Productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations : A revisit in a new service paradigm

Purpose – This article aims to look at the evolution of service management and marketing through three paradigms, the latest prescribing a new logic of service, to comment on a previously published article (Gummesson, 1998) on productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations. Design/methodology/approach – The article takes the form of a critical review on productivity, quality and relationship marketing in service operations. Findings – The article suggests that practitioners and scholars in the hospitality field should pay close attention to the new logic of service. Research limitations/implications – The analysis of the 1998 article shows that many of the essential issues are still valid but others need to be amended or dropped. When the original article is cited, it is imperative that researchers consider this. Originality/value – This article shows that the new service logic, Paradigm 3, offers a synthesis of the best of earlier research and discards what is no longer or never was viable. It is a new theory on a higher level but it has an open code and keeps developing. Scholars in the hospitality field are invited to make contributions.