Does it Really Make a Difference? On the Cultural Characteristics of Service and Production Companies

Authors

  • Balázs Heidrich University of Miskolc
  • Alíz Somogyi University of Miskolc

Keywords:

Organizational culture, Service and production organizations

Abstract

The study intends to analyze the validity of the hypothesis whether production and service organizations differ significantly. First a
service management approach is introduced. The significance of service organizations in business is proved. Further on the study
analyzes the problems of comparison between production and service firms.
In the second part of the study, results of an empirical research are shown. The survey deals with the culture of 106 organizations.
Six dimensions of comparison are used for cultural analysis: role of the leader, employees, strategy and culture, structure and coordination,
organizational climate, national cultural background.
The results show significant difference in all dimensions of organizational culture between service and production firms. Third group
of organizations, namely public service companies, seems to represent a third significant cultural group. As a conclusion it can be
said that the hypothesis is valid: there are major differences in the culture of service and production companies.

References

EVANS, J.R.- BERMAN, B.(1987) Marketing. 3rd ed.,New York, Macmillan

GRÖNROOS, C.- MONTHELIE, C.(1988) Servive management i offentliga sektorn (Service Management in the Public Sector), Liber, Stockholm

GRÖNROOS, C.(1990) Service Management And Marketing. Managing The Moments Of Truth In Service Competition, Lexington Books

HAMEL, G.(2001/4) Az IBM felébresztése: miként alakította át egy rebellis banda a nagy kéket Harvard Business Leader

HEIDRICH, B.- SOMOGYI, A.(2003) A szolgáltatás-vezetés értékalapú modellje a „köz-menedzsmentben“ , Marketing&Menedzsment

NORMANN, R.(1993) Service Management. Strategy And Leadership In Service Business, John Wiley &Sons, 2nd ed.

QUINN, J.B.- GAGNON, C.E. (1986) Will Services Follow Manufacturing In Decline?, Harvard Business Review, November-December

SCHMENNER, R.W.(1995) Service Operations Management, Prentice Hall

Published

2004-02-24

How to Cite

Heidrich, B., & Somogyi, A. (2004). Does it Really Make a Difference? On the Cultural Characteristics of Service and Production Companies. Theory, Methodology, Practice – Review of Business and Management, 2(01), 9–15. Retrieved from https://ojs.uni-miskolc.hu/index.php/tmp/article/view/1305

Issue

Section

Articles