Offshoring service work is an accelerating trend. While the cost-savings from offshoring service work are usually clear, operating at a distance also brings with it certain ''invisible costs.'' We combine existing service operations theory with insights from the literature on communications and culture to present a new conceptual framework, organized around interaction intensity and interaction distance. We identify the drivers of these costs. We conclude with recommendations for controlling or attenuating invisible costs in offshoring service work. #

This article examines an important challenge to effective cross-functional integration: goal incongruity among marketing, research and development (R&D), and manufacturing in new product development. We examine the effect of this incongruity as perceived by the marketing function on three components of cross-functional integration: the harmony of cross-functional relationships, the quality of cross-functional information, and the level of cross-functional involvement. We also examine how two types of managerially controllable variables affect goal incongruity: (1) factors that motivate functions to develop common goals; and (2) factors that facilitate the formation of such goals. We give special attention to the effect of national culture on the formation of common goals. Data collected from marketing managers in 1,083 firms in five culturally distinct areas--the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China), and mainland China-are used to test the hypothesized relationships. Our results underscore the importance of people-side issues, and of national culture, in cross-functional integration. Perceived goal incongruity among marketing, R&D, and manufacturing impairs all three components of cross-functional integration. In United States and British firms, goal incongruity generally is attributed to motivational factors and in Japan and Hong Kong to facilitative factors. Finally, our results show that the two types of managerially controllable variables interact. For example, joint rewards and job rotation strengthen each other's tendency to reduce goal incongruity in all five samples. This suggests that job rotation promotes the development of joint goals more effectively when it is accompanied by a joint reward system. IntroductionC ross-functional integration long has been recognized as a key factor for improving new product success [7,19]. Various empirical studies have demonstrated its positive effect (e.g., [11,28,29,59,62,63,66]). Many firms have adopted systems to improve cross-functional integration to enhance the performance of new product programs [25,55]. However, to realize the potential benefits of such integration, firms not only must identify where and how to apply it, but they also must understand the human issues that may affect it [10,26,67,77].Human beings are complex combinations of skills, abilities, and emotions-not machine parts. Merely imposing a cross-functional structure for new product development (NPD) therefore cannot ensure that the functional representatives will work together effectively. If they are to commit themselves to a NPD project, participants must develop common . Different functional areas in an organization have different specialized skills and knowledge; they deal with different parts of a firm's environment and have different roles and responsibilities. Their goals therefore often may be incompatible [27,56,65]. This incompatibility is likely to affect their desire and ability to participate actively in joint activities, to s...

This paper develops a model relating innovation success to the level of interfunctional conflict and conflict resolution methods. The model suggests a concave relationship between performance and the level of interfunctional conflict among marketing, R&D, and manufacturing. It also conjectures that both national culture and the level of interfunctional conflict influence the effectiveness of different conflict resolution methods. An empirical test of the proposed framework involves a survey of 968 marketing managers from Japan, Hong Kong, the United States, and Great Britain. The results provide general support for the model's predictions and reveal several significant cross-national differences.New Product Development, Conflict Management, Cross-function Integration, Cross-cultural Study

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Many not-for-profit organizations rely on volunteers to help accomplish their service objectives. Although volunteers work alongside or in some cases replace employees in the delivery of service, incorporating volunteer labor into the service delivery system of the not-for-profit poses unique challenges. Understanding these challenges represents an important foundationbuilding step in understanding the implications for service design and service operations when using volunteers. This paper identifies and describes service design and operational factors relevant to volunteer satisfaction in not-for-profit organizations. Using data collected from 288 volunteers working in 43 not-for-profit agencies, the study explores the elements of service delivery that impact volunteer satisfaction, and further tests the relationship between volunteer satisfaction and loyalty to the not-for-profit organization. Findings include that satisfied volunteers are more likely to remain for longer periods of time with the same organization, are more likely to donate financially to the not-for-profit, and are more likely to recommend the volunteer experience to others. Each of these outcomes helps to ensure the continued sustainability of the not-for-profit organization. #