Ques: On what basis do you think Schmenner (1986) suggests that service managers who see themselves as unique may be 'left in the dust'?
Ans: Schmenner (1986) suggests that if service operations managers see their organisation as unique they may not benefit from the learning experiences witnessed by manufacturing companies who have traditionally looked for generic solutions. The danger for service managers is that they will be forced to reinvent the wheel if they ignore developments outside of their preconceived boundary. This may have been true when Schmenner published his article. Today most service organisations acknowledge their need for improvement and have embraced many of the approaches established by manufacturing companies. To name a few: total quality management (TQM), business process reengineering; enterprise resource planning (ERP) - such as SAP R/3.