Introduction

Service quality involves a comparison of expectations with performance. According to Lewis and Booms (1983) service quality is a measure of how well a delivered service matches the customers expectations. Generally the customer is requesting a service at the service interface where the service encounter is being realized, then the service is being provided by the provider and in the same time delivered to or consumed by the customer. The main reason to focus on quality is to meet customer needs while remaining economically competitive in the same time. Service quality is a business administration's term and describes the degree of achievement of an ordered service. Service blueprinting was initially introduced as a process control technique for services that offered several advantages: it was more precise than verbal definitions; it could help solve problems preemptively; and it was able to identify failure points in a service operation. Just as firms have evolved to become more customer-focused, so has service blueprinting. One early adaptation was the clarification of service blueprinting as a process for plotting the customer process against organizational structure. Service blueprinting was further developed to distinguish between onstage and backstage activities. This project topic is Improving Service Quality using service blueprinting. Many case studies have been opted from past to prove the statement during research process.

Motivation
Service is backbone of an industry or work. Service may refer to after sale services of any product or business and companies providing service as product like logistics, airliners, mobile. In every case managing service quality is major goal for any company. This project is concerned to improvement of service quality using innovative service blueprinting techniques. As service is primary for consumers so I have choose the project to do on Improving Service Quality using service blueprinting

Objectives of the project

Main Objective To analyze use of service blueprinting in improving service Quality.

Sub Objectives To study various aspects of service and service marketing To understand need and spheres of improvement in service of different sectors To study use of Service blueprinting basics To study impact of service blueprinting on Service improvement

Scope
Use of service blueprinting through various case studies will help companies to understand its need of application on their service section.

Description of the research Research Problem

Research problem of this research can be stated as How service quality can be improved using service blueprinting. In this research various case studies of national an international companies are discussed to understand why and how service blue printing can be applied to improve service quality.

Solution Methodology
My research Contains following steps of sets which comprises this research: 1. Design the case study, 2. Conduct the case study, 3. Analyze the case study evidence, and 4. Develop the conclusions, recommendations and implications.

Case study research excels at bringing us to an understanding of a complex issue or object and can extend experience or add strength to what is already known through previous research. Case studies emphasize detailed contextual analysis of a limited number of events or conditions and their relationships. This introduction to case study research draws upon their work and proposes six steps that should be used:

Determine and define the research questions Select the cases and determine data gathering and analysis techniques Prepare to collect the data Collect data in the field Evaluate and analyze the data Prepare the report

Data Source Secondary Data

From websites, Company Journals, Magzines and News Paper Type of Research Case Study Method

Research Method It is best to use multiple cases in our study as this provides more evidence. In this report I will present least 4 case studies to prove my point.

Preparation & Collection of Data Data was collected through published material found in publications, books, magazines and internet.

Brief about Stimulation

My research contains following headings: Introduction This contains a brief of my research

Objectives of Project Scope of Project Conceptual review about service, service marketing and Service Blue Printing Research Methodology Case study Analysis & Interpretations Findings Conclusion Suggestions Reference

Case Study Briefs

Yellow Transportation From Worst to First
Yellow Transportation is the largest subsidiary of YRC Worldwide, a multi-billion dollar trucking and logistics business. In 2007, for the 5th year in a row, YRC

Worldwide was ranked first in the trucking industry among Most Admired Companies by Fortune Magazine. But, this was not always the case. As recently as 1997, the company was ranked at the bottom of its industry in Fortunes annual least-admired companies list. In the intervening years many remarkable changes have taken place for the

company. These included top-managements sharing of a new customer-focused vision with all employees in the company through in-person visits and innovative meetings, creative videos, and constant reminders. Initiation of an effective customer-feedback process, investments in service recovery and complaint management, and huge investments in technology support that affected everything from dispatch to how dockworkers load and unload freight to customer information systems were other significant changes. Simple changes also made a difference. For example, changing marketing titles from product marketing to service marketing helped employees see their jobs as more customer-centric according to Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions and Chief Marketing Officer for YRC Worldwide, Greg Reid. As a result of the changes, YRC has been the recipient of many awards including kudos for innovation, technology infusion, and customer focus.

