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Course Description: Since early 1990s, the service sector has become the mainstay of the Indian economy. Currently, service sector’s contribution to India’s GDP is approximately 60% and is increasing at a rapid rate. Despite this phenomenal gorwith of the service sector, operations management, as we understand today, is heavily focused, if not entirely, on manufacturing. The primary goal of this elective course is to make an attempt to demonstrate the importance of managing operations in service sector organizations.This course addresses the strategic and operational aspects of managing service systems.It will offer a practical approach with requisite theoretical underpinning to provide a valuable perspective for all future managers interested in designing, implementing and sustaining efficient service related operations.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this course, the students would be able to do the following:

a. Demonstrate knowledge on how to develop service layouts and design service delivery systems.
b. Articulate and develop comprehensive service strategies.
c. Manage service-related projects.
d. Manage inventory in service organizations.
e. Define quality in services and how to improve it on an ongoing basis.
f. Match demand with capacity in a service environment.
g. Apply the concepts of lean manufacturing to manage service systems efficiently.
Provisional Session Plan:

Session No.	Topics
1	Introduction to services Definition of service, its role of Services in an economy, Nature of Services Reading: 1. Heineke, J and Davis, M. M. (2007). The emergence of service operations as anacademc discipline.Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 25, 364-374. Case: Village Volvo
2	Service strategy Developing An Overall Vision For The Service System Case: Aravind Eye Hospitals
3,4	Service-related projects and its management
5,6	Service layouts and service delivery design, tools and techniques used in service design, service process analysis Reading: “Service Blue Printing”, California Management Review, 2008 Reading: Levitt, T. (1972). Production-line approach to service.Harvard Business Review, 50(5), 41-52. Reading: Chase, R. B. and Dasu, S. (2001).Want to perfect your company’s service? Use behavioral science.Harvard Business Review, 79(6), 78-84. Case: 100 Yen Sushi House
7,8,9	Capacity and demand in services, application of Queuing theory in services Article: Bitran, G and Mondschein, S. (1997). Managing the tug-of-war between supply and demand in service industries.European Management Journal, 15(5), 523-536. Case: Shouldice Hospital Ltd. Case: Houston Port Authority
10, 11	Service quality, service improvement, and performance Issues Reading: Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L., (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49 (4), 41–50. Reading: Harvey, J. (1998). Service Quality: A Tutorial.Journal of Operations Management, Vol 16, 583-597. Reading: Hart, C. W. (1988). The power of unconditional service guarantees.Harvard Business Review, Vol. 66, 54-62. Reading: Reichheld, F.F and SasserJr, W.E. (1990). Zero Defections: Quality comes to Services.Harvard Business Review, 68(5), 105-111. Reading: Reichheld, F.F. (1996). Learning from customer defections.Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74(2), 56-69. Reading: Berman, B. (2005). How to delight your customers.California Management Review, Vol 48 No. 1, 129-151. Hart, C.W.L, Heskett, J.L., SasserJr, W.E. (1990). The profitable art of service recovery.Harvard Business Review, 68(4), 148-156. Heskett, J.L., Jones, T.O., Loveman, G.W., Sasser, W.E., and Schlesinger, L.A. (2008). Putting the service-profit chain to work.Harvard Business Review, 87(7/8), 118-129.
12, 13	Serviceinventory Inventory models with planned shortages, Single period model for perishable goods
14	Leanmanagement in service sector Case: Wipro Technologies: The factory model Reading: Chase, R.B. and Stewart, D.M. (1994). Make your service fail-safe.Sloan Management Review, Vol 36, 35-44. Reading: Staats, B. R. and Upton, D.M. (2011). Lean Knowledge work.Harvard Business Review, 1-11.
15	Service supply chain Supply Chain Management, Sourcing, Vehicle Routing Case: Dubbawallahs of Mumbai (A) Article: Giannakis, M. (2011). Conceptualizing and managing service supply chain.The Service Industries Journal, 31(11), 1809-1823.
16	Review of essential concepts
17	Guest Lecture I
18	Guest LectureII
19,20	Field projectand group presentations

EVALUATION:

Quizzes (2 nos @ 15 points): 30 points
Class Participation: 10 points
Group Project Presentation: 20 points
End-Term (Comprehensive): 40 points
TOTAL 100 points

Text Book:SERVICE MANAGEMENT: Operations, Strategy and Information Technology by J.A. Fitzsimmons and M.J. Fitzsimmons, 7e Indian edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Policy on cheating and plagiarism: Please go through manual of policies for details.

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Tel: 0674-6647899