Strategies For Service Provision Research Articles

Service Provision Strategies and Performance of Cleaning Organizations in Embu County, Kenya

The business world of the twenty-first century is defined by rapid and significant changes in market trends, technological advancements, globalization, as well as a change in consumer needs and preferences. Consequently, the changes in the business environment, have forced organizations’ management to realize that the current strategies are ineffective and thus the need for new effective strategies in response to the changing environment. This study sought to examine the influence of service provision strategies on performance of cleaning services organizations in Embu County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the resource-based view, Porter’s generic strategies model and the expectancy disconfirmation theories. The study adopted a descriptive research design and purposive sampling to get the sample size. The research employed primary data which was collected through the use of semi-structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were picked after they had been filled by the respondents. The Cronbach’s alpha test was used to check the reliability of the questionnaire with a level of 0.7 and above confirming the internal consistency. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS software. The study findings showed that customer retention strategy, cost leadership strategy, customer retention strategy and customer innovation strategy have a positive and significant influence on firm performance. It was concluded that having effective customer feedback strategies (complaints management system, online and non-online surveys and social media engagements) contributes to the improved performance of the cleaning service companies. It was also concluded that that adoption of economies of scale, economies of scope and enhancing operational efficiency can contribute to a more competitive and resilient business, positively impacting the performance of the cleaning service companies. The study recommended that customer feedback mechanisms should be enhanced through the integration of real-time feedback mechanisms to capture customer sentiments immediately after service delivery allowing for prompt issue resolution. It was further recommended that the cleaning firms should further adopt and implement cost-effective measures. The cleaning firms should focus on strategies that enhance customer loyalty.

Socially responsible retailer’s service provision strategies for poverty and inequity alleviation in the supply chain

This paper examines the effects of a retailer’s value-added services on poverty alleviation where the retailer engages in corporate social responsibility (CSR) by considering consumer surplus. Considering two heterogeneous farmers (i.e., a poor farmer from an impoverished area with cost disadvantages and a normal farmer from a non-poverty area) selling their products through a common retailer, we develop a model to determine when a retailer bestows a uniform or differential service provision to farmers. We also examine the impact of cost disadvantage, per-unit service cost, and consumer surplus concern on supply chain participants’ profits and social welfare distribution under different service provision strategies. We find that supply chain participants’ preferences for service provision strategy are compatible when cost disadvantage and per-unit service cost are below a certain threshold. Retailer-provided services effectively increase each participant’s profit, but this may result in unequal proportions of their profits in social welfare, potentially impacting shared prosperity. The cost disadvantage negatively (positively) impacts the proportion of the poor (normal) farmer’s profit in the overall social welfare equation. However, when the retailer provides services solely to the anti-poverty (normal) product, the per-unit service cost positively affects the proportion of the normal (poor) farmer’s profit in social welfare while consistently improving the retailer’s profit proportion. In addition, higher retailer concern for consumers fosters greater compatibility in service strategy preferences. When the per-unit service cost is low and the ratio of services for the normal product is small, increasing the ratio of services can increase the profits of the poor farmer, the normal farmer, the retailer, and the consumer surplus simultaneously. The research sheds light on the potential tradeoffs and considerations required to create a more equitable and prosperous society.

