Services Management An Integrated Approach

Over 75% of graduates currently find work in the service industries, but there are very few books that deal specifically with the subject of service management. This second edition of Services Management: An Integrated Approach provides a comprehensive insight into the service management industry, exploring the nature and importance of services in today's economies. Van Looy, Gemmel and Van Dierdonk delve into the three central strands of services management; customers, employees, and operations, while maintaining an integrated approach to the processes involved throughout. The final part of the book addresses the issues of performance management and service strategy.Based on a series of research workshops with academics and practitioners at the Service Management Centre, De Vlerick School of Management, University of Ghent, the authors have produced in-depth case studies and survey research to develop a thorough understanding of the specific challenges and issues of service management today. This second edition retains and builds on the original's distinctive features: real-life examples and short case descriptions clear objectives and chapter summaries a guiding framework to translate the concepts into practice selected reading listIn addition to this, the content has been expanded to reflect industry advances in areas such as I.T., e-commerce and quality.Services Managementis an invaluable resource for both students and practitioners who wish to gain an understanding of this wide-ranging subject."...well-suited to management modules concerned with any form of service delivery...the book is well-structured, providing a robust academic framework in which the reader can grasp the main theories, principles and issues of service management."- Mike Taylor, Brighton Business SchoolLooy, Bart van is the author of 'Services Management An Integrated Approach', published 2004 under ISBN 9780273673538 and ISBN 027367353X.