Share:


Developing a new technique for determining service modularity level

    Jurga Vestertė   Affiliation
    ; Ilona Skačkauskienė   Affiliation

Abstract

This paper addresses the existing methodological gap in assessing service modularity level. The study uses a qualitative approach and develops a technique to quickly and cost-effectively determine service modularity level. The theoretical framework builds on the principles of measurement theory, evaluation theory, and multicriteria analysis (MCA). To test the developed technique, an exploratory case study was conducted focusing on three service companies in Lithuania. Data were collected by interviewing key informants using the proposed instrument. The collected data were analysed and linked to the developed multidimensional scale for measuring the service modularity level. The obtained results support the view that qualitative evaluation can be an alternative for calculating modularity indices in the field of service modularity. The paper provides a practical tool for service modularity assessment for service industry practitioners to accelerate decision-making. The study contributes to the field of service modularity by delivering insights into assessing service modularity level. These insights are particularly important because the literature on measuring modularity level in services has been quite scarce.

Keyword : service modularity level, service modularization, decision support, qualitative evaluation, evaluation techniques, case study

How to Cite
Vestertė, J., & Skačkauskienė, I. (2022). Developing a new technique for determining service modularity level. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 23(5), 1133–1154. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2022.17800
Published in Issue
Oct 14, 2022
Abstract Views
514
PDF Downloads
504
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Anderson, E. W., Fornell, C., & Rust, R. T. (1997). Customer satisfaction, productivity, and profitability: Differences between goods and services. Marketing Science, 16(2), 129–145. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.16.2.129

Avlonitis, V., & Hsuan, J. (2017). Exploring modularity in services: Cases from tourism. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 37(6), 771–790. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-08-2015-0531

Baldwin, C. Y., & Clark, K. B. (2000). Design rules: The power of modularity (4 ed., Vol. 1). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2366.001.0001

Bandalos, D. L. (2018). Measurement theory and applications for the social sciences. The Guilford Press.

Bask, A., Lipponen, M., Rajahonka, M., & Tinnilä, M. (2011). Framework for modularity and customization: Service perspective. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 26(5), 306–319. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858621111144370

de Blok, C., Meijboom, B., Luijkx, K., Schols, J., & Schroeder, R. (2014). Interfaces in service modularity: A typology developed in modular health care provision. Journal of Operations Management, 32(4), 175–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2014.03.001

Brax, S. A., Bask, A., Hsuan, J., & Voss, C. (2017). Service modularity and architecture – An overview and research agenda. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 37(6), 686–702. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-03-2017-0191

Brinkmann, S. (2013). Qualitative Interviewing: Understanding qualitative research. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199861392.001.0001

Cabigiosu, A., Campagnolo, D., Furlan, A., & Costa, G. (2015). Modularity in KIBS: The case of third-party logistics service providers. Industry and Innovation, 22(2), 126–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2015.1023012

Churchill, G. A. (1979). A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. Journal of Marketing Research, (1), 64–73. https://doi.org/10.2307/3150876

Collier, D. A. (1981). The measurement and operating benefits of component part commonality. Decision Sciences, 12(1), 85–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.1981.tb00063.x

Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychol Bulletin, 52(4), 281–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040957

DeVellis, R. F. (2017). Scale development: Theory and applications (4 ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Dörbecker, R., Böhm, D., & Böhmann, T. (2015). Measuring modularity and related effects for services, products, networks, and software – A comparative literature review and a research agenda for service modularity. In The 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, USA. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2015.167

Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. The Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 25–32. https://doi.org/10.2307/20159839

Erixon, G. (1998). Modular function deployment – A method for product modularisation [Doctoral Dissertation]. The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2004.08.006

Fitzpatrick, J. L., Christie, C. A., & Mark, M. M. (2009). Evaluation in action: Interviews with expert evaluators. SAGE Publications, Inc.

Fixson, S. K. (2005). Product architecture assessment: A tool to link product, process, and supply chain design decisions. Journal of Operations Management, 23(3–4), 345–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2004.08.006

Fixson, S. K., & Park, J. K. (2008). The power of integrality: Linkages between product architecture, innovation, and industry structure. Research Policy, 37(8), 1296–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.026

Giannakis, M., Doran, D., Mee, D., Papadopoulos, T., & Dubey, R. (2018). The design and delivery of modular legal services: Implications for supply chain strategy. International Journal of Production Research, 56(20), 6607–6627. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2018.1449976

Gremyr, I., Valtakoski, A., & Witell, L. (2018). Two routes of service modularization: Advancing standardization and customization. Journal of Services Marketing, 33(1), 73–87. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-10-2018-0285

Helgesen, Ø. (2006). Are loyal customers profitable? Customer satisfaction, customer (action) loyalty and customer profitability at the individual level. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 245–266. https://doi.org/10.1362/026725706776861226

Heskett, J. L., Jones, T. O., Loveman, G. W., Sasser, E., & Schlesinger, L. A. (2008). Putting the service-profit chain to work. Harvard Business Review, 2008(July–August). https://hbr.org/2008/07/putting-the-service-profit-chain-to-work

Jiao, J., & Tseng, M. M. (2000). Understanding product family for mass customization by developing commonality indices. Journal of Engineering Design, 11(3), 225–243. https://doi.org/10.1080/095448200750021003

Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. The Guilford Press.