Creating opportunities out of challenges: assessment of adaptations to maintain uninterrupted access to antiretroviral therapy for HIV clients in West Africa during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Background The COVID-19 pandemic imposed challenges to HIV service provision in Africa. The Ending AIDS in West Africa project (#EAWA), implemented in Burkina Faso and Togo, took measures to mitigate service provision disruptions due to COVID-19. We document the project’s strategies for ensuring an uninterrupted service provision to people living with HIV (PLHIV) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Using reports from project staff, we summarized #EAWA’s service provision strategies during the pandemic. This finding was complemented by a descriptive analysis of routine program data collected from December 2019 to April 2021 to evaluate how well these measures performed. Results COVID-19-related travel restrictions, lockdowns, logistical challenges, and fear of health facilities restricted access to HIV care. Building on shifting policy environments in both countries, #EAWA adopted a contingency plan to accelerate the multi-month dispensing of ARVs (MMD) and differentiated drug delivery (DDD). Quantitative results show that the pandemic briefly disrupted ARV refills and MMD dispensation. The implementation of EAWA’s contingency plan corresponded to a rapid increase in drug refills and MMD in both countries. Conclusions Examination of programmatic data from this HIV program shows that COVID-19 provided the impetus to embrace MMD to ensure continuity of care. Despite an extremely challenging and shifting environment, the #EAWA project was able to respond nimbly to ensure clients stayed on treatment.

Approaches for the Development on Hotel Business Service Provision Strategies to Support the Aging Society: Lessons from Yala, Thailand

Approaches for the Development on Hotel Business Service Provision Strategies to Support the Aging Society: Lessons from Yala, Thailand

Clinicians' and Managers' Views and Experiences of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Service Provision for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families of Young Children With Hearing Loss.

This study aimed to gather the views and experiences of clinicians and managers on early intervention audiology and speech-language pathology services for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families of children with hearing loss. This qualitative descriptive study involved 27 semistructured interviews with audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and managers working with CALD families of young children with hearing loss. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants from three hearing centers working with these families. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Analysis of the data resulted in five themes: (a) There were perceived added complexities for CALD families in accessing and being involved in services and receiving information; (b) there were perceived family-provider relationship complexities, cultural differences, and service delivery challenges in working with CALD families; (c) clinicians and managers used various strategies for service provision of CALD families; (d) involving interpreters benefited service provision but was challenging at times; and (e) looking to the future and recommendations for clinical practice. Current practices reflect some principles of family-centered care for CALD families of young children with hearing loss. Families and services may benefit from more support regarding family-provider partnerships, information materials and child assessments, working with interpreters, and center support for time and resources. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.20044427.

Health worker perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on harm reduction services for people who inject drugs.

The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected entire systems of health service provision globally, including health service closure, redeployment of staff and resources and implementation of infection prevention protocols. Harm reduction facilities face particular challenges responding to COVID‐19, attempting to continue service provision to people who inject drugs with minimal service disruption whilst protecting their staff. This research assessed the impact of COVID‐19 on staff working at harm reduction and alcohol and other drug (AOD) services in Australia in the first 9 months of the pandemic. The research employed mixed methods, using survey data to inform in‐depth interviews. Surveys were completed by 207 participants working in the AOD sector and the harm reduction sector nationally. Interviews were conducted with 16 staff at three harm reduction sites in metropolitan Sydney and one regional NSW service. Staff felt able to respond to the trying circumstances of this pandemic, especially as practical messages around the COVID‐19 response were similar to those already in place for clients in relation to blood‐borne virus prevention. Staff felt that they were still able to provide core services to clients with some modifications in delivery. They were willing to take on additional responsibilities to ensure their own safety and that of clients, including conducting temperature checks and screening questions, whilst also adopting novel service provision strategies to reach clients during lockdowns such as postal services, outreach work and telehealth. NSP and AOD services were able to implement COVID‐19 infection control strategies, whilst maintaining and expanding service access through remote and innovative strategies in a manner which supported both clients and service providers, during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.

