Research and Advances
Computing Applications Services science

The Clarion Call For Modern Services: China, Japan, Europe, and the U.S.

Posted
  1. Introduction
  2. A Global Approach
  3. China
  4. Japan
  5. Europe
  6. References
  7. Authors

What will modern services be like? Today many services are viewed as a craft activity—individual doctors, retail sellers, programmers all doing useful things their own way. There is, however, an increasing role for an organized, analytic, and engineering approach to all these activities. Evidence-based medicine, marketing science- driven retailers, and software engineering are examples of these trends.

Automated services are a natural object of attention, since they can be observed in great detail, can be reconstructed and improved, and can be combined in new ways quickly and relatively easily. We are therefore seeing a rapid evolution toward an engineering approach to the life cycle of such services, and the application of mathematic and scientific approaches to the problems and opportunities they present. Complex service systems must be viewed at three levels: the functional attributes (what does it do and how does it do it?), nonfunctional attributes (management and control properties such as performance and security), and intentional attributes (what is the goal or purpose of the activity, such as societal benefit, private profit, or personal esteem?). Each level is susceptible to analysis, but different disciplines dominate. As computational services proliferate, new fields of study will open up, combining the computing, engineering, mathematical, management, and social sciences in creative ways.

When we look at complex B2B projects, there is a growing application of solution engineering—using the best available techniques to the multiple phases of the activity, managing the risks, increasing predictability of quality and schedule, learning from experience in a project to improve not only the results of that effort but of succeeding solutions. As we examine the stages of a single large business service project (including requirements, design, implementation, deployment, and ongoing operation), and build up portfolios and service lines, much of the work can be formalized and subjected to analysis and radical improvement through optimization, evolutionary learning, and organization improvement. Of course, applying engineering thinking to such projects is not new—without such we would not have fields with names like "civil engineering" or large facilities like airports and suspension bridges. But the confluence of information-dominated services, techniques of computer science, and increasing experience is rapidly opening up new possibilities for modern service.

Back to Top

A Global Approach

Innovation is imperative to continued growth, increased productivity, and the general health of all economies. After a long history of contributions and breakthroughs to IT innovation, IBM Research is now directing resources toward innovation for the services industry:

Business Design and Implementation. How does one model, design, and instantiate optimal business functions? What tools and techniques are needed to create abstractions of an enterprise, to effect the transformation from strategy down to underlying IT systems, and to monitor the end-to-end process? The Component Business Model (CBM) is one approach under development. What is needed to build and deliver industry solutions in an efficient, reusable fashion?

Business Optimization and Management. How does one improve decision making and operations of ongoing business functions? How can business data be collected, analyzed, and exploited more optimally? How can business performance be enhanced as a result of the optimization of the underlying function, for example, supply chain? Given the importance of the work force in labor intensive services, how does one forecast, hire, allocate or shift resources to meet changing demand patterns?

Services Delivery. In IBM’s internal service delivery centers, what are the best ways to maintain desired service levels while increasing efficiency and productivity? What tools and techniques can guarantee end-to-end manageability and visibility throughout the entire services life cycle from request to delivery? Challenges include the globalization of service delivery, adoption of standardized best practices, automation, virtualization of resources including labor, and the appropriate integration of the human element.

Services Sciences Management and Engineering (SSME) applies to each of these areas [94]. IBM Research laboratories worldwide are engaging with local universities and governments on the topic of innovation in services, as described here.

Back to Top

China

In the recently approved 11th five-year plan (2006–2010) by China authorities, "Promoting Modern Services Industry" has been given a significant position for the first time. This emphasis on services confirms China’s determination to expand beyond its "manufacturing center" position to a new economy with a services focus. China’s sustainable development in the coming five years will increasingly depend on two industries: Production-oriented services industries: Supply chain, logistics, financial services, and infrastructural support services in both business and IT, and consumer-oriented services industries: Retail, restaurant, hotel, real estate, and tourism plus new public services and community services focusing on quality of life.