Libby, R., & Blashfield, R. K. (1978). Performance of a composite as a function of the number of judges. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 21(2), 121–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(78)90044-2

Lin, B. W. (2007). Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) manufacturing strategy for network innovation agility: The case of Taiwanese manufacturing networks. International Journal of Production Research, 42(5), 943–957. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207540310001622449

Liu, Y., Wei, J., Zhou, D., Ying, Y., & Huo, B. (2016). The alignment of service architecture and organizational structure. The Service Industries Journal, 36(9–10), 396–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2016.1248417

Løkkegaard, M., Mortensen, N. H., & McAloone, T. C. (2016). Towards a framework for modular service design synthesis. Research in Engineering Design, 27(3), 237–249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00163-016-0215-6

de Mattos, C. S., Fettermann, D. C., & Cauchick-Miguel, P. A. (2019). Service modularity: Literature overview of concepts, effects, enablers, and methods. The Service Industries Journal, 41(15–16), 1007–1028. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2019.1572117

Netemeyer, R. G., Bearden, W. O., & Sharma, S. (2003). Scaling procedures: Issues and applications. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412985772

Pekkarinen, S., & Ulkuniemi, P. (2008). Modularity in developing business services by platform approach. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 19(1), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.1108/09574090810872613

Peters, V., Meijboom, B., Caspers, E., Bunt, J. E., Bok, L., van Steenbergen, M., de Vinter, P., & de Vries, E. (2022). The degree of service modularity: Implications from complex healthcare services. In The EurOMA’2022, Berlin, Germany.

Peters, V. J. T., Meijboom, B. R., Bunt, J. E. H., Bok, L. A., van Steenbergen, M. W., de Winter, P. J., & de Vries, E. (2020). Providing person-centered care for patients with complex healthcare needs: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE, 15(11), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242418

Peters, V. J. T., Meijboom, B. R., & de Vries, E. (2018). Interfaces in service modularity: A scoping review. International Journal of Production Research, 56(20), 6591–6606. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2018.1461270

Pimmler, T. U., & Eppinger, S. D. (1994). Integration analysis of product decompositions. In The ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference, Minneapolis, MN. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC1994-0034

Podvezko, V. (2008). Comprehensive evaluation of complex quantities. Business: Theory and Practice, 9(3), 160–168. https://doi.org/10.3846/1648-0627.2008.9.160-168

Poeppelbuss, J., & Lubarski, A. (2018). A classification framework for service modularization methods. Enterprise Modelling and Information Systems Architectures (EMISAJ), 13.

Pugh, S. (1991). Total design: Integrated methods for successful product engineering. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Rahikka, E., Ulkuniemi, P., & Pekkarinen, S. (2011). Developing the value perception of the business customer through service modularity. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 26(5), 357–367. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858621111144415

Rajahonka, M. (2013). Views of logistics service providers on modularity in logistics services. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 16(1), 34–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2013.767325

Salkind, N. J. (Ed.) (2010). Encyclopedia of research design. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412961288

Salvador, F. (2007). Toward a product system modularity construct: Literature review and reconceptualization. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 54(2), 219–240. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2007.893996

Skačkauskienė, I., & Vestertė, J. (2020). Tasks for service modularization planning. Business: Theory and Practice, 21(2), 813–819. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2020.12776

Sorkun, M. F., Yurt, O., & Hsuan, J. (2022). Service modularity in e-learning programs: An analysis from the perceived usefulness perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 42(5), 637–660. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-09-2021-0598

Stake, R. B. (2001). A framework for evaluating commonality. In A. Riitahuhta & A. Pulkkinen (Eds.), Design for configuration: A debate based on the 5th WDK workshop on product structuring (pp. 169–184). Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56905-0_14

Stufflebeam, D. L., & Coryn, C. L. S. (2014). Evaluation theory, models, and applications (2 ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Thevenot, H. J., & Simpson, T. W. (2006). Commonality indices for assessing product families. In T. W. Simpson, Z. Siddique, & J. Jiao (Eds.), Product platform and product family design: Methods and applications (pp. 107–129). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29197-0_7

Thevenot, H. J., & Simpson, T. W. (2008). A comprehensive metric for evaluating component commonality in a product family. Journal of Engineering Design, 18(6), 577–598. https://doi.org/10.1080/09544820601020014

Trochim, W., Donnelly, J. P., & Arora, K. (2016). Research methods: The essential knowledge base. Cengage Learning.

Tu, Q., Vonderembse, M. A., Ragu-Nathan, T. S., & Ragu-Nathan, B. (2004). Measuring modularity-based manufacturing practices and their impact on mass customization capability: A customer-driven perspective. Decision Sciences, 35(2), 147–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.00117315.2004.02663.x

Tuunanen, T., Bask, A., & Merisalo-Rantanen, H. (2012). Typology for modular service design: Review of literature. International Journal of Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Technology, 3(3), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.4018/jssmet.2012070107

Tuunanen, T., Salo, M., & Li, F. (2022). Modular service design of information technology-enabled services. Journal of Service Research, 0(0), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705221082775

Ulrich, K. (1995). The role of product architecture in the manufacturing firm. Research Policy, 24, 419–441. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(94)00775-3

Voss, C. A., & Hsuan, J. (2009). Service architecture and modularity. Decision Sciences, 40(3), 541–569. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2009.00241.x

Windheim, M. (2020). Cooperative decision-making in modular product family design. Springer Vieweg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-60715-2

Wirtz, J., & Zeithaml, V. (2018). Cost-effective service excellence. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(1), 59–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0560-7

Worren, N., Moore, K., & Cardona, P. (2002). Modularity, strategic flexibility, and firm performance: A study of the home appliance industry. Strategic Management Journal, 23(12), 1123–1140. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.276

Xiao, Y., & Zhang, H. (2021). New product advantage infused by modularity: Do resources make a difference? Journal of Product Innovation Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12590

Zopounidis, C., & Pardalos, P. M. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of multicriteria analysis. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-92828-7