服務業的重要性在過去的三十年間變得越來越為突出，因為服務幾乎佔據了多數發達經濟體國內生產總值的絶大部分，而傳統上以製造業為主的國家現在也開始在服務行業有突飛猛進的增長。與此同時，服務創新被看作是“下一個重大事件“，但是目前關於創新的研究卻仍集中于製造業的創新，而缺乏對比服務創新和製造業創新並且聚焦于服務創新和新服務開發活動的實證研究。本篇論文致力於消減這樣的不足，以實證的方式通過三個不同的研究探討了若干關於服務創新的研究問題，其資料來源於組織層面686家服務企業及1646家製造企業的資料、專案層面從一個大型多部門的中國服務企業獲得的關於多個新服務開發專案的資料。 / 研究1從服務主導邏輯和資源基礎觀出發，以實證研究方式探討並比較了顧客導向對於服務創新和製造業創新的不同影響。該研究主要涉及兩個研究問題：1）顧客導向是否正向影響服務創新性和產品創新性，而這樣的影響在服務企業和製造企業中有何不同表現？2）供應商合作和技術能力是否作為仲介變數影響了顧客導向和服務/產品創新性之間的關係，而這種影響是否在服務企業和製造企業中表現的不同？通過對於這兩個問題的實證研究，本文對服務創新對比製造業創新、以及服務主導邏輯方面的文獻和理論做出了貢獻，並且也為製造企業和服務企業的決策者提供了一些管理啟示。 / 研究2通過分析來自於中國一家大型移動電訊運營商的70個新服務開發專案，借鑒並擴展了現有服務創新研究。該研究首先試圖證實一個現有的關於服務創新的分類法，接著又通過實證研究的結果延伸了該分類法，最後提出了一些關於不同種類服務創新的假設並初步驗證了這些假設。該研究的結果對於服務創新分類有理論貢獻，也對如何在網路環境下管理新服務開發活動有著啟示。 / 研究3 是建立在研究2基礎上的跟進研究。通過使用多案例研究方法，探討了服務創新如何在大型組織中進行推廣。該研究關注三個問題：1）哪些組織因素影響了服務創新的成功推廣？2）服務創新的種類如何影響其推廣，而不同種類的服務創新又該如何相應地推廣？3）開發和推廣團隊的轉變如何影響服務創新的推廣？本研究從研究2涉及的70個服務創新專案中挑選了10個作為案例，每個均採取了有時間跨度的縱向案例研究。本研究對服務創新推廣相關文獻和理論做出了貢獻，亦為服務企業尤其是具有多個業務部門及分公司的大型服務企業的經理人們提供了管理啟示。 / The importance of service sector has grown significantly over the past three decades as services dominate the majority of GDP in most advanced economies and even countries that historically focused on manufacturing are now growing rapidly in services. Meanwhile, service innovation has been regarded as “the next big thing, but the majority of innovation research still focuses on innovation in manufacturing. There is a scarcity of empirical studies to address the differences between service innovation and manufacturing innovation and to focus on service innovation and new service development activities. This thesis is an effort to remedy that deficiency by empirically addressing several major issues about service innovation with three studies, based on organizational-level data collected from 686 service companies and 1646 manufacturing companies and project-level data of new service development projects collected from a large multi-units service company in China. / In Study 1, the impact of customer orientation on service innovation and manufacturing innovation has been empirically investigated and compared through the theoretical lens of service-dominant logic and resource-based view. This study mainly addresses two research questions: 1) Does customer orientation positively relate to both service and product innovativeness and how does this effect differ between service and manufacturing firms? 2) Do supplier collaboration and technological capability mediate the relationship between customer orientation and service/product innovativeness differently in service firms and manufacturing firms? By empirically addressing these two research questions, this study contributes to the literature on service versus manufacturing innovation and service-dominant logic, and provides some managerial implications for decision makers in both manufacturing firms and service firms. / Study 2 builds on and extends extant service innovation research by investigating 70 new service development (NSD) projects of a large mobile telecom firm in China. This study first seeks to validate an existing taxonomy of service innovation, and then seeks to extend the taxonomy, grounded on the empirical research findings. Finally this study develops propositions concerning service innovation types and provides preliminary empirical investigation. Results from the analyses contribute to the literature on the taxonomy of service innovation and provide insightful implications as how to manage the NSD activities in the network environment. / Study 3 is a follow-up study of the second study. This study uses a multiple-cases research design to study the deployment of service innovations in a large organization. Three important research questions are addressed: 1) what are the organizational factors leading to successful deployment of innovations? 2) How does the type of service innovation influence the deployment and how should different types of innovation be deployed accordingly? 3) How does the change of development and/or deployment team influence the deployment of innovations? 10 cases out of the 70 service innovations covered in Study 2 are selected and a longitudinal case-study approach is employed. This study contributes to literature of service innovation deployment and provides managerial implications for managers in service firms, especially those large service firms with multiple units or subsidiaries. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wang, Qiang. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-128). / Abstract also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.I / ABSTRACT (CHINESE) --- p.IV / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.VI / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.VIII / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.XI / LIST OF TABLES --- p.XII / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- The Definition and Characteristics of Service --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Service Innovation and New Service Development --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Service Innovation versus Manufacturing Innovation --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Taxonomy of Service Innovation --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- Mainstream Theories Being Used in Service Innovation --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Service-dominant logic (SDL) --- p.15 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Resource-based view (RBV) --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Dynamic capabilities view (DCV) --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Other theories or perspectives --- p.19 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- THE EFFECTS OF CUSTOMER ORIENTATION ON PRODUCT/SERVICE INNOVATIVENESS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE FIRMS --- p.24 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.24 / Chapter 3.2 --- Theoretical Background and Literature Review --- p.27 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Service versus manufacturing innovation --- p.27 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Customer orientation --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Service-dominant logic --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3 --- Research Framework and Hypotheses --- p.35 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- The effect of customer orientation on innovation performance --- p.36 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- A customer-centric model of firm resources --- p.32 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- A comparison of the model in service versus manufacturing firms --- p.42 / Chapter 3.4 --- Research Methodology --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Measures --- p.45 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Sampling and data collection --- p.49 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Respondent profile --- p.50 / Chapter 3.5 --- Analysis and Results --- p.52 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Non-response bias and common method bias --- p.52 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Reliability and validity --- p.53 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Hypotheses testing results --- p.55 / Chapter 3.6 --- Discussion and implications --- p.57 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- Theoretical implications --- p.57 / Chapter 3.6.2 --- Managerial implications --- p.60 / Chapter 3.6.3 --- Limitations and avenues for future research --- p.61 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- A TAXONOMY OF SERVICE INNOVATION BASED ON ANALYSES OF NEW SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN A MOBILE TELECOM FIRM --- p.63 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.63 / Chapter 4.2 --- Theoretical Background and Research Propositions --- p.65 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Service innovation and its typology --- p.65 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- The relationship between different service innovation types --- p.68 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Service innovation type and collaboration --- p.69 / Chapter 4.3 --- Methodology --- p.70 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Research design and level of analysis --- p.70 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Data collection --- p.72 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Data analysis method --- p.74 / Chapter 4.4 --- Results --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- The taxonomy of service innovation --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- A refined taxonomy of service innovation --- p.79 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- External collaborations and duration of projects --- p.81 / Chapter 4.5 --- Discussion and Conclusion --- p.83 / Chapter 4.6 --- Limitations and Future Research --- p.86 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- THE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF SERVICE INNOVATIONS: A LONGITUDINAL CASE STUDY --- p.89 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.89 / Chapter 5.2 --- The Deployment of Service Innovation --- p.90 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- The locus of service innovation --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- The deployment of different types of service innovation --- p.94 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- The organization for deployment --- p.96 / Chapter 5.3 --- Research Method --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Empirical case research --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- The deployment of service innovations studied --- p.100 / Chapter 5.4 --- Results --- p.102 / Chapter 5.4.1 --- An overview of the deployment outcomes --- p.102 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- The locus of the service innovations --- p.103 / Chapter 5.4.3 --- The three types of service innovation --- p.105 / Chapter 5.4.4 --- The organization for the deployments --- p.106 / Chapter 5.5 --- Discussion and Conclusion --- p.110 / Chapter 5.6 --- Limitations and Future Research --- p.113 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- CONCLUSION --- p.115 / Chapter REFERENCES --- p.118 / Chapter APPENDIX A. --- MEASUREMENT ITEMS FOR STUDY 1 --- p.129 / Chapter APPENDIX B. --- THE CASE RESEARCH PROTOCOL FOR STUDY 3 --- p.131

A survey was undertaken for a contract cleaning company in Durban. In order to preserve the confidentiality of the information contained in this dissertation, a fictitious name, Kleen Co, has been used. The aim of the survey was to find further similarities within the existing segments. At present, the traditional geographic and industry-type bases of segmentation (namely healthcare, hospitality, offices and shopping centres in various regions) are used. Recent literature suggests that similarities can be sought in three areas: 1. expectations of service; 2. perceptions of service; 3. unique benefits of the service. In the survey, clients were asked to rate their expectations and perceptions for six attributes (price of the cleaning service, customer service, quality of cleaning, innovativeness of cleaning methods, assessment of cleaning requirements, and consistency of the cleaning service) . They were also asked to rate the relevance of four reasons for outsourcing (cheaper to outsource, need for specialised cleaning, company policy to outsource, and labour problems). The results indicate that price and innovation can be used as further bases for segmentation for the following segments: • offices and healthcare have the same high expectation for price; healthcare and hospitality have the same high expectation for innovation; • shopping centres and hospitality have the same low expectation for price; • offices and shopping centres have the same low expectation for innovativeness; • healthcare and hospitality have the same high perceptions for price and innovation; • offices and shopping centres have the same low perceptions for price and innovation. For outsourcing are concerned, the following reasons were found: • offices: all reasons are relevant except for price of service. • healthcare: need for specialised cleaning and labour problems are relevant; price of service and company policy are irrelevant; • shopping centres: price of service and company policy are relevant; need for specialised cleaning and labour problems are irrelevant. • hospitals: all reasons are relevant except company policy to outsource. Although the main aim of the survey was to identify new segments, client satisfaction was also measured. Clients were asked whether they had raised a complaint with the company and, if so, how satisfied they were with the outcome. This was done in order to test the loyalty of clients, the hypothesis being that the longer the client had been with Kleen Co, the more satisfied they would be with the outcome of their complaints - and more loyal. However, the data reflect that clients who have been with the company for more than four years are no more satisfied in this regard than clients who have been with the company for shorter periods of time. