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Article
Applying the Service-Profit Chain to Internet Service Businesses
Journal of Service Science Management (2009)
  • Jin-Woo Kim, Georgia Southern University
  • Michael Richarme
Abstract
Service-profit chain (SPC) is a powerful tool for evaluating the relationship between the degree of service effort and profit. This framework has been empirically tested in the banking, hospital, retail, and other brick and mortar service verticals. This paper extends the applicability of SPC to Internet-based businesses. The paper also vestigates the moderating roles of customer satisfaction and advertising spending on the service operation efficiency (SOE) and profit relationship. Analysis of U.S. Internet service providers during a seven year period from 2000 to 2006 indicates that service operations efficiency is positively associated with a firm’s profit. However, the customer satisfaction and adver-tising spending constructs are negative moderators of the relationship between service operations efficiency and profit.
Keywords
  • service-profit chain,
  • service operations efficiency,
  • customer satisfaction,
  • data envelopment analysis
Disciplines
Publication Date
June 17, 2009
DOI
10.4236/jssm.2009.22013
Citation Information
Jin-Woo Kim and Michael Richarme. "Applying the Service-Profit Chain to Internet Service Businesses" Journal of Service Science Management Vol. 2 Iss. 2 (2009) p. 96 - 106 ISSN: 1940-9907
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jin-woo_kim/19/