A. Parasuraman
Professor and James W. McLamore Chair in Marketing
University of Miami

“Technology’s Role in Service Delivery: Extant Knowledge and Emerging Issues”

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Companies are increasingly turning to technology-based systems to market to and serve customers. Paralleling this trend is a growing body of research pertaining to technology’s role in service delivery. Professor Parasuraman is currently involved in three related streams of research focusing on:

1. Technology Readiness, which refers to people’s propensity to embrace and use technologies for accomplishing goals in home life and at work,
2. e-Service Quality, which is the extent to which a website facilitates efficient and effective shopping, purchasing and delivery of products and services, and
3. Network-Based Customer Service Systems, which are net-based systems (wired or wireless) that deliver service to customers either directly (e.g., via browsers or mobile phones) or indirectly (e.g., via technology-enabled service reps).

In this talk, Professor Parasuraman will discuss key findings and insights from these research streams and offer an agenda for further managerial reflection and scholarly research.

Christopher Lovelock
Adjunct Professor
Yale University

“Future Directions for Service Management: Concepts, Research, Teaching, Practice”

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Much has changed since services first began to attract attention from management researchers some 30 years ago. The environment of services continues to evolve in often dramatic ways, including technological advances in delivery (most notably the Internet), new forms of competition, the creation of transnational and even global markets, the emergence of entirely new service industries, and more significant roles for consumers. Academic concepts, research, and teaching must evolve, too, if they are to inform management practice in useful ways. Christopher Lovelock’s presentation will include discussion of an alternative paradigm to replace the old notion that services are different from goods, why service marketing courses should include more emphasis on competitive strategy, and insights from developing services targeted at poor consumers in developing economies.

Ron Kaufman
Author & Founder
UP Your Service College®

“Connecting Research and the Real World in Frontline Service Delivery: Anecdotal Evidence Demanding Academic Research”

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Academic research offers tremendous insight into customer expectations, perceptions and preferences. Organizations use these insights to design commercial offers, establis service standards and stake out competitive positions. Frontline service providers can be instrumental in the delivery of these offers, maintenance of these standards and overall competitive success. Frontline service providers, however, do not read the research and are not inspired by clinical insight. How, then, can “frontliners” be made to understand key research findings, and be supported to consistently perform necessary and appropriate actions. This interactive presentation explores two specific areas where frontline understanding and action are essential for organizational success and customer satisfaction:

1. Setting, Maintaining and Raising Service Standards, and
2. The Exercise of Empowerment in Service Recovery Situations.

Ron Kaufman brings 25 years of practical experience in frontline service training, coaching, and service culture implementation projects in Asia, the Middle East and the USA. He blends practical experience with a healthy respect for well-grounded academic research into this lively interactive presentation.

N Varaprasad (Dr)
Chief Executive
National Library Board
Singapore

“Gaining Mindshare and Timeshare: Marketing Public Libraries”

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This presentation provides a unique look at how the National Library Board successfully gained market share by redefining its market space and remaking the image of libraries and librarians. Libraries were repositioned to gain mindshare and timeshare among Singaporeans, competing against the cinema, TV, video games and other leisure activities, becoming the Third Place after home and work for many.