Title: Service failure, recovery and improvement: the case of a Chinese restaurant

Authors: Zheng Cao, David Robb, Qiang Lu

Addresses: Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. ' School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R. China. ' Shenzhen Graduate School, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China

Abstract: When service organisations experience situations of service failure, they respond with a service recovery effort, attempting to convert a disgruntled customer into a satisfied one and increase the likelihood of repurchase. An effective service recovery system has become a competitive advantage to most service organisations. However, many service organisations have failed to exploit the opportunities for process improvement afforded by service recovery. Exploiting a case study methodology with multiple perspectives and data sources in a typical Chinese restaurant, this paper provides a more holistic view of service recovery. We demonstrate that opportunity costs affect service provision and that customer input should be obtained for process improvements. We provide a framework illustrating a systematic approach to process improvement.

Keywords: service failure; service recovery; process improvement; Chinese restaurants; opportunity costs; customer input.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2008.016612

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2008 Vol.4 No.2, pp.218 - 242

Published online: 11 Jan 2008 *

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