Sustainable Consumer Services

Sustainable Consumer Services PDF Author: Minna Halme
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136555811
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
The goal for consumer oriented business should be to make a profit and to do it without costing the Earth. Yet exactly how to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers without contributing to environmental degradation is proving to be the essential, but elusive goal for businesses in the 21st century. The leading solution is to substitute material consumption with the consumption of services that offer consumers convenience and value but eliminate much of the inefficiency and waste associated with our throw-away society. Sustainable consumer services for households - services that are delivered to consumers at the premises such as home delivery of organic food, appliance leasing, mobile laundry services, internet marketing of homeservices or car pool schemes - provide a key part of the answer of how to reduce material consumption and waste while still turning a profit. Yet until now there has been little information to guide the development of such business models and practices, and to develop ways to make service-based consumption more attractive to consumers than object-ownership-based models. This book, equally a practical business handbook and business course text, provides the missing link in sustainable household service competitiveness by examining the issues, looking at business models, providing dozens of real-life best-practice examples and presenting data from the first large-scale consumer survey that explains consumer behaviour and what they want from home service provision. The book is an essential resource for businesses and public or nonprofit organizations and housing organizations entering the growing consumer services market. It provides a wealth of business know-how on what works and what doesn t, how to avoid potential pitfalls, and how to provide consumer services at the household level that are profitable, environmentally sustainable and that add to consumers quality of life.

Sustainable Consumer Services

Sustainable Consumer Services PDF Author: Minna Halme
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136555811
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
The goal for consumer oriented business should be to make a profit and to do it without costing the Earth. Yet exactly how to satisfy the needs and wants of consumers without contributing to environmental degradation is proving to be the essential, but elusive goal for businesses in the 21st century. The leading solution is to substitute material consumption with the consumption of services that offer consumers convenience and value but eliminate much of the inefficiency and waste associated with our throw-away society. Sustainable consumer services for households - services that are delivered to consumers at the premises such as home delivery of organic food, appliance leasing, mobile laundry services, internet marketing of homeservices or car pool schemes - provide a key part of the answer of how to reduce material consumption and waste while still turning a profit. Yet until now there has been little information to guide the development of such business models and practices, and to develop ways to make service-based consumption more attractive to consumers than object-ownership-based models. This book, equally a practical business handbook and business course text, provides the missing link in sustainable household service competitiveness by examining the issues, looking at business models, providing dozens of real-life best-practice examples and presenting data from the first large-scale consumer survey that explains consumer behaviour and what they want from home service provision. The book is an essential resource for businesses and public or nonprofit organizations and housing organizations entering the growing consumer services market. It provides a wealth of business know-how on what works and what doesn t, how to avoid potential pitfalls, and how to provide consumer services at the household level that are profitable, environmentally sustainable and that add to consumers quality of life.

Values-based Service for Sustainable Business

Values-based Service for Sustainable Business PDF Author: Bo Edvardsson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134047576
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first book on the role of values in developing and managing service companies, emphasizing sustainable business. The authors examine the role of values in forming a service culture which creates customer value.

Good Services

Good Services PDF Author: Louise Downe
Publisher: BIS Publishers
ISBN: 9789063695439
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Service design is a rapidly growing area of interest in design and business management. There are a lot of books on how to get started, but this is the first book that describes what a "good" service is and how to design one. This book lays out the essential principles for building services that work well for users. Demystifying what we mean by a "good" and "bad" service and describing the common elements within all services that mean they either work for users or don't. A practical book for practitioners and non-practitioners alike interested in better service delivery, this book is the definitive new guide to designing services that work for users.

