Phases Of Service Development Research Articles

Service Providers' Perspectives of an Integrated Community Mental Health Service in the UK.

This qualitative service evaluation aims to provide in-depth insights of service providers' perspectives of a new integrated community mental health service piloted in one NHS Integrated Care Board locality in South West England, UK, considering to what extent the service is meeting the mental health support needs of adults who are in between primary and secondary care services. In total, 21 semi-structured remote interviews were carried out in June-August 2023 with service providers and lived experience representatives. The evaluation was carried out through a researcher in residence -placement. Qualitative analysis drew on framework and thematic analysis, which was completed using Nvivo 20. Thematic analysis drew on a framework of context, mechanisms and intended or unintended consequences. These showed that service providers' positive expectations of the service were undermined by insufficient integration, which was evident from the imbalances in information flow and presence of pre-existing provider specific practices. The evaluation found several improvement opportunities: a need for deepening integration beyond the initial service development phase; aligning working practices with service delivery aims and ensuring that new services are not rolled out prematurely before service delivery practices have been fully developed.

Developing a local service to improve the provision of palliative care to people who use substances

AimsTo develop a new service model that engages and improves the provision of palliative care to PWUS.BackgroundAlthough people who use substances (PWUS) continue to die prematurely compared to the general population, they are now more likely to die from chronic diseases rather than from drug-related deaths. Challenges to providing palliative care to PWUS include delayed care-seeking behaviours, complex drug interactions and lack of healthcare provider experience.MethodAn informal factorial analysis elucidated population needs through: a review of local databases to estimate the prevalence of palliative need, a thematic review into the deaths of patients in specialist drug services and, a survey of health practitioners’ knowledge and attitudes. These informed the service development phase which involves three key components: 1. A systems approach to increasing patient identification, incorporating key multi-disciplinary stakeholders across hospital- and community-based care 2. Targeted training of healthcare providers and 3. Medicines management for symptom palliation amidst concurrent substance use (including substitution treatments).ResultThe palliative needs of PWUS are under-identified: the local substance service was not partaking in the palliative referral pathway. Only 7% of a local hospice's annual caseload was recognised as having substance use problems. The care pathway was described as fragmented. Although >80% of surveyed palliative care practitioners had experienced caring for PWUS, confidence and knowledge around managing withdrawal, pain and opioid substitution therapies was poor.ConclusionA new pathway is designed to identify PWUS and in their last year of life at key treatment points e.g., accident and emergency, ward-based care. The pathway will then streamline referrals to relevant specialist services depending on complexity of palliative/dependency need. Teaching resources and prescribing guidelines have been developed in collaboration with secondary care pain specialists.

Use of Social Media for New Service Development by Finnish Event and Festival Organizers

This article explores how event and festival (EF) managers use social media in new service development (NSD), in what phases of NSD consumers are involved, and in what way the customer contributions are used in order to influence the different phases of service development. The empirical data for the study were collected by electronic survey from Finnish cultural and sports EF organizers, and complemented with phone interviews. The study revealed that Finnish EFs use the most common social media tools in everyday operations, particularly for marketing purposes. They have recognized the possibilities to use social media in NSD and have also acknowledged the benefits customer involvement in NSD can bring. Most commonly, customers are involved in the first and final stages of the NSD process. Constraints for web-based NSD was also found. This study brings information about the possibilities of social media in NSD in EF context that may help the organizers and developers to plan and develop the management strategies. Results also show that in the future there may be demand for additional training for EF organizers related to the usage of social media. This study also has limitations. The response rate was rather low, and larger samples should be used in the future. It would also be useful to interview diverse EFs using social media in NSD purposes in the future. The study was conducted only in Finland and thus the results cannot be internationally generalized.

Portfolios of control in mobile eco-systems: evolution and validation

Purpose– This paper aims to study the critical role played by interorganizational control mechanisms in a mobile ecosystems and how the portfolios of control evolves when the service moves from an initial idea to a solution that reaches market acceptance. Existing literature provides limited insight into (portfolios of) control mechanisms and how (portfolios of) control dynamically evolve(s) during the various stages of service innovation.Design/methodology/approach– Based on the Resource Dependency Theory (RDT), this study makes use of multiple cases to identify and validate the key roles of behavioural input and output control mechanisms and how they evolve during different phases of service development.Findings– Based on multiple cases, it is concluded that a dominant actor uses portfolios of control to acquire complimentary resources, coordinate interdependence between multiple partners and ensure a favourable value distribution for itself. Behavioural control is used in a limited way during the implementation and commercialisation phases, while input control is mostly used during the development phase and output controls are mostly used during implementation and commercialisation phases. The high occurrence of input control in the development phase ensures the lower occurrence of behavioural controls in the implementation phase. This study is very practical in nature, and it provides important insight on how to develop mobile services in collaboration with other organisations.Research limitations/implications– A limitation of this study is that it is based on two cases in a specific regulatory, cultural and institutional environment, i.e. India, which means that further testing of the propositions, with large-scale samples and within a more international setting, would be required. However, this study does provide some interesting insights that have to be corroborated by additional case studies and a large-scale questionnaire, initially with a focus on India.Originality/value– From an academic perspective, this study examines organisational controls in a less researched yet dynamic services industry, and is one of the first studies that the researchers have come across that uses RDT to explain the dynamics of control in value networks in the mobile industry. This study is also one of the very few to focus on understanding the objectives of the portfolios of control from the perspective of the structural player. As mentioned earlier, research focussing on integrating governance mechanisms and portfolios of control may provide new insights. From a practical perspective, this study may shed light on how to develop mobile services in collaboration with other organisations.

