Deploying a “Good Jobs” Strategy in Service Sectors for Enhancing Competitive Advantage

Abstract

Many service companies believe that there is a trade-off between investing in employees and offering the lowest prices. They offer few benefits, no career paths, and, hence, are considered as bad jobs. Conventional wisdom holds that bad jobs are the unavoidable price of low-cost service. However, this research emphasizes that investing in people and processes actually can boost customer experience and decrease costs. The good jobs strategy is a model for investing and empowering front-line employees in service industries and revamping operations to support those employees. The good jobs strategy is an approach to improving productivity and customer satisfaction in service industries. This research works in this direction and develops various frameworks for smooth deployment of the good jobs strategy. The research also formulates financial measurement and evaluation models for calculating benefits of the good jobs strategy and provides diverse illustrations of its successful deployment.