Virtuous cycles
Subtitle: improving service and lowering costs in e-commerce
By: Roger Hallowell
Contributors: Harvard Business School. Division of Research
Series: Working paper / Division of Research, Harvard Business School -- 02-019; Working paper (Harvard Business School. Division of Research) -- 02-019
Publisher: Division of Research, Harvard Business School
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 26
Description: This paper presents a framework illustrating how different elements in a customer's service encounter with non-information-intensive Internet services affect one another. The framework suggests that improving service quality inspecific elements results in cost reductions in others, creating a virtuous cycle. The paper also posits that some elements of the service encounter provide superior sources of competitive advantage than others because of the difficulty competitors have replicating them. Both findings haveimplications for organizations and managers involved in the provision of non-information-intensive services over the Internet.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.