Defining the scope of service operations management: an investigation of the factors that affect the span of responsibility of the operations department in service companies

This paper deals with the definition of the scope of Operations Management (OM) in service companies. Operations, in service companies, are often dispersed throughout the organization and so it is difficult to understand where OM tools and practices can be applied and who should be in charge of their implementation. Starting from the assumption that the actual scope of service operations is influenced by the degree of variety of the offering and of variability of the delivery process, the paper analyzes three case studies in an attempt to understand whether and why operations, in these companies, include different activities. The paper argues that three factors affect the perceived scope of OM, namely: the dominant culture; the existence of industry-specific regulations; the endowment of facilities.