Current Topics in Service Operations Management Research

Transcription

1 Service Operations Research Seminar FSS 2017 (OPM 781) Current Topics in Service Operations Management Research General Information: 1. The goal of this seminar is to introduce participants to conducting scientific research. It thereby prepares students for writing their M.Sc./diploma thesis. The seminar is geared towards students intending to write their thesis at the Chair of Service Operations Management. 2. Each participant will explore one of the research topics listed below based on the fundamental literature provided. Each participant presents his/her findings in a written report (about 20 pages) as well as in an in class presentation (20 min + 10 min discussion). 3. Each participant also acts as a discussant for one of the other presentations. The discussant is responsible for critically assessing the presented work and for opening the ensuing discussion. 4. A kick off meeting for all participants will be held on December 8 th, 2016 at 10:15pm in SO318. During this meeting, general guidelines for conducting scientific work will be discussed. 5. The written reports have to be submitted electronically on CD and as a hard copy by Monday, April 24 th, 2017 at the chair. 6. Student presentations will be held on Wednesday, May 3 rd and/or May 10 th, 2017 during B2-B4 (exact dates and times tba). Attendance is mandatory. Presentation slides have to be submitted one day before the first presentation day no changes allowed afterwards. 7. The final grade for the seminar is composed of the following components: Written report (60%), presentation (30%), contribution to discussion (10%). 8. The report and the presentations can be delivered either in English or in German. 9. The application procedure for this seminar is combined with those for the seminars of the Chair of Production Management (OPM 761), the Chair of Logistics (OPM 701) and the Chair of Procurement (OPM 791). Students can apply for topics from all chairs by completing the online form. Topics labeled with L refer to the Chair of Logistics (OPM 701), topics labeled with P refer to the Chair of Production Management (OPM 761), topics labeled with B refer to the Chair of Procurement and topics labeled with S refer to the Chair of Service Operations Management (OPM 781). Applicants for OPM 781 must in addition send a CV and official grades overview by e mail to soma@mail.uni-mannheim.de with subject OPM 781 Seminar Application. Application deadline is November 28 th, Admission to the seminar is binding and will be confirmed by e mail on December 1 st, For questions concerning the seminar contact us by at soma@mail.uni-mannheim.de.

2 Seminar topics Topic S01: Railway Revenue Management considering Customer Choice Behavior Railway revenue management is concerned with optimal pricing and allocation of seat capacity in a railway network. Compared to airline revenue management, railway RM has received less attention in the literature although it is highly relevant in practice. In this seminar paper, first a literature review on optimization models in railway RM considering customer choice behavior should be provided. Then, the approach by Hetrakul and Cirillo (2014) should be discussed in detail. The authors estimate multinomial logit and latent class models to forecast ticket purchase timing of passenger railway, and then incorporate these choice models into a revenue optimization problem which jointly considers pricing and seat allocation. Hetrakul, P., and Cirillo, C. (2014): A latent class choice based model system for railway optimal pricing and seat allocation. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review 61, Topic S02: An Analytical Framework for Value Co-Production in Services Although services are often defined as co-productive of value, the concept of value is often difficult to measure. Yet measuring value is not necessarily a prerequisite for service process improvement. Karmarkar and Roels (2015) propose a general framework for the modeling and analysis of services with co-production. The framework identifies three major process stages: (i) the production stage, which involves co-production, (ii) the output sharing stage, and (iii) the consumption stage. Value realization and distribution depends on all three stages. Using this framework, the authors argue that process improvement efforts may often shift away from value measurement to focus on more actionable levers such as the co-production process, the rules of operation, and sharing rules. Furthermore, the framework is used to discuss a broader perspective on value measurement, the application of the gap quality model to co-productive process management, the distinction between products and services, and the impact of information and communication technologies on service processes. The goal of this thesis is to review and critically discuss the approach by Karmarkar and Roels (2015). Karmarkar, U. S., and Roels, G. (2015): An analytical framework for value co-production in services. Service Science 7(3),

