Management Control over Customer Service

Control over customer service can only be partial at best. If service is an adaptation of one system, the supplier's, to fit another, then the customer's part of the combined system is only subject to indirect influence. There is a further problem, however; the focus of a majority of the discussion of customer service has taken the limited perspective of the immediate interface between systems, usually defined in terms of a limited set of parameters such as product availability, delivery time and its variability. A broad view of customer service however, makes the service process much more difficult to control. In this article, we wish to consider four specific topics. The discussion begins with the problem of control within a strategic context. It then proceeds to the approaches to control which are presently being used, including findings from study of the practices of six manufacturing firms. This discussion will then focus on development of control over customer service as strategy. Finally we will focus on the organisational issues involved.