Chapter 11: Strategic Planning for Service

Chapter 11: Strategic Planning for Service

Terminology

·  Champion: A person commissioned with the task of achieving a desired goal. This individual would be responsible for organizing all staff, systems, and procedures to align the organization in its efforts to achieve the assigned goal.

·  Change theory: A science behind helping businesses transition through changes.

·  Continuous improvement: A premise of instituting quality through a cycle of planning, monitoring, interpreting, and revising.

·  Coproduction: The extent to which the customer should be involved in the process of service, which gives the customers a sense of control and tailors their service, contributing to the success of the encounter. Customers must be trained, and the instructions obvious and clear and support given.

·  Credo: Originally used for professing religious beliefs, was adopted by companies as a passionate label to describe what the organization stood for.

·  Customer-centric: The premise of placing the customer first in all a company does. Focusing on pleasing the customer and organizing the company with that as a primary goal.

·  Direct competition: Other businesses that compete for the same clientele, in the same industry, delivering similar goods and services.

·  General competition: Businesses that compete for the same clientele’s time and/or dollar.

·  Indirect competition: Other businesses who compete for the same clientele, delivering related, but not identical, products and services.

·  Mission: A statement that explains the purpose of your business. It is usually a paragraph and states the core purpose of the organization. It should be the origin and foundation of all other decisions for the business.

·  Problem statement: The root problem or fundamental cause of why something is happening. Often, the results of both internal and external analysis.

·  Resource viewpoint: The idea that every business has three resources with which to work and to use to their benefit.

·  Service guarantee: A promise of satisfaction for your products and services.

·  Service process implementation: The overall mechanics of implementing actual standards in the guest service process.

·  Service mission and service vision statement: Similar to a traditional vision and mission statement but targeted toward service.

·  Service strategy: Formula for delivering a service that defines the practical interpretation.

·  Silo: A metaphor used to describe the separate departments of an organization that work independently and fail to communicate with each other, thus replicating processes, working inefficiently, and causing frustration.

·  Strategic service system: A four-part system that involves purpose, product, plan, and people.

·  Strategy: A calculated plan to achieve a common, chosen objective.

·  SWOT analysis: An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of an organization, containing internal and external examination.

·  Vision: A statement, usually a sentence, or two, that explains where a business is striving to go or be in the future. Typically inspirational and sometimes a bit lofty, it is used in strategic planning.