Major universities in China have established collaborations with IBM’s China Research Laboratory (CRL) to define the roadmap and build the Modern Services Industry for China. Thinghua University and CRL are working to understand the current status of services talents in China, designing services science curriculum, and teaching the first graduate course: "Introduction to Services Science." Peking University and CRL are researching Solutions Engineering methods and tools. The second China SSME conference is also being planned. The conference will provide a platform for academic researchers and industry leaders to share experiences and findings. Topics include: SSME curriculum design, courseware, collaboration models, government roles in SSME, and SSME research projects in services modeling, analysis, services ecosystem, business design, IT, and radically simplified global services.

Back to Top

Japan

Japan has been looking for new drivers to create the next stage of economic growth, building off a strong product-driven base established in the 20th century. The Japanese Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, adopted a 2006–2010 Policy on Science and Technology, which articulates the need for scientific approaches to realize innovation in services. This government policy was affected by several symposiums and special study groups, focusing on multidisciplinary approaches to service innovation.

The first SSME symposium in Japan, hosted by IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory in September 2005, explored a range of topics, including integration of industry-specific knowledge about complex business services and the body of scientific knowledge dealing with problem-solving and process improvement methods; existing Japanese education, which traditionally emphasizes manufacturing skill development and case studies, and should be revised to incorporate a services-oriented perspective; laws and regulations that inhibit the development of new business processes for services; and the need for scientific approaches to pricing services and measurement of customer satisfaction.

Following the SSME symposium, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) formed a Services Innovation Study Group. The group proposed the formation of a Services Sciences Forum, aiming to develop service innovation leaders, explore relevant scientific disciplines, and promote collaboration. In March 2006, the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) established a Services Sciences Forum Web site. SSME-related education programs are gaining attention, including programs at Hitotsubashi University, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Tokyo University.

Back to Top

Europe

The European Union (EU) is devoting more attention to services innovation, as evidenced in the EU Innovation Action Plan adopted in October 2005. The Community Research Framework Program 7 (FP7) is a multidisciplinary research program that will address the technical as well as the economic and social dimensions of services innovation. FP7 topics of relevance to services innovation include human capital, organizational change, education, trust, and security, ICT for networked businesses, and collaborative working environments. FP7 covers the period of 2007–2013 with a total budget of 48 billion Euros.

In 2005, the European Commission initiated the establishment of a European Technology Platform strongly focusing on services science. This industry-led Networked European Software and Services Initiative (NESSI) brings together major players in the European software and services sector and focuses on a strong collaboration with academia.

Productivity gains and economic growth from services innovation will also depend on a dynamic and open European market for services. In early 2006, the European Commission established an expert group for defining a strategy promoting innovative services in the European Internal Market. The goal is to achieve a legal and administrative framework, which allows for cross-border establishment and movement of services within the EU, ideally enabling enterprises to easily export innovative services business models beyond national borders.

Back to Top

Back to Top

    1. Abbott, A. The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1988.

    2. Akkiraju, R., et al. WSDL-S Web Services Semantics—WSDL-S. W3C Member Submission; www.w3.org/Submission/WSDL-S/.

    3. Alic, J. Postindustrial technology policy. Research Policy 30 (2001), 873–889.

    4. Alter, S. The Work System Method: People, Process, and Technology (2006). Unpublished manuscript available by request to author; www.stevenalter.com.

    5. Anderson, E.W., Fornell, C.L., and Rust, R.T. Customer satisfaction, productivity, and profitability: Differences between goods and services. Marketing Science 16, 2 (1997), 129–145.

    6. Aspray, W. and Williams, O.B. Arming American scientists: NSF and the provision of scientific computing facilities for universities, 1950–1973. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 16, 4 (1994), 60–74.

    7. Aspray, W. Was early entry a competitive advantage? U.S. universities that entered computing in the 1940s. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 22, 3 (2000), 42–87.

    8. Baba, M., Gluesing, J., Ratner, H., and Wagner K. The contexts of knowing: Natural history of a globally distributed team. J. Organizational Behavior 25 (2004), 547–587.

