new system for measuring service quality to help managers keep track of intangibles in a service business. Provides a straightforward, practical case study of managing for excellence along with invaluable insight into the potentials and limitations inherent in the management systems under which organizations operate.

Total quality management (TQM) is the most significant managerial theory since 1980; unfortunately, its basic tenets are often obscured by numbing jargon and mathematical formulas. Kaplan, president of Hertz Equipment Rental Corp., and Rieser, a former editor at Fortune , here craft one of the best applied TQM studies to appear this season. Starting with "a set of simple methods that will enable managers to become more effective and productive," the authors describe the turnaround policies (statistical benchmarking, constantly refining service standards and building trust through commitment) employed by Kaplan at Hertz. While the authors' observations on operations management and financial controls are useful, their elaborations on corporate culture, management development and business ethics are particularly strong.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The service sector of the U.S. economy is booming. Until recently, the number of books devoted to the management of services has been smaller than those devoted to manufacturing. These new titles are helping to change the situation. Targeting the service firm with fewer than 100 employees, the Rosses provide a how-to manual geared especially to newcomers to the service sector. They provide guidelines for such frequently encountered problems as formulating a marketing plan, motivating employees, and attracting favorable public relations. While most of the suggestions are already available in standard management libraries, these authors provide a remarkable service by assembling and distilling much of this information. Kaplan targets the larger service company. Presenting the management philosophy he developed while managing the turnaround at Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation, Kaplan details the successful application of TQM principles to a service setting. His core idea is that the ultimate success results from doing thousands of little things just a bit better than the competition. Managers will love this book because it resonates with the tone of a pragmatic manager who can express his ideas in a general way that any service organization can apply. Both books will serve libraries well.
- Gene R. Laczniak, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.