Service Operational Efficiency Research Articles

Integrating Enterprise Architecture into Intelligent Transportation System: A Step Towards Sustainable Mobility

As a strategic step toward sustainable mobility, this study examines the integration of Enterprise Architecture (EA) into an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) utilizing the TOGAF framework (The Open Group Architecture Framework). Given the escalating intricacy of the transportation system, the primary emphasis is on the synergy between ITS and EA, which is organized and structured using TOGAF. This study aims to determine how the TOGAF framework can aid in developing a more sustainable and efficient transportation system by facilitating the integration of EA and ITS. This methodology is grounded in qualitative analysis, particularly an exhaustive review of the relevant literature. This literature review identifies current trends and best practices regarding applying TOGAF for EA integration in ITS. Research shows that transportation service operational efficiency and effectiveness are enhanced when EA and ITS are integrated using TOGAF, improving coordination, resource management, and strategic decision-making. This, in turn, supports sustainable mobility.

Efficiency measurement and spatial spillover effect of provincial health systems in China: Based on the two-stage network DEA model.

The effectiveness of a health care system is an important factor for improving people's health and quality of life. The purpose of this research is to analyze the efficiency and spatial spillover effects of provincial health systems in China using panel data from 2009 to 2020. We employ the two-stage network DEA model to evaluate their efficiencies and use a spatial econometric model for empirical estimation. The results suggest that the overall efficiency, resource allocation efficiency, and service operation efficiency of health systems in different regions of China generally have fluctuating upward trends, with large differences in efficiency among the various regions. Further analysis reveals that the efficiency of China's health system has a significant spatial spillover effect. The level of economic development, fiscal decentralization and old-age dependency ratio are important factors affecting the health system efficiency. Our findings help to identify the efficiency and internal operating mechanisms of China's health system at different stages, and are expected to contribute to policymakers' efforts to build a high-quality health service system.

Public service operational efficiency and blockchain – A case study of Companies House, UK

Despite the increasing interest and exploration of the use of blockchain technology in public service organisations (PSOs), academic understanding of its transformative impact on the operational excellence of PSOs remains limited. This study adopts an action design science research methodology to develop a proof of concept (POC) blockchain based application for Companies House, a government agency that is registering companies across UK. The application addresses the operational challenges of Companies House as well as issues citizens face when accessing its services. We draw from the public value framework proposed by Twizeyimana and Andersson (2019) and demonstrate the significance of the emerging blockchain technology in relation to their democratic practices based on six dimensions. We further discuss the related challenges and barriers for its implementation and evaluate the POC with the stakeholders of Companies House. We also present an illustrative case study, where we explored the appropriateness of the POC in relation to the draft legislation, “Registration of Overseas Entities and Beneficial Owners” (ROEBO) bill which proposes the introduction of a register of the beneficial owners of overseas legal entities that own real estate in the UK. Our research is one of the few studies that will provide in-depth empirical insights about the relationship between blockchain and operational excellence of PSOs.

A Collaborative Task Offloading Framework for Smart TV Applications in a Household Computing Environment

Smart TV can perform interactive computing while also providing video content services. However, this leads to a high delay during interactive computing because of the lack of computing capability, thus smart TVs are unable to undertake large scenes and complex interactive computing tasks. This article proposes a collaborative task offloading framework (CTOF) for interactive computing of smart TV video applications. The main contributions of this article are as follows: 1) a computing offloading mechanism is proposed for interactive computing with video content. A part of the interactive computing task is offloaded to the user’s high-computing mobile device in a household video service environment via a Wi-Fi Direct channel and 2) a collaborative computing offloading algorithm is proposed for complex interactive computing tasks. According to the computing complexity and the computing expansion coefficient, a parallel and serial collaborative smart offloading framework is established to minimize the delay. We conduct extensive experiments to indicate that in the existing experimental network environment, the video-based complex interactive service operation efficiency is improved by 20%. With a smart offloading framework, we can further achieve a satisfactory experience in terms of the interactive computing delay. Consequently, the smart TV can quickly respond to the complex video interactive service and improve the business interaction capability of the smart TV.