3 Topic S03: Servitization - The impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance As manufacturing businesses operate in an ever more competitive, global economy where products are easily commoditized, innovating by adding services to the core product offering has become a popular strategy. Contrary to the economic benefits expected, recent findings of Kastalli and Van Looy (2013) pinpoint implementation hurdles that lead to a potential performance decline. The objective of this seminar thesis is to explain and critically discuss servitization strategies based on the empirical study by Kastalli and Van Looy (2013) and other findings from the related literature. Kastalli, I. V., and Van Looy, B. (2013): Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance. Journal of Operations Management 31(4), Topic S04: The potential of servicizing as a green business model It has been argued that servicizing business models, under which a firm sells the use of a product rather than the product itself, are environmentally beneficial. The main arguments are as follow. First, under servicizing the firm charges customers based on the product usage. Second, the quantity of products required to meet customer needs may be smaller because the firm may be able to pool customer needs. Third, the firm may have an incentive to offer products with higher efficiency. Motivated by these arguments, we investigate the economic and environmental potential of servicizing business models. Agrarwal and Bellos (2016) develop an analytical model to decide whether the firm should choose a pure sales business model, a pure servicizing business model, or a hybrid business model with both sales and servicizing options. The authors consider two extremes of pooling efficacy, i.e., no pooling versus strong pooling. They find that under no pooling servicizing leads to higher environmental impact due to production but lower environmental impact due to use. In contrast, under strong pooling, when a hybrid business model is more profitable, it is also environmentally superior. However, a pure servicizing model is environmentally inferior for high production costs because it leads to a larger production quantity even under strong pooling. The objective of the seminar paper is to review and critically discuss the approach of approach of Agrarwal and Bellos (2016). Agrawal, V. V., and Bellos, I. (2016): The potential of servicizing as a green business model. Management Science.

4 Topic S05: Railway re-scheduling a fast disturbance handling algorithm Railway schedules are well-planned for regular rail operations. Nevertheless, unpredictable disturbances happen. A fast rescheduling of the trains is needed especially in dense networks with high traffic flow. Törnquist (2012) presents a greedy algorithm which is capable of finding fast solutions for rescheduling trains. In the seminar thesis the algorithm and the way it works should be explained. Further a small example to illustrate the algorithm should be given. Törnquist Krasemann, J. (2012): Design of an effective algorithm for fast response to the rescheduling of railway traffic during disturbances. Transportation Research Part C 20, Topic S06: Duration of Waiting Time in Queuing Systems: Bridging the Gap between Psychology and Optimization In services, when we model a process as a queuing network, customer waiting is captured as a cost function increasing in waiting time. However, this assumption is challenged by the developments in behavioral sciences (BS) through empirical studies with actual customers waiting. Transformation of results from behavioral studies into mathematical formulations is a difficult task. However, specifications of cost functions (waiting time) in mathematical models as realistically as possible can establish a connection between behavioral literature and OR (OM). The duration of service encounter may affect behaviors and hence profitability both positively (in services, like massage and tennis lessons) and negatively (in services like retail store queues). The objective of this thesis is to (1) review recent developments in BS related to duration of service encounter, (2) provide a theoretical analysis how these developments can be adopted by OR (OM), (3) analyze how findings from BS can contribute to design and delivery of services, and (4) understand how the duration of a service encounter can lead to behaviors that have been shown to affect profitability. Bitran, G. R., Ferrer, J. C., and Oliveira, P. R. (2008): Managing Customer Experiences: Perspectives on the Temporal Aspects of Service Encounters. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 10(1),