ARAMARK Parks & Resorts ARAMARK is a global leader in professional services, operating as an outsourcer for everything from food, hospitality, facility management, and uniform services, working with businesses, universities, healthcare organizations, parks and resorts, convention centers and other groups. It was ranked first in its industry among Fortunes Most Admired Companies; the company has approximately 240,000 employees serving clients in 19 countries. One of its divisions is ARAMARK Parks and Resorts, a group that provides services for 17 major park destinations within the U.S. including Denali National Park in Alaska, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, and Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area of Arizona to name just a few. Each of the parks has at least three or four service businesses within it that ARAMARK operates on an outsourcing contract.

IBM To analyze a recent IBM service innovation, Sara Moulton Reger of IBM Service Research documented the case using two service system analyses. The purpose of the analyses was to identify lessons learned for making IBMs service innovation process more efficient, effective and faster. The innovation, called Tangible Culture,is a set of new concepts and techniques to address business culture issues. It was also a collaborative effort between IBMs

consulting unit and IBM Service Researcha partnership that the company seeks to enhance and use creatively in the future. How could this complex, multi-year, indirectlyfunded innovation inform IBM on future innovations outside its core technology arena?

The first service system analysis adapted a socio-economic service system approach, which specifies the service provider, service client, and the service itself along with relationships, responsibilities, ownership, and interventions. The second analysis used the service blueprinting approach. Although both approaches were helpful, for this purpose, the service blueprinting approach proved superior for several reasons. First, the time dimension and general sequence of the multiple tasks were clarified, which was important because the innovation spanned four years. Second, the backstage and

supporting processes were included, which highlighted an invisible yet vital part of the overall process. Third, the iterative and ongoing nature of some of the tasks was possible to depict, providing a view into the activities that may be especially important for future service innovations. Finally, the details of the partnership between the research and consulting units were clarified, enabling a clearer view of how the two organizations coproduced the innovation and its business value. Through the service blueprinting process, IBM was able to identify some important lessons to use for future service innovations. Specifically, it became clear that creating the innovation itself was a relatively small part of the overall process. Instead, most of the process set about exploiting the innovation and getting it adoptedthus emphasizing those activities in accomplishing the full innovation process. Also, the vital role of the backstage and supporting processes became apparentelements that were readily available for members of IBM Research.

Conclusion

Despite the dominance of services in modern economies, and their rapid growth worldwide, it is surprising how little research and how few methods and techniques exist to address the unique challenges of service innovation. Here I have presented how tos, successful cases studies, and the benefits of one such customer-focused service innovation techniqueservice blueprinting. From our experience we know how useful and versatile this approach is for organizations of all sizes and for strategic as well as tactical decisions. The uniqueness of the technique when compared to other process techniques is its unrelenting focus on the customer as the center and foundation for innovation, service improvement, and experience design. That doesnt mean that customers are the source of innovation, but rather that value to the customer (broadly construed) is the central purpose of innovation. I hope that by capturing what is already known about blueprinting and sharing our experience and relevant case studies we will inspire broader adoption of the technique as well as creative extensions that will further enhance its value to service managers and to researchers from multiple disciplines.

References

CACM Journal (Communications of the ACM), Special Issue on Service Science, July 2006; Journal of Retailing Special Issue on Service Excellence,Vol. 83, Issue 1, 2007.

H. Chesbrough, The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2005, Harvard Business Review; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Report on Promoting Innovation in Services, October 14, 2005, pp 1-52.

The Worlds Most Innovative Companies, Business Week, May 4, 2007. J. Hauser, G.J. Tellis and A.Griffin, Research on Innovation: A Review and Agenda for Marketing Science, Marketing Science, 25 (November/December 2006), pp. 687, 34 pages.

S.L. Vargo and R.F. Lusch, Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing, Journal of Marketing, 68 (January, 2004) pp. 1-17.