Features exploration and service provision strategies for long-term care beneficiaries with dementia

최근 범세계적으로 국가 차원에서의 치매 대응 필요성이 강조되고 활발하게 논의됨에 따라 우리나라 역시 다양한 노력을기울여 치매 환자에게 장기요양 서비스를 제공할 수 있는 기반을 마련하였다. 그러나 치매의 다양한 증상에 대한 정보의 부재와 제약으로맞춤형 서비스 제공이 이루어지고 있지 않은 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 치매수급자의 기능상태 정보를 기반으로 특성을 도출하고, 특성에 따른 급여이용 현황을 살펴봄으로써 치매수급자의 특성을 고려한 맞춤형 장기요양 서비스 제공이 이루어질 수 있도록 개선방안을제안하고자 한다. 2017년 1월 1일부터 2018년 12월 31일 사이의 장기요양 인정자 중 치매 진단을 받은 275,230명을 대상으로 장기요양인정조사표의 인지기능, 신체기능, 사회생활기능, 행동변화 영역 정보를 활용하여 군집분석을 수행하고, 인정유효시작시점 후 6개월 동안의급여이용 빈도를 분석하였다. 도출된 총 7가지 특성 중 3개의 특성은 인지기능 경증을, 나머지 특성들은 인지기능 중등증 이상을 나타내며, 각 유사한 인지기능 상태에서 신체기능, 사회생활기능, 행동변화가 다양한 것으로 나타났다. 특성별 급여 이용의 결과에서는 치매수급자의 다양한 특성과 무관하게 일상생활기능 돌봄 서비스 이용에 치우친 양상을 보였다. 일련의 결과는 치매수급자에 맞는 적절한서비스 제공을 지향하기 위해 치매수급자의 다양한 정보 확보 방안이 마련되어야 하며, 이러한 정보를 기반으로 다양한 맞춤형 서비스개발 및 기존 서비스 제공 방식⋅환경의 개선이 필요함을 시사한다.

To outsource or not to outsource? Warranty service provision strategies considering competition, costs and reliability

Warranty services play an important role in protecting customers against product failure and signaling manufacturers' product quality. In this paper, we study two warranty service provision strategies, i.e., outsourcing to third-party service providers or not outsourcing, for two competing manufacturers by considering the competition intensity, service costs and product reliability. The results show that manufacturers will be more willing to outsource when a service provider's cost advantage is high or the competition is more intense. The results also show that both manufacturers' profits are nonmonotonic in competition intensity, service costs and product reliability in equilibrium. This leads to counterintuitive results that more intense competition, higher service costs or lower product reliability may increase both manufacturers' profitability depending on their warranty service outsourcing decisions. Next, by investigating the customer surplus and social welfare, we show that there exists a “triple-win” region in which warranty service outsourcing benefits manufacturers' profits, customer surplus and social welfare at the same time only if service providers' cost advantage and the competition intensity are both high. Finally, to test the robustness of the main results and gain additional managerial insights, several important extensions that consider product complementarity, cost asymmetry, failure probability ambiguity, customer risk aversion and warranty lengths are discussed.

The role of information systems and knowledge codification for service provision strategies

PurposeWhile service scholars see modularisation as balancing the efficiency of standardisation with the value added through customisation the relationships between these concepts are under-theorised. In addition, although information and communication technologies can facilitate all three service strategies, the degree to which they codify service knowledge is not explicitly considered in the extant literature. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model that examines service strategy trajectories by specifically considering the ICTs used and the degree of knowledge codification employed.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on three qualitative case studies of service departments of firms involved in cardiovascular applications, orthopaedic, spinal and neuroscience product development and information technology support. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, document analysis and non-participant observation.FindingsFindings show that ICTs were increasingly used to codify both standardised and customised services, though in different ways. For standardised services ICTs codified the service process, making them even more rigid. Due to the dynamic nature of customised services, drawing on experts' tacit knowledge, ICTs codified the possessors of knowledge rather than the service process they undertook. This study also identified a duality between the tacit development of customised services and modular service codification.Research limitations/implicationsThe model is validated using case studies from three companies in the medical and information technology sectors limiting its generalisability.Practical implicationsThe importance of considering the degree of tacitness or explicitness of service knowledge is important for service codification. The paper provides managers with empirical examples of how ICTs are used to support all three strategies, allows them to identify their current position and indicates possible future trajectories.Originality/valueThe papers main contribution is the development of a model that integrates the literature on service strategies with knowledge management strategies to classify service standardisation, customisation and modularisation in terms of both service orientation and degree of ICT codification.