5 Topic S07: Optimal Process Design Every company that is offering products or services needs to manage the underlying processes. On the one side a graphical visualization can help to understand the complex process architecture, find problems or errors in the design, and communicate the offering to other people inside or outside the company. On the other side techniques like optimization might help to align the right process configuration with customer expectations. While literature on the first mentioned technique is widespread, only a few optimization models consider processes at least to some extent. Those models are very specific with regard to the way they include the process perspective (e.g. through detailed schedules or the construct of operating difficulty). A generic approach is still missing. The following thesis should present an overview of different alternatives to improve or optimize a company s offering. Each alternative should be evaluated regarding its applicability to products and services. A special priority should be set on the integration of processes in optimization models. Because no tool is able to consider processes on a generic level yet, those tools that consider processes from a different perspective should be critically reviewed. Sampson, S. E. (2012): Visualizing Service Operations. Journal of Service Research 15 (2), Verma, R., G. Thompson, W. L. Moore, and J. J. Louviere (2001): Effective design of products/services: an approach based on integration of marketing and operations management decisions. Decision Sciences 32 (1), Topic S08: Temporal Aspects of Service Design The effect of the sequence of pleasure and pain on the customers service experience has been investigated in several academic disciplines. Specifically, past research from psychology, behavioral economics, and other related fields suggests that the sequence effect can significantly impact a customer's overall impression of a service interaction. If the relative importance of the sequence effect for discrete bundles is known, a service designer can optimize and develop a better sequence of interactions for the customers, leading to higher satisfaction, loyalty, and repurchase. An interesting study in this field has been done by Dixon and Verma in Based on the analysis of an extensive multi-year ticket purchase database, they developed and tested econometric models to predict season ticket subscription repurchase. This seminar thesis should explain the findings from Dixon and Verma and contrast it to other related articles in this field. The overall goal is to present a structured overview of the impact of temporal aspects on service design and to collect ideas for future research in this field. Dixon, M., & Verma, R. (2013): Sequence Effects in Service Bundles: Implications for Service Design and Scheduling. Journal of Operations Management 31 (3), Bolton, R. N., Lemon, K. N., and Bramlett, M. D. (2006): The effect of service experiences over time on a supplier's retention of business customers. Management Science 52(12),

6 Topic S09: Customer-based Service Design On the Impact of Customer Satisfaction on the Customer Service-Provider Relationship The impact of customer satisfaction on length and quality of the customer-company-relationship is a fundamental research topic in the field of relationship marketing. However, related empirical findings have hardly been incorporated into normative optimization models for service design. With a profound understanding of the satisfaction dynamics a service designer can take specific actions to increase retention and profitability in the long-run. This seminar thesis should first review the empirical literature on dynamic relationship modeling, in particular the work of Ruth Bolton. In a second step, it should discuss how these empirical insights could be systematically incorporated into normative optimization models for service design. The thesis should conclude by deriving implications for future research. Bolton, R. N. (1998): A dynamic model of the duration of the customer's relationship with a continuous service provider: The role of satisfaction. Marketing science 17(1), Bolton, R. N., and Lemon, K. N. (1999): A dynamic model of customers' usage of services: Usage as an antecedent and consequence of satisfaction. Journal of marketing research Topic S10: Considering Customers Experiencing and Remembering Self in Service Design To properly design and improve a service, knowledge about customers perception of the service is crucial. A promising approach to better understand customers perceptions was developed by Kahneman. He distinguishes between two perspective the experiencing self and the remembering self. In the first perspective, a customer evaluates a certain situation while he is experiencing it. In the second perspective, he evaluates it after the situation is over, focusing more on the overall evaluation than on certain ups or downs. Kahneman s research is located in the area of psychology having a very broad focus of applications. Thus, this seminar thesis should explain the concept of Kahneman and transfer it in the context of service design. Key questions to be answered are: How can the concept be incorporated into normative optimization approaches to service design? What alternative or extended concepts have been developed in the past two decades? What is the current state of research in these areas and what are potentials topics for future research? Kahneman, D. (2011): Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan. Fredrickson, B. L., and Kahneman, D. (1993): Duration neglect in retrospective evaluations of affective episodes. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology 65(1),