Service Science Research and Service Standards Development

Presented at
9th International Conference on Exploring Service Science (IESS)
19-21 September 2018, Karlsruhe, Germany
Service Science Research and
Service Standards Development
Reinhard Weissinger
Senior Expert
Research and Education
International Organization for
Standardization (ISO)
Geneva, Switzerland
weissinger@iso.org
Stephen K. Kwan
Professor Emeritus
Lucas College and
Graduate School of Business
San José State University
San José, CA, USA
stephen.kwan@sjsu.edu

• What are standards?
• Some functions of standards
• Increasing importance of services
• Functions of service standards
• Service Standardization strategies of some
standards bodies
• Service standards in ISO
• Service Science Research
• Preliminary results from an ongoing research
project on service standards
Weissinger & Kwan 2018 2
2

ISO (ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004) Standard (clause 3.2)
A “document, established by consensus and approved by
recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use,
rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their
results, aimed at achieving the optimum degree of order in a given
context”.
NOTE: Standards should be based on the consolidated results of
science, technology and experience, and aimed at the promotion of
optimum community benefits.
In legal and practical terms, use of standards is voluntary (although
they may be required by market forces.) However, when standards are
incorporated in technical regulations, their use is mandatory.
3

World Trade Organization, Agreement on Technical
Barriers to Trade, Annex 1
Standard
Document approved by a recognized body, that
provides, for common and repeated use, rules,
guidelines or characteristics for products or related
processes and production methods, with which
compliance is not mandatory. It may also include or
deal exclusively with terminology, symbols, packaging,
marking or labelling requirements as they apply to a
product, process or production method
4

Source: CEBR 2015
5

Source: World Bank

Services as value
added (% of GDP)
Source: World Bank
2016
65.08%
US 77.0%
UK 70.6%
France 70.3%
EU 66.0%
Germany 62.1%
2017

1. Communication and outreach
 Help ISO members engage with their stakeholders
 Increase ISO visibility in the area
 Provide illustrative Case Studies
 Explore Product & Service linkages
2. Understanding market interests
 Identify service trade sectors that have affinity for
international service standards
 Learn from committees and market feedback
Weissinger & Kwan 2018
2016
Guide 76:2008
2016 2017
2018
Under Revision
8
ISO COMMITTEE ON
CONSUMER POLICY
(COPOLCO)

Information technology, graphics and photography 21.7%
Mechanical engineering 15.6%
Transport 12.4%
Non‐metallic materials 9.1%
Health, medicine and laboratory equipment 6.4%
Building and construction 5.6%
Food and agriculture 5.3%
Ores and metals 4.8%
Chemicals 3.8%
Special technologies 3.6%
Energy 3.2%
Sustainability and environment 3.2%
Horizontal subjects 3.1%
Freight, packaging and distribution 1%
Services 0.6%
Business management and innovation 0.2%
Security, safety and risk 0.1%
Others (directly under the ISO Technical Management Board) 0.3%
10
10

Business services,
ISO 22313
Communication
services
Construction and
related
engineering
services
Distribution
services, ISO/TC
204
Educational
services, ISO
29990
Financial services,
ISO 22222
Health related and
social services, ISO
15189
Tourism and travel
related services,
ISO 13810
Recreational,
cultural and
sporting services,
ISO 24803
Transport services,
ISO 12855
Environmental
services, ISO
24510
Others
An analysis of the content of standards results in 600 - 700
ISO standards in the service sector (around 3% of the total)
11
11

• Enable service providers to enhance their value propositions in
order to set customer expectations and facilitate choice
• Benchmarks for quality (regardless of company size) for market
entry and to remain competitive
• Reduced uncertainty and information asymmetries between
customers and service providers
• Business continuity for the service provider
• Easier mutual recognition (e.g., of qualifications, interoperability,
common performance measures, etc.) for service providers and
partners
• Facilitate service trade across borders