Multiobjective Optimization Method of Coevolution to Intelligent Agricultural Dynamic Services under the Internet of Things Environment

The agricultural Internet of Things system, with its large‐scale, highly heterogeneous, and dynamic characteristics, brings certain difficulties to the provision of agricultural Internet of Things services. Considering the multiple requests of the agricultural Internet of Things at any random moment, which have the characteristics of multiple sources, multiple types, and uneven tasks, this paper establishes an optimization model for the minimum service cost and proposes a collaborative evolution to intelligent agricultural dynamic services under the Internet of Things environment multiobjective optimization method. First, according to the probability that the allele on the fragment to be vaccinated has appeared in the memory bank, use the detection strategy to judge whether the solution is illegal; secondly, compare the optimal individual with other values appearing on the gene locus, judge whether the optimal gene or fall into the local optimal, and inoculate with probability through simulated annealing; finally, the total service cost and service time were evaluated under the two service provision strategies and compared with the other three intelligent algorithms; the results confirmed the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. At the same time, the simulation results show that the proposed collaborative multiobjective optimization algorithm can achieve better performance.

Medical termination of pregnancy service delivery in the context of decentralization: social and structural influences

BackgroundMedical termination of pregnancy (MToP) is a safe and acceptable abortion option. Depending on country context, MToP can be administered by general practitioners and mid-level healthcare providers in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Like other high-income countries, a range of social and structural barriers to MToP service provision exist in Australia. To counter some of these barriers, geographic decentralization of MToP was undertaken in rural Victoria, Australia, through training service providers about MToP to increase service delivery opportunities. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that enabled and challenged the decentralization process.MethodsFace-to-face and telephone interviews were undertaken between April and June 2016 with a purposeful sample of six training providers and 13 general practitioners (GP) and nurse training participants. Study participants were asked about their perceptions of motivations, enablers and challenges to MToP provision. A published conceptual framework of synergies between decentralization and service delivery was used to analyse the study findings.ResultsThree key themes emerged from the study findings. First, the effort to decentralize MToP was primarily supported by motivations related to making service access more equitable as well as the willingness of training providers to devolve their informal power, in the form of MToP medical expertise, to training participants. Next, the enablers for MToP decentralization included changes in the regulatory environment relating to decriminalization of abortion and availability of required medication, formation of partnerships to deliver training, provision of MToP clinical resources and local collegial support. Finally, challenges to MToP decentralization were few but significant. These included a lack of a state-wide strategy for service provision, provider concerns about coping with service demand, and provider stigma in the form of perceived negative community or collegial attitudes. These were significant enough to create caution for GPs and nurses considering service provision.ConclusionsDecentralization concepts offer an innovative way for reframing and tackling issues associated with improving MToP service delivery. There is scope for more research about MToP decentralization in other country contexts. These findings are important for informing future rural MToP service expansion efforts that improve equity in service access.

Hearing healthcare in remote or resource-constrained environments

Hearing loss is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease, with more than 80 per cent of affected persons residing in low- and middle-income countries, typically where hearing health services are unavailable. This article discusses the challenges to hearing care in remote and resource-limited settings, and describes recommended service delivery models, taking personnel and equipment requirements into consideration. The paper also considers the novel roles of telemedicine approaches in these contexts for improving access to preventative care. Finally, two case studies illustrate the challenges and strategies for service provision in remote and underserved settings.