Discovering the Soul of Service

Discovering the Soul of Service PDF Author: Leonard L. Berry
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0684830868
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book Here

Book Description
This wise and inspiring book by Leonard Berry, moves far beyond his pioneering work in services marketing and service quality to explain how great service companies meet their toughest challenge: sustaining long-term success. In a world where customers regard flawless products as a given, service is the key differentiator between competitors in any field. From Berry's exacting study of fourteen mature, highly successful, labor-intensive companies comes an astonishing revelation: the single most important factor in building a lasting service business is not a matter of savvy business practice, but of humane values. In all fourteen award-winning companies -- Bergstrom Hotels, The Charles Schwab Corporation, Chick-fil-A, The Container Store, Custom Research Inc., Dana Commercial Credit, Dial-A-Mattress, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Midwest Express Airlines, Miller SQA, Special Expeditions, St. Paul Saints, USAA, and Ukrop's Super Markets -- values-driven leadership connects with strategic focus, executional excellence, control of destiny, trust-based relationships, generosity, investment in employee success, acting small, and brand cultivation to drive customer satisfaction, innovation, and growth. Dedicating a chapter to each of these nine drivers, this book is the most far-reaching and insightful vision ever presented of the principles and step-by-step actions that continuously bring success to life in a company. Berry's comprehensive model reveals the soul that underlies the strategies and day-to-day operations of great service companies, guiding the thousands of daily decisions of individual employees. Clear, compelling, pathbreaking, Discovering the Soul of Service is essential reading for managers everywhere.

Designing Sustainable Energy for All

Designing Sustainable Energy for All PDF Author: Carlo Vezzoli
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319702238
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
This open access book addresses the issue of diffusing sustainable energy access in low- and middle-income contexts. Access to energy is one of the greatest challenges for many people living in low- income and developing contexts, as around 1.4 billion people lack access to electricity. Distributed Renewable Energy systems (DRE) are considered a promising approach to address this challenge and provide energy access to all. However, even if promising, the implementation of DRE systems is not always straightforward. The book analyses, discusses and classifies the promising Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS) business models to deliver Distributed Renewable Energy systems in an effective, efficient and sustainable way. Its message is supported with cases studies and examples, discussing the economic, environmental and socioethical benefits as well as its limitations and barriers to its implementation. An innovative design approach is proposed and a set of design tools are supplied, enabling readers to create and develop Sustainable Product-Service System (S.PSS) solutions to deliver Distributed Renewable Energy systems. Practical applications of the book’s design approach and tools by companies and practitioners are discussed and the book will be of interest to readers in design, industry, governmental institutions, NGOs as well as researchers.

Sustainability through Service

Sustainability through Service PDF Author: Adi Wolfson
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319129643
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 91

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book discusses the mutual relationship between service and sustainability. It covers methodologies and approaches and describes measurements and tools that can promote sustainability on the service market. Lastly, it presents the different applications of sustainability, together with examples of sustainable services. Environmental concerns have become integral to any decision-making process in the design and implementation of goods and services. With the increasing dominance of the service sector, and as service systems become more complex and interdisciplinary, the focus must move from the exchange of products to that of services. Newly created services should thus aim to incorporate sustainability into their designs while viewing sustainability as a service in its own right. Integrating sustainability in the service design and development process is essential to improving the sustainability of our society and preserving the environment. Moreover, doing so shifts the service boundaries from values that are focused only on personal, local, and current needs and economic profit to those that are broader and more future oriented, ultimately placing greater social and environmental responsibility on all stakeholders. In addition, it advances the current state-of-the-art in sustainable development and service design and contributes to improving the quality of life on a global scale.

Sustainable Solutions

Sustainable Solutions PDF Author: Martin Charter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351282468
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 540

Get Book Here

Book Description
Toughening environmental legislation, national and supra-national environmental product policies and growing customer demands are focusing the attention of companies on the environmental and broader social issues linked to the creation and delivery of their products and services. There is now an urgent need for appropriate management structures, practical tools and increased awareness among all stakeholders in the product development process and throughout the entire product life-cycle. These are huge issues – with major implications for corporate management, design and production strategies. Sustainable Solutions provides state-of-the-art analysis and case studies on why and how cutting-edge companies are developing new products and services to fit "triple-bottom-line" expectations. The book is split into three sections: first, the broad issues of business sustainability are examined with focus on sustainable production and consumption and consideration of North–South issues. Second, the book tackles the major methodologies and approaches toward organising and developing more sustainable products and services. Third, an outstanding collection of global case studies highlights the progress made by a wide range of companies toward dematerialisation, eco-innovation and design for durability. Finally, the book collects together a comprehensive list of web addresses of useful organisations. Practical and comprehensive, Sustainable Solutions will be essential reading for corporate managers, product designers, R&D staff, academics and all individuals interested in a definitive source on how new product and service development can and is contributing toward tacking the challenge of sustainable development.