• Industry (Segment) Standards
• National Standard
• International Standards
• Private Standards (e.g., SLA’s)
• Company Standards
• Industry Standards
Accreditation Standards for the
Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business
ISO/IEC TR 27015:2012 — Information
technology — Security techniques —
Information security management guidelines
for financial services
13

• the service sector is very heterogeneous
• service involves typically human behaviour (both customer
and provider) which is challenging to standardize
• service is complex and difficult to standardize because it is
(mostly) intangible and there is a lot of innovation and
regulations
• Customers often wants customization instead of
standardized experience
• many service businesses are SMEs which operate locally and
independently
• the definition of ‘service’ and what is a ‘service standard’, is
still not very clear

Product Service
“Servitization”
“Productization”
15
This is where service standards can play a significant role!

 Question 1: Are there functions and features in
service standards that clearly dominate (using a
sample of ISO standards as an example)?
 Question 2: If we compare core concepts used
in service standards and compare them to
fundamental concepts in service science, can we
identify a significant degree of commonality
(which may be considered as an influence from
service science on service standards)?

 Are there functions and features in service
standards that are mainly addressed (using
a sample of ISO standards as an example)?

• In service science, a transdiscipline that studies
services and service systems, a distinction is often
made between back stage and front stage aspects of
service:
• Front Stage: Part of the service that is visible to the
customer, where service providers, employees and
customers interact directly
• Back Stage: Part of the service that is not visible to
the customer, e.g., internal operations by service
providers to prepare products and components, often
using resources provided by external infrastructures
(e.g. the Internet)
18
• In service science, a transdiscipline that studies
services and service systems, a distinction is often
made between back stage and front stage aspects of
service:
• Front Stage: Part of the service that is visible to the
customer, where service providers, employees and
customers interact directly
• Back Stage: Part of the service that is not visible to
the customer, e.g., internal operations by service
providers to prepare products and components, often
using resources provided by external infrastructures
(e.g. the Internet)
17Sources: Taboul 2005

Back Stage Front Stage
Front and Back Stage of A Service System
Sources: Kwan & Min 2009
Taboul 2005
19

• 03.060 Finances. Banking. Monetary systems.
Insurance
• 03.080 Services
• 03.180 Education
• 03.200 Leisure. Tourism
• 03.220 Transport
• 03.240 Postal services
The sample consists of 362 published standards and
91 ongoing standardization projects
20
20

• ISO 24534-1:2010, Automatic vehicle and equipment identification
-- Electronic registration identification (ERI) for vehicles - Part 1:
Architecture
• ISO/DIS 37158, Smart community infrastructures -- Smart
transportation using battery-powered buses for public
transportation systems to realize the city centers with zero-
emission of greenhouse gases and small particles, the quiet
environment and safe bus rides
• ISO 11649:2009, Financial services - Core banking - Structured
creditor reference to remittance information
• ISO/TR 25104:2008, Intelligent transport systems - System
architecture, taxonomy, terminology and data modelling - Training
requirements for ITS architecture
21
21

Use of standards for Back Stage
(Example from an IBM presentation)
ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO
50001 and OHSAS 18001
Value Proposition:
The Design, Development and Support of
Infrastructure Management Systems (IMS) and IaaS
Cloud Offerings using Local and global capabilities.
Sample Standards:

• ISO 18295-1:2017, Customer contact centres - Part 1:
Requirements for customer contact centres
• ISO/CD 20771, Legal translation services –
Requirements
• ISO/DIS 29992, Assessment of outcomes of learning
services – Guidance
• ISO 10667-1:2011, Assessment service delivery -
Procedures and methods to assess people in work and
organizational settings - Part 1: Requirements for the
client
23
23

267 standards
= 74%
75 standards
= 21%
Rest: 5% (combination of Type 1 and 2 with dominance of Type 1)
24
Service Stage 1 Service Stage 2
Service enablers: Back Stage Service Delivery/experience: Front Stage
Type 1 standards Type 2 standards