Optimising spatial accessibility to inform rationalisation of specialist health services

BackgroundIn an era of budget constraints for healthcare services, strategies for provision of services that improve quality whilst saving costs are highly valued. A proposed means to achieve this is consolidation of services into fewer specialist centres, but this may lead to reduced spatial accessibility. We describe a methodology which includes implementing a combinatorial optimisation algorithm to derive combinations of services which optimise spatial accessibility in the context of service rationalisation, and demonstrate its use through the exemplar of tuberculosis clinics in London.MethodsOur methodology involves (1) identifying the spatial distribution of the patient population using the service; (2) calculating patient travel times to each service location, and (3) using a combinatorial optimisation algorithm to identify subsets of locations that minimise overall travel time. We estimated travel times for tuberculosis patients notified in London between 2010 and 2013 to each of 29 clinics in the city. Travel time estimates were derived from the Transport for London Journey Planner service. We identified the subset of clinics that would provide the shortest overall travel time for each possible number of clinic subsets (1–28).ResultsBased on the 29 existing clinic locations, mean estimated travel time to clinics used by 12,061 tuberculosis patients in London was 33 min; and mean time to their nearest clinics was 28 min. Using optimum combinations of clinic locations, and assuming that patients attended their nearest clinics, a mean travel time of less than 45 min could be achieved with three clinics; of 34 min with ten clinics, and of less than 30 min with 18 clinics.ConclusionsWe have developed a methodological approach to optimise spatial accessibility which can be used to inform rationalisation of health services. In urban conurbations, this may enable service reorganisation which increases quality and efficiency without substantially affecting spatial accessibility. This approach could be used to inform planning of service reorganisations, but may not be generalisable to rural areas or smaller urban centres.

Incidence of Gastrointestinal Cancers in Iran: A Systematic Review

Context: In service planning, indicators such as incidence can aid the development of strategies for service provision. The current systematic review was carried out to provide a general viewpoint ...

Watching the Swiss: A network approach to rural and exurban public transport

Public transport in rural and exurban areas faces major challenges, with low population densities making it difficult to provide high-quality, high-occupancy services. While demand-responsive transport is sometimes prescribed as an innovative strategy for service provision, the network planning approach to public transport suggests that integrated timed-transfer or pulse timetable networks should be explored first. This paper examines the rural network approach using examples from Switzerland, which has among the highest rates of public transport use in Western Europe, as well as nationally-coordinated Taktfahrplan scheduling that extends deep into rural areas. The basic Swiss pulse timetabling technique is reviewed, along with the application of the approach to a remote rural case study in Graubünden’s Lower Engadine and Val Müstair. Characteristics of pulse timetable networks and the wider rural network approach are considered, drawing broad lessons for their potential application elsewhere.

The Tupange Project in Kenya: A Multifaceted Approach to Increasing Use of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives.

Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are safe and highly effective, and they have higher continuation rates than short-acting methods. Because only a small percentage of sexually active women in Kenya use LARCs, the Tupange project implemented a multifaceted approach to increase uptake of LARCs, particularly among the urban poor. The project included on-site mentoring, whole-site orientation, commodity security, quality improvement, and multiple demand-promotion and service-provision strategies, in the context of wide method choice. We report on activities in Nairobi between July 2011 and December 2014, the project implementation period. We used a household longitudinal survey of women of reproductive age to measure changes in the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) and other family planning-related variables. At baseline in July 2010, 2,676 women were interviewed; about 50% were successfully tracked and interviewed at endline in December 2014. A baseline service delivery point (SDP) survey of 112 health facilities and 303 service providers was conducted in July 2011, and an endline SDP survey was conducted in December 2014 to measure facility-based interventions. The SDP baseline survey was conducted after the household survey, as facilities were selected based on where clients said they obtained services. The project led to significant increases in use of implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs). Uptake of implants increased by 6.5 percentage points, from 2.4% at baseline to 8.9% by endline, and uptake of IUDs increased by 2.1 percentage points, from 2.2% to 4.3%. By the endline survey, 37.7% of clients using pills and injectables at baseline had switched to LARCs. Contraceptive use among the poorest and poor wealth quintiles increased by 20.5 and 21.5 percentage points, respectively, from baseline to endline. Various myths and misconceptions reported about family planning methods declined significantly between baseline and endline. Training, commodity security, multiple service delivery models, and demand promotion were the cornerstones of a successful approach to reach the urban poor in Nairobi with LARCs.

