Service Science: The Foundations of Service Engineering and Management

Chapter 6

Computational Thinking of Service Systems and Networks

Regardless of categories of services that a service system plans to offer, a service must be designed, developed, and delivered. Whether the service can stay competitive in its marketplace truly depends on whether it meets the needs of customers whom the service system intends to serve. As discussed in preceding chapters, the level of satisfaction that is received by the served customers depends on the efficient, effective, and smart operations of the service system. The people-centric dynamics of a service system in business operations essentially manifests itself in the theme of the service interactions between customers and providers. In both theory and practice, a service network is then used to describe the collective service and systemic behaviors of the involved service interactions.

We now understand that a competitive service system must put people (customers and employees) rather than physical goods in the center of its organizational structure and operations. The people-centric concept is explicitly reflected in the service value equation, , which holds in any service industry. Indeed, the equation expresses that we must focus on service design, development, and delivery using all available means to realize respective values for both service providers and service customers, technically and sociopsychologically. ...