THE WALLACE E. CARROLL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
MD850: Advanced Topics in IT: e-Service Operations
Spring 2002
MD850 Home
Week 13
The Flip-Side of Personalization and Risk: Flexibility of e-Service Processes
Assigned Readings
NOTE: Although there is no formal assignment for this week, as you read, please think about how the personalization/customization (competitive risks) could be responded to by (product design) flexibility, and how various process risks documented could be responded to by (process) flexibility.
E-SERV, Chapter 13: The Future of the Net: Take These Predictions to the Bank
CRM, Chapter 6: Going Global Gets Personal: Personalization and CRM
Microsoft Operations Framework, “Risk Model for Operations”
Background: What Is Flexibility?
Flexibility is frequently referred to by MIS writers, but seldom defined. Flexibility is frequently used by manufacturing researchers, but has been defined in many different -- and sometimes conflicting -- ways by OM writers.
Heim, G.R., “A Summary of Flexibility Concepts”
SummaryOfFlexibilityConcepts.pdf
A Model of e-Service Flexibility
Academics typically view "dimension" of flexibility as having multiple sub-dimensions. The following document summarizes our attempt at developing a model of flexibility dimensions in e-Retailing. Also included is a summary of dimensions that define “flexibility” in manufacturing operations.
Heim, G. R., “A Model of Flexibility Dimensions for E-Service Operations”
eServiceFlexibility.pdf
Case Study Assignment
None.
Team Web-Based Assignment
None.
| Keyword Legend E-SERV = E-Service: 24 Ways to Keep Your Customers … CRM = CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers … FUL = E-Commerce Logistics and Fulfillment: Delivering the Goods |
Related Readings: For Further Information
Motivation for e-Service Flexibility
Some of the fundamental ideas behind technology strategy of flexibility for electronic
services relates to the ability to sense and respond to customers. The Bradley and Nolan
article perhaps was the first source to widely disseminate the concept of the need to quickly "sense and respond" to customers. The Hagel and Armstrong
article lists some of the strategic value gained by various parties participating in
e-Services. The Nicholas Carr articles essentially stress the point of the importance of flexibility.
Bradley, S. P., and R. L. Nolan, Sense and Respond, Harvard Business School Press, S. P. Bradley and R. L. Nolan (eds.), Harvard Business School Press, 1998, p. 1-7.
Hagel III, J., and A. G. Armstrong, “The Race Belongs to the Swift,” in Net Gain, Harvard Business School Press, 1997, p. 7-15, 172-175.
Carr, N., “Be What You Aren’t,” TheStandard.com, August 7, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17135,00.html
Carr, N., “Giant Steps,” The Standard.com, August 28, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17920,00.html
Weber, J., “Catching the Next Wave,” TheStandard.com, December 18, 2000
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,20848,00.html
Downes, L., “Deconstructing The Web,” TheStandard.com, August 7, 2000
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17374,00.html
Flexibility and Network Processes
Garud and Kotha provides a metaphor for how one might view flexible
networked production systems. Interestingly, this paper brings up the issue of "sense and
respond" 4 years before Bradley and Nolan.
Garud, R., and S. Kotha, “Using the Brain as a Metaphor to Model Flexible Production Systems,”
Academy of Management Review, 19, 4, 1994, p. 671-698.
Related Readings: Traditional (Person-to-Person) Services
Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, Service Management: Operations,
Strategy, and Information Technology, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2001, Chapter
6, p. 149 ("Flexibility")