Applying geo-social networking and the theory of inventive problem-solving in service innovation and evaluation

Dramatic changes in the social economic environment have made companies place more emphasis on integrating social media into their overall marketing strategy. Many features of social media commerce will be developed as tactics to implement social network marketing strategy. Enterprises increasingly need to develop an innovative and effective approach to social media in order to be competitive. With the right new service development phase, companies can gain competitive advantage in service-driven markets. The present study aims to refine a multi-service design for the case study company – MOS Burger. It examines the implementation of a new geo-social networking solution, and the application of the theory of inventive problem-solving (TRIZ). In the problem definition stage, the research analyzes the problems faced by the enterprise. In the service resolution stage, the contradiction analysis and 40 inventive principles are used to examine the prior process of ordering meals, to establish the principles for problem resolution. In the solution evaluation stage, new geo-social network solutions, MOS-Wish and MOS-Order mobile Apps, are proposed using the principles generated in the second stage. This study also evaluates service performance to compare the efficiency of prior model and new model of ordering and interaction with clients.

A universal enterprise manufacturing services maturity model: a case study in a Chinese company

As the profits of manufacturing enterprises come under ever increasing pressure, the transformation of the enterprise development mode becomes urgent. The implementation of modern manufacturing services (MMS) helps to improve an enterprise's profits and enhance its competitiveness and has become one of the best ways to transform and upgrade enterprises. The implementation of MMS needs a methodology to guide evaluation of an enterprise's current service development phase and level. In this article, first a universal Enterprise Manufacturing Service Maturity Model (EMSMM) was proposed, which contains four service phases and two service levels. Second, a building methodology for the EMSMM for a specific industry was put forward. Third, an evaluation methodology for enterprise MMS phases and levels was provided. Finally, the adoption of these methods by a Chinese manufacturing enterprise was described. The results show that the EMSMM can provide effective scientific decision-making for an enterprise's current service development phase and level.

A proposal for a structured approach for cross-company teamwork: a case study of involving the customer in service innovation

This paper outlines the results of a project aiming to develop and apply methods for service co-creation with customers, focusing on the early phases of service development. The project is collaboration between a manufacturing firm in the automotive industry, one of their B2B-customers (a transportation firm), as well as a university, all in Sweden. The research team selected and developed methods and work practices for problem analysis, idea generation, development and evaluation of services. Thus doing, methodological influence was taken from the area of engineering design. The proposed approaches were applied in a service development experiment mainly based on workshops. The experiment was followed up by an analysis of the resulting output, an interview series, and an evaluation by peers in focus groups. The goal of this article is to answer the following research questions: (1) What is the industrial applicability of co-creating services using a structured approach, e.g. what are the benefits and challenges? (2) What do the different actors contribute with using this approach, and what possible factors influence the nature and quality of the actors’ contributions? (3) Based on the answers to the questions above, what aspects should be considered to support situated planning and execution of future service co-creation projects? A central conclusion is that a structured approach is industrially applicable, but it is also evident that there is no completely universal recipe for service innovation. Addressing these insights, the paper also contributes with guidelines to support the situation-adapted set-up of future service co-creation projects.

Business models dynamics for start-ups and innovating e-businesses

As technology, market and regulation conditions change rapidly, e-business companies frequently have to reinvent their business models. This paper examines which external drivers are most decisive in changing business models during the phases of service development, roll-out and commercialisation. After a qualitative study, 45 longitudinal case descriptions were surveyed on the business model dynamics of start-up and established e-business companies. Technology and market forces turned out to be more decisive, while regulation plays only a minor role. While external drivers are moderately important over time for established companies, their impact on start-up business models is largest during service development and it fades over time.

Accurate modelling of Ka-band videoconferencing systems based on the quality of experience

Ka-band satellite multimedia communication networks play important roles because of their capability to provide the required bandwidth in remote places of the globe. However, because of design complexity, in practice they suffer from poor design and performance degradation because of being practically forced to guarantee acceptable end-user satisfaction in conditions of extremely low bit error rates, which is emphasised with the vulnerability of compressed video content to transmission errors, often impossible to be applied during the service development phase. A novel discrete event simulation model is presented, which provides performance estimation for such systems based on subjective measurement and a better quality of experience. The authors show that the proposed model reduces implementation cost and is flexible to be used for different network topologies around the globe.

High‐Technology Service Innovation Success: A Decision‐Making Perspective

Successful innovation is crucial for firm survival in high‐technology service industries. This article reports on an empirical study, exploring internal innovation success factors—success factors associated with the innovating firm's competencies—by taking a decision‐making perspective. The likelihood of innovation success is associated with the systematic reduction of decision‐making uncertainty, as a result of organizational information gathering, diffusion, and processing activities. Effects of interfirm differences are investigated in the new service development phase of the innovation process. Cross‐sectional data were collected about 251 innovation projects from companies in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Innovation success is found to be related positively and directly to how well informed and knowledgeable decision‐makers are. Furthermore, the study provides evidence that a market orientation contributes as an internal success factor: An organizational climate favorable to information sharing powerfully mediates the positive effects of intelligence gathering with respect to customers and technology. The effects of competitor orientation carry a negative sign, and managerial seniority appears not to play a major role in this turbulent business. Managerial and research implications are provided.