Define service response logistics and describe the important elements.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Service response logistics is defined as the management and coordination of the organization's activities that occur while the service is being performed. The four primary activities of concern in service response logistics are the management of service capacity, waiting times, distribution channels, and service quality.Mgt. of service capacity: Service capacity is defined as the number of customers per day the firm's service delivery systems are designed to serve. Most services desire to operate with some excess capacity, to reduce the likelihood of having queues and long waiting times develop.Mgt. of waiting times: Queue times are frequently encountered every day by consumers including waiting at checkout counters, waiting for a table at a restaurant, and waiting on hold on the cellphone. Managers use information they have about their customers as well as their service employees to design adequate queuing systems and then couple this with management of customers' perceived waiting times to minimize the negative impact of waiting in line.Mgt. of distribution channels: Distribution channels determine how a service can deliver their services and products to customers. Many of the distribution alternatives are the traditional ones everyone is used to seeing; however, services today are experimenting with other, nontraditional distribution channels as customer preferences and habits, demographics, technology, and competition change. Some distribution channels have revolutionized the way services do business. For instance, ATMs, debit cards, and the Internet have completely changed the financial services industry; many customers almost never set foot inside a bank or stockbroker's office. Today, many people have come to expect these things, and services have responded.Mgt. of service quality: For services, quality occurs during the service delivery process and typically involves interactions between a customer and service company personnel. In other words, service quality is closely tied to customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction with the service depends not only on the ability of the firm to deliver what customers want, but also on the customers' perceptions of the quality of service received. When customer expectations are met or exceeded, the service is deemed to possess high quality, and when expectations are not met, the perception of quality is poor (recall Maister's first law of service). Thus, service quality is highly dependent upon the ability of the firm's employees and service systems to meet or exceed customers' varying expectations.