Service Science—A Japanese Perspective: Pitfalls and Opportunities

Abstract

SUMMARY Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) has become a hot issue in Science and Engineering Communities in Japan, however, there are discrepancies on what is and how to do SSME. Typical example can be found that those who claim practitioners in SSME in Japan are not in Science and Engineering community but in Management of Enterprises and of Technology. I will point out some pitfalls in SSME in Japan, and explore how to avoid them and also try to depict a few unique opportunities in SSME in Japan. The pitfalls discussed are: lack of clear goals of SSME, lack of leading figures of SSME, lack of focused customer of SSME, lack of agreed government role in SSME, and the obscure relationship between innovation and SSME. Traditional Japanese superb service and ecosystem are listed in unique opportunities. (Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article is of author's personal account and does not reflect any organization’s positions that the author is and was engaged with.) INTRODUCTION Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) has become a hot issue in Science and Engineering Communities in Japan [1,2,3], although those who claim to be practitioners of SSME in Japan are mostly in Management of Enterprise and of Technology. This is a typical picture of discrepancy and show a pitfall on “Service Science in Japan.” In this paper, I will point out some pitfalls in SSME in Japan that may hinder or may even do harm on the proper development of SSME. Then I will explore how to avoid these pitfalls and also try to depict a few unique opportunities in Japan. PITFALLS OF SSME IN JAPAN In any new discipline, there will be and should be pitfalls. SSME is no exception, and we need not regret about the situation. What we need to do is to see straight these pitfalls and understand them so that we can avoid them for further development of SSME. Let us discuss the following pitfalls: Goals of SSME In general, goals of a branch of science can be diversified depending on the individual who commit the science. However, too broad diversion is observed in the goals of SSME in Japan. For example, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) set up a committee for SSME in fiscal year 2006, whose main target is an innovation of traditional service industry with IT employment. An officer at Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEX) expressed his view that if SSME is just for traditional service sector (or so-called third group Industry), it would be nothing for science. A quite opposite view against METI’s. In a symposium on SSME in 2005, a voice in floor expressed that the most concern in SSME is the traditional Japanese view that the service is free of charge. His concern is that no science/technology can be developed if the