Author Description

If a firm is to survive and prosper into the twenty-first century, says Christopher Lovelock, its top management must find ways to create a "product plus organization." Product plus means knowing how to add value for all stakeholders - not just for customers but also for employees, suppliers, owners, and even the broader community. Whatever your product, service holds the key. Improving or reengineering service processes should lie at the heart of any strategy. This groundbreaking book by one of the world's leading authorities on service-driven businesses shows you how to proceed. Today's managers are under pressure to perform on many fronts: Customers demand more than quality, they want value, too; investors want profits; and employees seek more rewarding work. Experts constantly urge businesses to cut costs and increase productivity. Both problems and opportunities abound as markets become multicultural, technology develops with astonishing speed, and the evolving global economy affects even local firms. Product Plus is about creating synergy between customer satisfaction, operational productivity, and employee performance. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, Lovelock demonstrates how successful businesses enhance their core products - both goods and services - with an array of supplementary service elements that add benefits and reduce the costs of doing business for both customers and the firm itself. Costs, to customers, he emphasizes, entail more than just money - they involve time, physical effort, and hassle, too. Innovation in service delivery requires rethinking the ways in which the firm and its customers interact and then reengineering traditional processes.. With its strong international orientation, appreciation of the role of technology, and in-depth examples, Product Plus offers an authoritative and highly readable guide to creating competitive advantage.