2024年5月16日发(作者：腾讯管家pc版官方下载)

管理学院 营销1001 3100806022 赵潮 (1~24)

May 1979

Look to Consumers to Increase Productivity

by Christopher H. Lovelock and Robert F. Young

When productivity is a problem in manufacturing, managers turn to the R&D department or

operations for help. In services, however, especially ones where there is a lot of contact

with the customer, such in-house groups cannot by themselves improve productivity. Because

services involve the customer in production, are labor intensive, and are time-bound,

consumer behavior itself is critical. Increasing productivity, then, becomes a matter of

changing consumer behavior and expectations, and that depends on enlisting consumer

acceptance of the change. The authors describe five instances where managers have been less

successful than they might in improving productivity in services because they did not take

the needs of consumers into account. Then, drawing lessons from these experiences, they

discuss three marketing strategies managers can employ in influencing consumers to become

a part of the service process itself.

Most people agree that low productivity is a major contributor to inflation. Lagging

productivity gains are particularly a problem for the service sector of the economy, which

now accounts for close to two-thirds of the GNP in the United States.

Low productivity afflicts all three categories of service organizations—for profit, public,

and nonprofit. In private companies, managers worry about their ability to maintain profits,

yet fear that passing on higher costs in the form of higher prices might drive away consumers.

Many public agencies find themselves with rising deficits at a time when taxpayers are angrily

demanding tax cuts; yet a strategy of service cutbacks could have serious consequences for

the welfare of disadvantaged citizens and the quality of life in general. Some nonprofit

organizations that have relied unrealistically on increased donations or higher user charges

have been hit particularly hard, some even to the point of collapse.

People usually think that improving productivity is a task for the R&D department, for the

finance committee, or for operations and personnel management. Economists tell us that the

three ways to increase productivity are (1) to improve the quality of the labor force, (2)

to invest in more efficient capital equipment, and (3) to automate tasks previously

undertaken by labor.

In this article, we are going to argue that there is a fourth component to improving

productivity in service industries—that is, to change the ways consumers interact with

service producers. This is a task that marketing—the art of demand management—can tackle

best. Service managers can use marketing tools to encourage consumers to modify their

behavior so that services can be delivered in a more productive and economically efficient

manner. Our primary focus will be on what Richard B. Chase has termed “high contact” service

systems, where there is a high level of interaction between service producers and their

customers.

1

One can divide services into two broad categories: those that do something for consumers

themselves—such as transporting them to distant locations, cutting their hair, and healing

their bodies; and those that do something for consumers’ possessions—such as transporting

their mail, cutting their grass, and repairing their cars. The former, of course, involve

a higher level of personal contact than the latter, but consumer behavior is important in

both instances, and we will consider both here. Understanding consumer behavior is the first

step in determining how to change it.

Impact of Consumer on Services

Why is consumer behavior a particularly critical factor for productivity gains in the service

sector of the economy? Three basic reasons come to mind.

First, service industries typically involve the consumer in the production process. A haircut

requires you to sit in the barber’s chair; a stay at a hotel requires that you check in

and enter your room in person; to mail a letter requires that you address, stamp, and deposit

it. If you fail to complete your bank withdrawal slip correctly and argue with the teller,

then you will slow down the service and delay other customers as well.

Second, service industries are typically labor intensive, with the service being part and

parcel of the overall “product” being purchased. Sometimes, though, consumers can do some

of the work themselves, replacing all or part of that previously done by the service employee.

Consumers now serve themselves at buffets in restaurants and dial long-distance telephone

calls directly instead of going through the operator.

Third, a service industry’s product tends to be time-bound: it cannot be stockpiled. Thus

the opportunity to sell an empty seat on the 9: flight to Boston is lost once the

aircraft takes off. Conversely, theatergoers turned away by “house full” signs cannot be

relied on to wait for the next available show. Because of the time-bound nature of service,

managers place a heavy emphasis on capacity utilization. The productivity goal is to smooth

the peaks and valleys of demand to avoid both excess demand (which cannot be satisfied) and

excess capacity (which represents unproductive use of resources).

2

In services where there is a great deal of personal contact, managers can increase

productivity by changing procedures at point of delivery. But these changes, such as

replacing a bank teller or a waiter with machines, directly affect consumers, and their