Title: Identifying product and process configuration requirements in a decentralised service delivery system

Authors: Henri Karppinen; Kaisa Seppänen; Janne Huiskonen

Addresses: Department of Industrial Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FI-53851 Lappeenranta, Finland ' Department of Industrial Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FI-53851 Lappeenranta, Finland ' Department of Industrial Management, Supply Chain and Operations Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FI-53851 Lappeenranta, Finland

Abstract: Designing new service solutions and improving the performance of existing ones have always played a central role in service management. In order to maintain the capability to create innovative solutions, a necessary step is to extend the closed management models towards understanding the systemic nature of services and how systemic characteristics affect service operations management. The main purpose of the study is to identify system characteristics in a service delivery system and to find out how they affect the product and process configurations on the operational level. The main contribution of the study is providing new insight into product and process configurations and how these static artefacts require dynamic information in order to work properly. The results are based on an empirical case study in a decentralised healthcare service delivery system. The practical and future research implications aim at adding systems thinking into service system research and service operations management.

Keywords: service products; service process; product configurations; process configuration; decentralised production; healthcare services; decentralised services; service delivery; service operations management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2014.059561

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2014 Vol.17 No.3, pp.294 - 310

Published online: 17 Jun 2014 *

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