Title: Extending the range of service facilities

Authors: Markku Tinnilä; Jukka Kallio; Mika Raulas; Ari Vepsäläinen

Addresses: Department of Information and Service Economy, Aalto University School of Business, Runeberginkatu 22-24, Helsinki, Finland ' Department of Information and Service Economy, Aalto University School of Business, Runeberginkatu 22-24, Helsinki, Finland ' Department of Information and Service Economy, Aalto University School of Business, Runeberginkatu 22-24, Helsinki, Finland ' Department of Information and Service Economy, Aalto University School of Business, Runeberginkatu 22-24, Helsinki, Finland

Abstract: The need to understand how different types of service facilities and resources are best directed to cater for various regular and contingent service requirements has been addressed in a number of service facility classifications. These suggest what type of a channel or service constellation best matches a more or less complex service activity. With the development of technology and changing social behaviour, improved opportunities to harness social networking resources, as well as, the resources and institutions for effective service provision, need to be understood in a broader context. For this, we suggest a classification of service facilities that takes into account both traditional service encounters, as well as, agents, specialists and internal service resources. This paper focuses on service facilities, and particularly on the extension of their range by a literature review, identification of gaps and proposing an extension to their range.

Keywords: service facility; service strategy; servicescape; service factory; service measurement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2017.086309

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2017 Vol.28 No.2, pp.185 - 203

Received: 05 Nov 2015
Accepted: 31 Jan 2016
Published online: 04 Sep 2017 *

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