An Exploration of Social Functioning in Young People with Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Study.

Previous research indicates adults with eating disorders (EDs) report smaller social networks, and difficulties with social functioning, alongside demonstrating difficulties recognising and regulating emotions in social contexts. Concurrently, those recovered from the illness have discussed the vital role offered by social support and interaction in their recovery. To date, little is known about the social skills and social networks of adolescents with EDs and this study aimed to conduct focus groups to explore the social functioning of 17 inpatients aged 12–17. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and six core themes were identified: group belonging, self-monitoring, social sensitivity, impact of hospitalisation, limited coping strategies and strategies for service provision. Key areas for service provision were: management of anxiety, development and/or maintenance of a social network and development of inter and intrapersonal skills. The most salient finding was that adolescents with EDs reported social difficulties which appeared to persist over and above those typically experienced at this point in the lifespan and therefore a key area for future focus is the development of appropriate coping strategies and solutions to deal with these reported difficulties.

Reliable, resilient and sustainable water management: the Safe & SuRe approach.

Global threats such as climate change, population growth, and rapid urbanization pose a huge future challenge to water management, and, to ensure the ongoing reliability, resilience and sustainability of service provision, a paradigm shift is required. This paper presents an overarching framework that supports the development of strategies for reliable provision of services while explicitly addressing the need for greater resilience to emerging threats, leading to more sustainable solutions. The framework logically relates global threats, the water system (in its broadest sense), impacts on system performance, and social, economic, and environmental consequences. It identifies multiple opportunities for intervention, illustrating how mitigation, adaptation, coping, and learning each address different elements of the framework. This provides greater clarity to decision makers and will enable better informed choices to be made. The framework facilitates four types of analysis and evaluation to support the development of reliable, resilient, and sustainable solutions: “top‐down,” “bottom‐up,” “middle based,” and “circular” and provides a clear, visual representation of how/when each may be used. In particular, the potential benefits of a middle‐based analysis, which focuses on system failure modes and their impacts and enables the effects of unknown threats to be accounted for, are highlighted. The disparate themes of reliability, resilience and sustainability are also logically integrated and their relationships explored in terms of properties and performance. Although these latter two terms are often conflated in resilience and sustainability metrics, the argument is made in this work that the performance of a reliable, resilient, or sustainable system must be distinguished from the properties that enable this performance to be achieved.

Private Transfer Choices under Uncertainty in Human Capital

We develop a theoretical model for parental behavior regarding land inheritance, accounting for consumption and savings strategies. We identify two types of modeling: one with, and another without, strategic behavior. In the first model, we assume that children do not act strategically towards their parent. We find that the child with the highest return to human capital is more likely to receive a larger share of the land if the difference in offspring’s returns is large. In the second model, we allow for each child to influence parent’s optimal choice of bequest by providing services to the latter. We illustrate that the child’s strategy for service provision is sufficient to assure that the one providing more assistance will receive a larger share of the bequest in a Nash equilibrium. We conclude by illustrating our theoretical model with some empirical analysis using longitudinal data for the rural Brazilian Amazon.

The Changing Role of Private, Nonprofit Organizations in the Development and Delivery of Human Services in the United States

With diverse missions and multiple service provision strategies, nonprofit human services organizations have worked individually and collaboratively to create responses to social problems throughout the history of United States. This article highlights the important historic roots of the sector in understanding the scope and breadth of nonprofit human service organizations today. Challenges influencing this set of organizations, including the competing values of contracting out versus collaboration and the push-pull of grassroots or community-based versus professionalized orientations, are discussed. the article closes with important questions for nonprofit leaders and policymakers about the role of government in the human services arena.