    9. Baldwin, Carliss Y. and Clark, Kim B. Design Rules, Vol. 1: The Power of Modularity. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.

    10. Barrett, R., Kandogan, E., Maglio, P.P., Haber, E., Takayama, L., and Prabaker, M. Field studies of computer system administrators: Analysis of system management tools and practices. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 2004.

    11. Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman, A. Building a new academic field—The case of services marketing. J. of Retailing 69, 1 (1993), 13–60.

    12. Bettencourt, L., Ostrom, A.L., Brown, S.W., and Roundtree, R.I. Client co-production in knowledge-intensive business services. California Management Review 44, 4 (2002), 100–127.

    13. Bijker, W.E. Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995.

    14. Bonabeau, E. Agent-based modeling: Methods and techniques for simulating human systems. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 99, 3 (2002), 7280–7287.

    15. Bordoloi, S. and Matsuo, H. Human resource planning in knowledge-intensive operations: A model for learning with stochastic turnover. European Journal of Operational Research 130, 1 (2002), 169–189.

    16. Boudreau, J., Hopp, W., McClain, J., and Thomas, L.J. On the interface between operations and human resources management. Manufacturing & Service Operations Mgmt 5, 3 (2003), 179–202.

    17. Brannen, M.Y., Liker, J.K., and Fruin, W.M. Recontextualization and factory-to-factory knowledge transfer from Japan to the United States. Remade in America: Transplanting and Transforming Japanese Management Systems. J.F. Liker, W.M. Fruin, and P.S. Adler, Eds. Oxford University Press, NY, 1999, 117–154.

    18. Brown, S.W. and Bitner, M.J. Mandating a services revolution for marketing. The Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing: Dialog, Debate, and Directions. R.F. Lusch and S.L. Vargo, Eds. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY, 2006.

    19. Bryson, J.R., Daniels, P.W., and Warf, B. Service Worlds: People, Organisations, Technology. Routledge, London, 2004.

    20. Burstein, M., Bussler, C., Finin, T., Huhns, M., Paolucci, M., Sheth, A., and Williams, S. A Semantic Web services architecture. IEEE Internet Computing, (Sept.–Oct. 2005), 52–61.

    21. Burt, R.S. The network structure of social capital. Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 22. R.I Sutton and B.M. Staw, Eds. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, 2000.

    22. Cardoso, J. and Sheth, A., Eds. Semantic Web Services, Processes and Applications. Springer Book Series on Semantic Web & Beyond: Computing for Human Experience, 2006.

    23. Chesbrough, H. Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003.

    24. Colecchia, A., Guellec, D., Pilat, D., Schreyer, P., and Wyckoff, A. A New Economy: The Changing Role of Innovation and Information Technology in Growth. OECD, Paris, France, 2002.

    25. Coombs, R. and Miles, I. Innovation, measurement and services: The new problematique. Innovation Systems in the Service Economy. J.S. Metcalfe and I. Miles, Eds. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000, 83–102.

    26. CSTB. Making IT Better: Expanding Information Technology Research to Meet Society's Needs. National Academy Press, Washington, DC., 2000.

    27. Davenport, T. The coming commoditization of processes. Harvard Business Rev. (June 2005), 100–108.

    28. Davies, A. Moving base into high-value integrated solutions: A value stream approach. Industrial and Corporate Change 13, 5 (2004), 727–756.

    29. Dess, G.G. and Picken, J.C. Beyond Productivity: How Leading Companies Achieve Superior Performance by Leveraging their Human Capital. American Management Association, NY, NY, 1999.

    30. Emery, F.E. Characteristics of socio-technical systems. Tavistock Document 527. London, 1959.

    31. Erl, T. Service-Oriented Architecture: A Field Guide to Integrating XML and Web Services. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2004.

    32. Fein, L. The role of the university in computers, data processing, and related fields. Comm. ACM 2, 9 (Sept. 1959), 7–14.