Urban Waste and Sanitation Services for Sustainable Development

Urban Waste and Sanitation Services for Sustainable Development PDF Author: Bas van Vliet
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135051852
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Get Book Here

Book Description
Urban sanitation and solid waste sectors are under significant pressure in East Africa due to the lack of competent institutional capacity and the growth of the region’s urban population. This book presents and applies an original analytical approach to assess the existing socio-technical mixtures of waste and sanitation systems and to ensure wider access, increase flexibility and ecological sustainability. It shows how the problem is not the current diversity in waste and sanitation infrastructures and services and variety of types and scales of technology, of formal and informal sector involvement, and of management and ownership modes. The book focuses instead on the lack of an integrative approach to managing and upgrading of the various waste and sanitation configurations and services so as to ensure wider access, flexibility and sustainability for the low income populations who happen to be the main stakeholders. This approach, coined "Modernized Mixtures", serves as a nexus throughout the book. The empirical core addresses the waste and sanitation challenges and debates at each scale - from the micro-level (households) to the macro-level (international support) - and is based on the results of a five-year-long interdisciplinary, empirical research program. It assesses the socio-technical diversity in waste and sanitation and provides viable solutions to sanitation and waste management in East Africa. This book provides students, researchers and professional in environmental technology, sociology, management and urban planning with an integrated analytical perspective on centralized and decentralized waste and sanitation configurations and tools for improvement in the technology, policy and management of sanitation and solid waste sectors.

Exploring Services Science

Exploring Services Science PDF Author: Jean-Henry Morin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3642143199
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Get Book Here

Book Description
The discipline of Services Science, introduced by IBM in 2002, has emerged and matured in a true transdisciplinary atmosphere. Encompassing disciplines not only in management and engineering, it also draws from disciplines such as social and cog- tive sciences, law, ethics, economics etc. to address the theoretical and practical - pects of the challenging services industry and its economy. Services Science leverages methods, results and knowledge stemming from these disciplines towards the development of its own concepts, methods, techniques and approaches thus creating the basis for true trans-disciplinary gatherings and the p- duction of transdisciplinary results. Services Science is building a concrete framework for transdisciplinary purposes. IESS1. 0 – the First International Conference on Exploring Services Science – was the first international conference held in Europe in this domain. The conference took place during February 17–19, 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of the conf- ence was to build upon the growing community to further study and understand this emerging discipline. Academics, researchers and practitioners of all disciplines were invited to contribute their results and approaches to Services Science in a tra- disciplinary setting. In order to achieve the best possible mix of disciplines and their representation, the conference call for papers was structured around transdisciplinary service research topics including service innovation, service exploration, service - sign, service engineering, and service sustainability, and around more disciplinary oriented service contexts such as: sectors and services, IT and services, foundations of services science, and governance and management.

Sustainable Water and Sanitation Services

Sustainable Water and Sanitation Services PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780203521670
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Based on the work of the WASHCost project run by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), this book provides an evaluation of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors in the context of developing countries and is the first systematic study of applying the life-cycle cost approach to assessing allocations. It presents unit cost estimates of the WASH sector across geographic locations and technologies, including rural and peri-urban areas, and these are compared with service levels. It analyses detailed data from more than 5000 households across nine agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh State in India. Key issues assessed include poverty analysis of service levels, cost drivers and factors at the village and household level, and governance aspects such as transparency, accountability and value for money in relation to unit costs and service levels. This is the most comprehensive study of the WASH sector in India and elsewhere that utilises the life-cycle cost approach, along with GIS, econometric modelling and qualitative research methods. Not only does it contribute to research and methodology in this area, but the analysis also provides valuable insights for planners, policy makers and bi-lateral donors. The authors show how the methodology can also be applied in other developing country contexts.