Service Science: The Foundations of Service Engineering and Management

Foreword

James C. Spohrer

The science of service is emerging. Undoubtedly, a journey of this complexity, striving to scientifically understand a phenomenon as fundamental and richly diverse as service phenomenon, must be explored along multiple pathways over multiple decades. Therefore, it is always a great pleasure for me to recognize and encourage those embarked on this journey. Truly, we are all students of service, learning from each other as we go.

In this volume, entitled Service Science: The Foundations of Service Engineering and Management authored by Robin Qiu, I would like to draw the careful reader's attention to three main aspects of this work.

The Pioneers: In Chapter 3, a brief overview of the evolution of service research is presented. The complexity and diversity of service phenomenon is reflected in part by the number of academic disciplines whose scholars have written on this topic. Scholars from schools of management, engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, as well as arts and humanities (service design), not to mention practitioners and policy makers in government, have all played a role in the exploration. Figure 3.5 entitled “A sustainable socio-technical process-driven service system” provides an excellent visualization of five types of capital (natural, human, social, financial, and infrastructural) and the processes that transform these resources over time. It is worth noting that each of the major scholarly schools has a primary focus on one ...