    33. Fisk, R.P., Brown, S.W., and Bitner, M.J. Tracking the evolution of the services marketing literature. J. of Retailing 69, 1 (Spring 1993), 61–103.

    34. Fisk, R.P., Grove, S.J., and John, J. Services Marketing Self-Portraits: Introspections, Reflections, and Glimpses from the Experts. American Marketing Association, Chicago, 2000.

    35. Fitzsimmons, J.A. and Fitzsimmons, M.J. Service Management: Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology, 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill, NY, NY, 2001.

    36. Fitzsimmons, J.A. and Fitzsimmons, M.J. Services Management: Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill, NY, NY, 2004.

    37. Friedman, T. The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 2005.

    38. Gadrey, J. The misuse of productivity concepts in services: Lessons from a comparison between France and the United States. Productivity, Innovation and Knowledge in Services: New Economic and Socio-Economic Approaches. J. Gadrey and F. Gallouj, Eds.. Edward Elgar Publisher, 2002.

    39. Gans, N. and Zhou, Y-P. Managing learning and turnover in employee staffing. Operations Research 50, 6 (2002), 991–1006.

    40. George, B. Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2003.

    41. Granovetter, M. The impact of social structure on economic outcomes. J. of Economic Perspectives 19, 1 (2005), 33–50.

    42. Gustafsson, A. and Johnson, M. Competing in a Service Economy. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2003.

    43. Hacigumus, H., Rhodes, J., Spangler, W., and Kreulen, J. BISON: Providing business information analysis as a service. To appear in Proceedings of EDBT, 2006.

    44. Herzenberg, S.A., Alic, J.A., and Wial, H. New rules for a new economy: Employment and opportunity in a postindustrial America. Century Foundation. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1998.

    45. Hill, T.P. On goods and services. The Review of Income and Wealth 23, 4 (1977), 314–339.

    46. Horn, P. The new discipline of services science. Business Week (Jan. 21, 2006); www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2005/ tc20050121 _8020.htm.

    47. Kotler, P. and Bloom, P.N. Marketing Professional Services. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984.

    48. Kouzes, J.M., and Posner, B.Z. The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1987.

    49. Kox, H.L.M. Growth Challenges for the Dutch Business Services Industry—International Comparison and Policy Issues. CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, The Hague (Apr. 2002).

    50. Lee, J. Model-driven business transformation and the Semantic Web. Commun. ACM 48, 12 (Dec. 2005), 75–77.

    51. Lewis, W.W. The Power of Productivity: Wealth, Poverty, and the Threat to Global Stability. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL, 2004.

    52. Lovelock, C.H. and Wirtz, J. Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 5th Edition. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2004.

    53. Metcalfe, J.S. Modern evolutionary economic perspectives: An overview. Frontiers of Evolutionary Economics. J.S. Metcalfe and K. Dopfer, Eds. Edward Elgar, 2001.

    54. Meuter, M.L., Bitner, M.J., Ostrom, A.L., and Brown, S.W. Choosing among alternative service delivery modes: An investigation of customer trial of self-service technologies. J. of Marketing, 69 (April 2005), 61–83.

    55. Mintzberg, H. The manager's job: Folklore and fact. Harvard Business Review (July/Aug. 1975), 49–61.

    56. Mittal, V., Anderson, E.W., Sayrak, A., and Tadikamalla, P. Dual emphasis and the long-term financial impact of customer satisfaction. Marketing Science 24, 4 (2005), 544–555.

    57. Mohr, M. and Russel, S.A. North American product classification system: Concepts and process of identifying service products. In Proceedings of the 17th Annual Meeting of the Voorburg Group on Service Statistics. (Nantes, France, 2002).

    58. Murmann, J.P. Knowledge and Competitive Advantage: The Coevolution of Firms, Technology, and National Institutions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2003.

    59. National Academy of Engineering. The Impact of Academic Research on Industrial Performance. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, 2003.

