How to Adapt Value Disciplines Model to Services?

How to Adapt Value Disciplines Model to Services?

Is this model applicable to services - how? I can visualize what a manufacturing company wanting to be "operationally excellent" or a "product leader" will do. But if it is a service company (let us say a school), what should it do to be "operationally excellent" or a "product leader". I am looking for insightful answers.

		Johan van Rijsbergen Teacher, Netherlands
	Value Strategy for Schools In my opinion schools (education) should try to adopt a customer intimacy (CI) strategy: trying a make education fit to the customer (within the boundaries of the end-grade requested). Various students have different ways of learning and the school should realize that. Universities should of course have a high level of the product leadership (PL) aspects and the operational excellence (OE) part should be at par. Many schools however through reorganisations and cutting budgets are trying to give the OE a too high domination. Others try by investing in research to give an edge on PL. But at the end of the day, if students don't feel they are regarded a valuable customer, your reputation goes down the drain and you will not be able to build a relation and no new students will enter your school. Higher and top management however often has little feeling for customer satisfaction, likes publications, and focuses on cost savings so my dream is still far away.

		A.G.SUllivan
	Customer Intimacy in Services and Schools The key research done in the development of the "D (...)

		Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Service of Value Consider: Operational Excellence is to do wit (...)