Service Spotlights
Toward an Agile IT Service Management Framework (p. 263)
Agile methods are more and more often applied in information technology (IT) organizations. However, this is not the case in the scope of the IT operations management. Indeed, the existing methods and frameworks are largely process-oriented and focus on the control and respect of the initial commitments. In this paper, the authors study this situation, its causes, and consequences. The main contribution resulting from this analysis is to shape a new IT service management (ITSM) framework. This Agile ITSM framework opens new opportunities for creating new generation methods and solutions for managing the IT operations. In the future, one can expect that they will be fully aligned with agile project management methods and existing agile IT components (e.g., cloud resources or web services). Based on these observations, one can assume that IT organizations willing to become fully agile succeed to do it and fully benefit from the advantages offered by the Agile theory and methods.
Value-Driven Strategic Sourcing Based on Service-Dominant Logic (p. 275)
Currently, procurement is approached as a tactical process focused on spend management. The aim of this process is the identification of cost savings. A new paradigm of procurement is emerging that recognizes procurement as a value-creation practice. This paradigm, referred to as value-driven strategic sourcing, lacks instruments for implementation. This paper presents a new conceptual modeling approach for exploring and evaluating sourcing alternatives that is based on a systemic view of value cocreation. The approach, called CARS (which stands for capability, actor, resource, and service), is the result of a design science research project. The paper presents the underlying conceptualization of CARS, which was constructed through a mapping between service ecosystem concepts grounded in service-dominant logic and the viable system approach and strategic sourcing concepts derived from the resource-based view theory of competitive advantage, the dynamic capability theory, and the relational view theory of cooperation and competition. Apart from presenting the theoretical foundation of CARS, the authors also demonstrate how a model-based approach based on CARS helps in implementing value-driven strategic sourcing through a case study of sustainable procurement in a global materials technology company. The case study provides a proof of concept of the potential utility of the approach as it addresses specific problems with the company’s current procurement practices.
A Discrete Event Model of Viability Building in a Public University Organization (p. 288)
In the context of globalization, public universities as providers of education and academic research must remain viable and create value, while being confronted with diminishing state capabilities to sustain higher education costs, competition in the higher education international market, and accelerating dynamics in the labor market. Management of a generic public university builds external relations and interacts with the authorities, public or private companies, and candidates and other universities, while its main internal relations are built with its teachers, researchers, and students. Various events occur in these interactions, and disturbances may become sources of innovation. This managerial decision-making and problem-solving road mapߞtargeting university viabilityߞis described in this article by an event-driven metamodel. An example concerning the creation of a new master program is discussed as an instance of the metamodel. The metamodel is adaptable to particular management situations in specific public universities, with preservation of its viability maintenance goal, and with resulting model instancesߞsimilar to business processesߞimplemented and tested in process simulation tools. In addition, the model may help authorities refine their academic evaluation criteria and higher education policies..
Enhancing the Design and Management of the Product-Service System Supply Chain: An Application to the Automotive Sector (p. 302)
The proper design and management of product-service system (PSS) supply chains is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of servitised business models. As underlined by empirical evidence, research on how different types of PSS offerings affect the design and management of the upstream supply chain of PSS providers still appears to be lagging. Therefore, this paper introduces a theoretical explanatory conceptual framework derived from a literature analysis and further developed by four case studies from the automotive sector, which highlight the linkages between the value proposition and supply chain of PSS providers. The results are summarised into 11 propositions that underline the key roles and capabilities that bridge PSS offering features with distinctive characteristics of the PSS supply chain. They also show specific patterns of partnersߣ relationships and organisational configurations that can be identified during the servitisation transformation.
Exploring Online Travel Reviews Using Data Analytics: An Exploratory Study (p. 315)
The information provided by online traveler reviews is becoming a key element in the decision-making process of hotel customers, reducing the uncertainty and the perceived risk of a traveler. Therefore, a careful analysis of the content provided by online customerߣs reviews might give invaluable information concerning the key determinantsߞfrom a userߣs perspectiveߞof the quality of the service provided, justifying the attributed serviceߣs rating. In this article, the authors use text mining techniques to analyze user-generated content automatically collected from hotels in Porto, Portugal, to derive the most frequent terms used to describe the service, and predict the aggregated rating assigned by reviewers based on the terms used. In addition, they can identify the terms that have high predictive capacity. Specifically, the authors find that terms linked to the facilities, staff, price, and location are the ones most frequently addressed by TripAdvisor users in online reviews. The prediction model can predict the rating class assigned by guests with an average accuracy of about 60%. The insight for management is as follows: text and data mining tools enable automatic exploration of the wealth of information provided by user-generated content to identify key topics and concerns behind customer perceptions.
An Optimization Web Service for a Freight Brokering System (p. 324)
Freight brokering is an important real-life problem, in which the goal is to properly connect clients who own merchandise that need to be transported to different locations with transport providers that can ship orders according to client needs and specifications. Currently, there are several public directories that list orders and transport opportunities to facilitate matchmaking, but this is mainly a human-driven process, which may be prone to human error. The authors present a general architecture of an automated freight brokering system, which combines web services and agents. The central component of the system is an automated optimization service, which eliminates the need for human matchmaking and can improve the speed and suitability of the solutions. The insight for management is as follows: an automated freight brokering system has a high level of market utility by increasing the quality of provided services and by reducing costs.
Recommending Products and Services Belonging to Online Businesses Using Intelligent Agents (p. 338)
A sure method for a business to increase revenue is to expand its customer base to sell more products. The authors propose a recommendation-based system composed of multiple online businesses that share information regarding customer purchases while taking into account user privacy. The product and service recommendations depend on other usersߣ purchasing patterns and also on the different product types and quantities sold by the businesses that are part of the system. For example, when purchasing a vacation, the customer may receive recommendations from other businesses in the system for a car rental service, a hotel, a restaurant, or a travel guide. The proposed solution can be easily put into practice, especially if a correlation can be made among the products and the services that are offered by the different online businesses in the system. The insight for management is as follows: an increase in revenue and a better customer experience is achieved if businesses recommend each other's products and services that are relevant to each user purchase.