    60. Nelson, R.R. On the Uneven Evolution of Human Know-How (2002); www.fondazionebassetti.org/0due/nelson-docs.htm (accessed Mar. 10, 2005).

    61. Neu, W. and Brown, S.W. Forming successful business-to-business services in goods-dominant firms. J. of Service Research (Aug 2005), 1–15.

    62. Niehaus, R.J. Evolution of the strategy and structure of a human resource planning DSS application. Decision Support Systems 14 (1995), 187–204.

    63. Nobel, D. Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1984.

    64. Nonaka, I. The knowledge creating company. Harvard Business Review 69 (Nov–Dec 1991), 96–104.

    65. Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. The Knowledge-Creating Company. Oxford University Press, 1995.

    66. NSF. Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians in the United States: 1998. NSF 02-313, Arlington, VA, 2001.

    67. OECD. Science, Technology and Industry Outlook 2001—Drivers of Growth: ICT, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. OECD, Paris, 2001.

    68. OECD. Enhancing the Performance of the Services Sector. OECD, Paris, 2005.

    69. OECD. Innovation and Knowledge-Intensive Service Activities. OECD, Paris, 2006.

    70. Oliva, R., and Sterman, J.D. Cutting corners and working overtime: Quality erosion in the service industry. Management Science 47, 7 (2001), 894–914.

    71. Oliver, R. A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions. J. Marketing Research, 17 (Nov. 1980), 460–469.

    72. Oliver, R., Rust, R.T., and Varki, S. Customer delight: Foundations, findings, and managerial insight. J. Retailing 73, 3 (1997), 311–336.

    73. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Promoting Innovation in Services. (Oct. 14, 2005), 1–52.

    74. Orlikowski, W. Using technology and constituting structures: A practice lens for studying technology in organizations. Organization Science 11, 4 (2000), 404–428.

    75. OWL-S: Semantic Markup for Web Services, W3C Member Submission; www.w3.org/Submission/2004/SUBM-OWL-S-20041122/.

    76. Paloheimo, K., Miettinen, I., and Brax, S. Customer-Oriented Industrial Services. Helsinki University of Technology, BIT Research Centre, 2004.

    77. Pine II, B.J. and Gilmore, J.H. The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every Business a Stage. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999.

    78. Pugh, E. Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995.

    79. Pugh, D.S. and Hickson, D.J. Writers on Organizations. 5th Edition. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1996.

    80. Quinn, J.B. Technology in services: Past myths and future challenges. Technology in Services: Policies for Growth, Trade, and Employment. National Academy of Engineering, 1988.

    81. Riddle, D. The role of the service sector in economic development: Similarities and difference by development category. O. Giarini, Ed. The Emerging Service Economy. Pergamon Press, 1987.

    82. Reinartz, W., Thomas, J.S., and Kumar, V. Balancing acquisition and retention resources to maximize customer profitability. J. of Marketing, 69 (Jan. 2005), 63–79.

    83. Romer, P. Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth. Journal of Political Economy, 94, 5 (Oct 1986), 1002–1037.

    84. Rouse, W.B. Start Where You Are: Matching Your Strategy to Your Marketplace. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1996.

    85. Rouse, W.B. Don't Jump to Solutions: Thirteen Delusions that Undermine Strategic Thinking. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1998.

    86. Rouse, W.B. A theory of enterprise transformation. Systems Engineering 8, 4 (2005), 279–295.

    87. Rouse, W.B., Ed. Enterprise Transformation: Understanding and Enabling Fundamental Change. Wiley, NY, 2006.

    88. Rust, R.T., Lemon, K.N., and Zeithaml, V.A. Return on marketing: Using customer equity to focus marketing strategy. J. of Marketing 68 (Jan. 2004), 109–127.

    89. Rust, R.T., Lemon, K.N., and Narayandas, D. Customer Equity Management. Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ, 2005.

    90. Rust, R.T. and T.S. Chung. Marketing models of service and relationships. Marketing Science, forthcoming.

    91. Sampson, S.E. Understanding Service Businesses: Applying Principles of Unified Systems Theory, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, NY, NY, 2001.