Novel Service Efficiency Evaluation and Management Model

Numerous scholars have invested in the research of service innovation management, hoping to find a more objective and scientific service efficiency evaluation and management model so as to stride forward towards the goal of smart innovation management. In the service operating system, the multi-workstation service operation is one of the common service operation models. Some studies have pointed out: apart from a good service attitude, the service operation time of each workstation is a key factor which measures the performance of the workstation’s service operation. Therefore, this paper proposed a standardized concept with a service operation efficiency evaluation index. This index is not only convenient and easy-to-use, but it also has a one-to-one mathematical relationship with the performance achievement rate. Next, the radar evaluation chart was employed to evaluate the service efficiency of each workstation. First, according to the upper confidence limit and the required value of the index, the minimum value (MV) of the index estimator was derived and marked on each radar line; at the same time, all MVs were connected to form a control block. When the point estimate of the index does not fall into the control block of the radar chart, it represents that the service operation efficiency of the workstation has not reached the required level, so it needs to be improved. Because this model can directly compare the point estimate of the index with the MV, it can judge whether the service operation efficiency reaches the required level. In this way, the advantage of simple and easy-to-use point estimate can be maintained, and the risk of misjudgment caused by sampling errors can be reduced as well, which is helpful for the service industry to move towards the goal of intelligent innovation management. This method is not only applied to the performance evaluation of the multi-workstation service operation process but also applicable to the performance evaluations of other service operations.

Matching as Service Provision of Sharing Economy Platforms: An Information Processing Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the sharing economy (SE) manages its matching service through the development of specific information processing mechanisms to achieve enhanced service performance. Two game theory models are established to reveal the underline mechanism of how SE platforms design and improve their service operations through matching the information-processing capacities (IPC) with the changing information-processing requirements (IPR). The findings show that under different combinations of IPR and IPC, SE falls into four kinds of match zones. The study further identified that pricing strategy and trust building are two initial strategies to increase SE platforms’ IPR, which starts up service operation. And supply chain structure change and information technology are essential to improve firms’ IPC, which increases service operation efficiency. The findings are further demonstrated and verified through a longitudinal case study. This research provides guidance for practitioners to identify the position of a SE platform through evaluating the company's information processing capabilities and suggests what information processing strategies should be deployed and implemented for specific supply chains. This is one of the first studies theoretically explains and empirically demonstrates how specific information processing mechanisms can be gainfully aligned with different statuses of SE platforms. Doing so, it reinforces the conceptual foundation that SE firms should align and leverage on information capability management to achieve operation effectiveness and efficiency in service management.

The Psychology of Queuing for Self-Service: Reciprocity and Social Pressure

Many services are provided in the form of self-service. In self-service, customers simultaneously become the sole producer and a consumer of a service. Using a scenario-based experiment, we examine the psychology of queuing for self-service, and how inter-customer interaction affects service operation efficiency. We assumed that customers could decide how long they would use a service, and that length of usage increases the value of the service, such as in experience stores where customers try out newly released electronic products. Subjects decide how long they will use a service under different conditions of waiting time and social pressure. We found that generalized reciprocity influenced decisions on service time. Customers who had waited for service for long time chose to use the service for long time when it became their turn, and vice versa—subjects reciprocated the previous customer’s service usage behavior. We also show that the presence of social pressure affects customers’ service usage behavior. Under social pressure, customers tend to reciprocate the negative behavior of a previous customer less.

Applying the Service-Profit Chain to Internet Service Businesses

Service-profit chain (SPC) is a powerful tool for evaluating the relationship between the degree of service effort and profit. This framework has been empirically tested in the banking, hospital, retail, and other brick and mortar service verticals. This paper extends the applicability of SPC to Internet-based businesses. The paper also investigates the moderating roles of customer satisfaction and advertising spending on the service operation efficiency (SOE) and profit relationship. Analysis of U.S. Internet service providers during a seven year period from 2000 to 2006 indicates that service operations efficiency is positively associated with a firm’s profit. However, the customer satisfaction and adver-tising spending constructs are negative moderators of the relationship between service operations efficiency and profit.

A Pre-Post Comparison of Service Operational Efficiency and Patient Satisfaction Under Open Access Scheduling

Three benefits of Open Access scheduling are tested pre- and postimplementation. Open Access improved operational efficiency, decreased number of days between appointment scheduling and being seen by a physician, and allowed more patients to see their primary care physician. Finally, results indicated that there was no significant difference in patient satisfaction.