Customer Participation in Professional Services Operations And Its Impacts On Flexibility and Costs

Juliana Barreto and Ricardo Martins
Additional contact information
Juliana Barreto: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG
Ricardo Martins: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG

Brazilian Business Review, 2018, vol. 15, issue 1, 33-46

Abstract: This study has its contribution to deepen the understanding about the paradoxical relation between flexibility and costs in the field of operations service strategy and management, approaching the customer participation affects on the professional services. Through a multi-case study with four professional services organizations, using data collection through semistructured interviews and documentary research, we identified four main sources of variability, namely: customer arrival, the diagnosis of needs, production and implementation and the delivery value analysis. We concluded that the professional services firms prioritize customer participation and this implies to accommodate variability in flexible service operations to meet the most different types of customers without an alignment to the strategic plan for business growth.

Keywords: Professional service; Variability; Capacity management; Service operations. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.bbronline.com.br/index.php/bbr/article/download/6/5 Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bbz:fcpbbr:v:15:y:2018:i:1:p33-46

Access Statistics for this article

Brazilian Business Review is currently edited by Emerson Mainardes

More articles in Brazilian Business Review from Fucape Business School Fucape Business School Brazilian Business Review Av. Fernando Ferrari, 1358, Boa Vista CEP 29075-505 Vitória-ES. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Lasso ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).