Achieving a Sustainable Service Advantage

Abstract

Many managers believe that superior service should play little or no role in competitive strategy; they maintain that service innovations are inherently copiable. However, the author states that this view is too narrow. For a company to achieve a lasting service advantage, it must base a new service on a capability gap that competitors cannot or will not copy.

Towards a model of dynamic capabilities in innovation-based competitive strategy: Insights from project-oriented service firms

“…This view has found support with other researchers (e.g., De Brentani, 1991;Matear, Gray, & Garrett, 2004) who find that service firms use innovation to gain competitive advantage. While few researchers argue that these advantages can be sustained (e.g., Coyne, 1993;Kaplan, 2000;Morris & Westbrook, 1996;Storey & Kahn, 2010), the debate remains inconclusive.…”

Intra-organisational Aspects of Service Quality Management: The Employees’ Perspective

“…Further, the costs and benefits of different staffing levels need to be considered [Peters, 1987;Schlesinger and Heskett, 199 11. In addition, Coyne [1993] proposes that sustainable competitive advantage in high contact organisations must be based on maximising front-line decision competence and flexibility, through greater investment in people.…”

New Service Development and Competitive Advantage: A Conceptual Model

“…However, the move by organisations to a major dependence on services, plus an increasing intensity of competition and changes in technology, would point to the importance of innovation as a key ingredient for competitive advantage for service firms (Martin and Horne 1993). Indeed, a growing number of researchers suggest that service innovations enable firms to gain competitive advantage (Coyne 1993;Easingwood and Mahajan 1989;Kaplan 2000;Morris and Westbrook 1996).…”