The purchasing portfolio approach is often used for the classification of services. Which of the following statements about the portfolio approach is not correct?
Cleaning is an example of a leverage product.
Advertising is an example of a strategic service.
Maintenance of the green space is a routine service.
The different services are: strategic, leverage, routine and specialist services.
Services can be classified in several ways. Which of the statements below is correct?
A popular way to classify services is based on their physical characteristics.
The classification that distinguishes contact intensity, identifies three different services: professional services, service shop and mass services.
The way in which a service is classified determines how the customer and supplier should interact, after the contract has been closed.
All the statements above are correct.
Services are differentiated from goods by four basic characteristics. Which of the statements below is not correct?
Intangibility relates to the fact that services cannot be touched.
Homogeneity implies that service (exchange) can be standardized.
Simultaneity relates to the fact that services are produced and consumed at the same time.
Perishability, relates the fact that once a service is consumed it vanishes.
Several methods exist for specifying business services:
Specification of the inputs that will be used by the service provider, e.g. seasonal labour, for which the period is prescribed.
Specification of the throughputs, or the processes, that need to be in place in order to produce the requested service, e.g. the downtime of a production process for a service contract.
Specification of the outputs that need to be generated by the supplier, e.g. service level agreements.
Specification of the outcome focuses on the economic value for the customer, to be generated by the service.
In order to clarify the expectations of the service provider, a clear specification of the services is needed. Many purchasers use contracts in which Service level agreements (SLA’s) are specified. Which of the statements below is not correct?
The deliverables or results of suppliers should be carefully prescribed in qualitative parameters.
The payment of suppliers is based on compliance with the predefined service levels.
In order to use SLA’s, services should be specified properly, e.g. the specification of the inputs that will be used by the service provider.
An advantage of the use of SLA’s is that both the service provider and customer need to clarify the expected results.