Mona J. Fitzsimmons Knihy

Balancing conceptual and applied coverage of all aspects of the management and operation of services, Service Management has maintained the position as market leader through five previous editions. It is the most comprehensive and widely used introduction to service operations on the market, written by one of the top authorities on the subject, and it is designed to develop students' skills in both strategic and operational issues pertaining to services. The Seventh Edition also offers the latest information on Six-Sigma and RFID, as well as recent developments in other important industry topics. Text coverage spans both qualitative and quantitative aspects of service management and offers flexibility in courses, offering varying approaches to the study of service operations. The new edition is designed to develop students' skills in both strategic and operational issues pertaining to services.

This new book on service management sets the paradigm service management for the 1990's. An undergraduate text, it is distinguished by its unique focus on service management for competitive advantage and by its integration of the author's first-hand experience and research with numerous service firms. Jargon-free, it treats issues rigorously, contains the most recent data, and is soundly based on the most current scholarly thinking available in the service literature. Quantitative material is separated from conceptual material in the chapter supplements and final section of the text, but statistics is a prerequisite. It emphasises that success in a world-wide market is tied inextricably to quality, innovation, and growth and expansion. Its highly readable presentation is designed to appeal even to students with little business experience, and includes all real-world examples, quality end-of-chapter cases, exercises, and fully-worked examples.