60 projects
= 66%
24 projects
= 26%
Rest: 8% (combination of Type 1 and 2 with dominance of Type 1)
25
Service Stage 1 Service Stage 2
Service enablers: Back Stage Service Delivery/experience: Front Stage
Type 1 standards Type 2 standards

 In terms of functions and features
provided by the standards, there is a clear
majority (74%) of back stage (type 1)
standards
 There is an increase of front stage (type 2)
standards among standardization projects:
Increase from 21% to 26%
26

 If we compare core concepts used in
service standards and compare them to
fundamental concepts in service science,
can we identify a significant degree of
commonality (which may be considered as
an influence from service science on
service standards)?

• 68 different definitions of the term “Service” found in ISO
standards (source: ISO Online Browsing Platform,
accessed on 2018-03-03)
• Service is the…
• “result of a process”
• “performance of activities, work or duties”
• “result of at least one activity necessarily performed at
the interface between the supplier and the customer,
which is generally intangible”
• other definitions
28

Fundamental Concepts of Service Science
Source: Kwan & Spohrer 2013
29

1. Ecology
2. Entities
3. Interactions
4. Outcomes
5. Value propositions
Sources: Kwan, Spohrer (2013)
Spohrer, Maglio (2009)
6. Governance
mechanisms
7. Resources
8. Access rights
9. Stakeholder roles
10.Measures
30

1. Provider
2. Customer
3. Information
4. Technology
5. Interaction
Sources: Kwan, Spohrer (2013)
Spohrer, Maglio (2009)
6. Outcome
7. Value proposition
8. Access rights
9. Measure
10.Value co-creation
31

Example:
 Service is the “result of activities between a
supplier and a customer, and the internal
activities carried out by the supplier to meet the
requirements of the customer”
 Service is the “result [Outcome] of activities
between [Interaction] a supplier [Provider] and
a customer [Customer], and the internal
activities carried out by the supplier [Provider]
to meet the requirements of the customer [Value
Proposition of the Provider]”
32

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
- 2 3 6 2 2 1 - - -
Number of definitions containing the concepts
33

 There is only limited commonality
between core concepts in our sample of
service standards and fundamental
concepts of service science.
 Only 4 of the selected 15 definitions of
“service” show a higher degree of
commonality with service science
concepts.
35

• Based on the analysis of a sample of ISO service
standards, the standards predominantly address the
back stage of services
• As the front stage is visible to customers to decide on
the value and quality of services, front stage
standards may help to build an understanding of the
relevance of service standards from the customers
perspective
• An analysis of definitions of “service” in ISO
standards shows only limited commonality between
the definition of fundamental concepts in service
science and in ISO service standards
36
36

Service Standards
& Standardization
Service
Science
Induce more customer-driven
orientation and alignment with
customer value expectations
and needs
Induce real-world perspectives of
service industry
Closer cooperation
between standards
developers and service
science would be
desirable. Such
cooperation could help
standards developers
from different service
sectors to obtain a
common language and
shared conceptual
frameworks that may be
useful in dealing with the
heterogeneity of services.

Relevant
Service
Standard(s)
Value
Proposition
template
Value
Proposition
Recommendation:
Apply Service standards to Service Offerings
Customer
Service
Provider

VP = [SE,B,C,P,Q,Sc,R,M,FR]
Benefits
Costs
Probability
of Success
Quality
Schema for
Data
Exchange
Stakeholders’
Roles
Performance
Metrics
Failure
Recovery
Service Experience
Sources: Kwan & Hottum 2014
Where Service Standards could be applied

Apply academic research knowledge
Relevant
Service
Standard(s)
Value
Proposition
template
Value
Proposition
Service
Science
Service-
Dominant
Logic
Recommendation:
Offer Service with Recognized Service Standard(s)
Customer
Service
Provider
Integrate Recognized
Service Standard(s)
into Value Proposition

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