    92. Sasser, E., Olsen, R.P., and Wyckoff, D.D. Management of Service Operations. Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1978.

    93. Senge, P. Catalyzing systems thinking within organizations. Advances in Organizational Development. F. Masaryk, Ed. Ablex, Norwood, NJ, 1990, 197–246.

    94. Services Sciences, Management and Engineering; www.research.ibm.com/ssme/.

    95. Sheth, A.P. Semantic Web Process Lifecycle: Role of Semantics in Annotation, Discovery, Composition and Orchestration. Invited Talk, Workshop on E-Services and the Semantic Web, WWW, 2003; lsdis.cs.uga.edu/lib/presentations/WWW2003-ESSW-invitedTalk-Sheth.pdf.

    96. Shugan, S.M. and Xie, J. Advance pricing of services and other implications of separating purchase and consumption. J. of Service Research 2, 3 (2000), 227–239.

    97. Simon, H.A. Models of Man: Social and Rational. Wiley, NY, 1957.

    98. Simon, H.A. The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969.

    99. Singh, M.P. and Huhns M.N. Service-Oriented Computing: Semantics, Processes, Agents. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2005.

    100. Spohrer, J. and Maglio, P. Emergence of Service Science: Services Sciences, Management, Engineering (SSME) as the Next Frontier in Innovation. Presentation at IBM Almaden Research Center, (Oct. 2005).

    101. SWSL, Semantic Web Service Language, W3C Member Submission; www.w3.org/Submission/SWSF-SWSL/.

    102. Tamura, S., Sheehan, J., Martinez, C., and Kergroach, S. Promoting Innovation in Services. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France, 2005; www.oecd.org/ dataoecd/21/55/35509923.pdf.

    103. Tapscott, D. and Ticoll, D. The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business. Free Press, 2003.

    104. Tidd, J. and Hull, F.M. Service Innovation: Organizational Responses to Technological Opportunities & Market Imperatives. Imperial College Press, London, UK, 2003.

    105. Tien, J. and Berg, D. A case for service systems engineering. J. of Systems Science and Systems Engineering 12, 1 (2003), 13–38.

    106. Trist, E.L. and Bamforth, K.W. Some social and psychological consequences of the longwall method of coal-getting: An examination of a work group in relation to the social structure and technological content of the work system. Human Relations 4 (1951), 3–28.

    107. Trist, E.L. The evolution of sociotechnical systems as a conceptual framework and an action research program. Perspectives on Organization Design and Behavior. A.H. Van de Ven and William F. Joyce, Eds. Wiley Interscience, NY, 1981, 19–75.

    108. Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. J. of Marketing 68 (Jan. 2004), 1–17.

    109. Vashistha, A. and Vashistha, A. The Offshore Nation. McGraw-Hill, NY, 2006.

    110. Vermeulen, P. and Wietze van der Aa. Organizing innovation in services. Service Innovation. J. Tidd and F.M. Hull, Eds. Imperial College Press, London, 2003.

    111. Vollman, T.E., Berry, W.L., and Whybark, D.C. Manufacturing Planning and Control Systems, 3rd Edition. Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1992.

    112. W3C Semantics for Web Services Characterization Group Charter; www.w3.org/2005/10/sws-charac-charter.html.

    113. WSMO Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO), W3C Member Submission; www.w3.org/Submission/WSMO/.

    114. Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L., and Parasuraman, A. The behavioral consequences of service quality. J. Marketing, (1996).

    115. Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J., and Gremler, D.D. Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill, NY, 2006.

Join the Discussion (0)

Become a Member or Sign In to Post a Comment

The Latest from CACM

Shape the Future of Computing

ACM encourages its members to take a direct hand in shaping the future of the association. There are more ways than ever to get involved.

Get Involved

Communications of the ACM (CACM) is now a fully Open Access publication.

By opening CACM to the world, we hope to increase engagement among the broader computer science community and encourage non-members to discover the rich resources ACM has to offer.

Learn More