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Call Centres employ frontline staff commonly known as service consultants who interact with customers within the service oganisation.In order for organizations to ensure that they derive satisfaction from interactions with frontline employees as part of their main objectives, they make use of a human resource practice widely known as performance appraisals or assessments in order to determine if employees’ performance during their interactions with customers produce organization’s desired outcomes i.e. satisfied customers. Organizations use performance appraisals for multiple purposes chiefly amongst them being developmental and administrative. This study sought to investigate perceptions held by employees towards the purposes or objectives of the system employed in their organization to assess their service interactions with customers, their perceptions of fairness of the system, and how such fairness relates to their satisfaction with the assessment outcomes. A survey approach was used to collect data and the instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire. There were 410 questionnaires distributed via email to employees working within service assurance call centres situated in Bloemfontein, Cape Town and Gauteng. A total of 117 questionnaires were returned by the respondents. Data collected was managed and analysed using the SPSS program. The findings of the study indicated that employees perceive the uses of assessing their service interactions with customers as both developmental and administrative, perceive fair outcomes and procedures used in determining the outcomes, they are satisfied with assessment outcomes, view the system used to assess their interactions as effective and trustworthy. The fairness of outcomes and procedural fairness variables were found to be strongly and positively related to satisfaction with assessment outcomes. Both fairness variables were found to have a unique contribution towards the prediction of the satisfaction with assessment outcomes variable. The main recommendation of the study is that management need to consider increasing fairness in the decisions involving employees’ performance as it has been found that such increase results in a positive increase on the employees’ satisfaction with outcomes generated from the assessment or evaluation of their service interactions with customers. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

The Department of Health adopted the District Health System as a means to unify South Africa's fragmented health services into a comprehensive, integrated National Health System (NHS). The Primary Health Care (PHC) approach is the driving force in promoting equity and accessibility to essential PHC services. Successful implementation of the PHC approach is in part, dependent on the availability of essential drugs, which impacts on patient quality of care and well-being. According to a report compiled by Pillay, McCoy and Asia in 2001 , the pharmaceutical component of the health sector reflected deficiencies in terms of the lack of equity in access to essential drugs, irrational use of drugs, poor security and cost-ineffective procurement and logistic practices. This study utilised a case study approach to examine the suitability, acceptability and feasibility of implementing a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health (KZNDOH) the private provider, to improve pharmaceutical service delivery at provincial PHC clinics in the Ethekwini South Sub-District (ESSD). Participative observations and semistructured interviews conducted at PHC clinics in the target area provided valuable insight into problems of drug management supply, adherence to effective and rational prescribing and dispensing practices and additional training needs of the nurses. This study found the proposed PPP complementary to the mission and objectives of the Provincial DOH and suitable within the socio-political environment, in which the private provider operates. Recommendations were made to improve upon weaknesses inherent in the value chain and address deficient resources, capabilities and competences necessary to attain the PPP's critical success factors. The implementation of the proposed PPP rests on the ability of the private provider, to prove to the Provincial DOH and the National Treasury that the PPP is affordable, represents value for money and is in keeping with the goals of the NHS. Therefore, recommendations for management of these and other key stakeholders were made. On completion of all necessary modifications to the proposed model, the revised PPP to improve pharmaceutical service delivery at PHC clinics in the ESSD was found to be suitable, acceptable and feasible to both the KZN DOH and the private provider. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Service Management (SM) is an integrated, cyclical and collaborative approach to the management of service requirements and levels. It involves the definition of client expectations, the satisfying of those expectations and the perpetual refining of the business agreement (Sturm 2001). SM in the ICT sector is a comprehensive process that extends beyond the development of Service Agreements (SAs). A number of identifiable steps constitute the progressive implementation of a managed services environment, the key components of which are a readiness to provide services, the accurate elicitation, management and satisfying of client requirements and the continual improvements to the business relationship. Unfortunately, a number of SM initiatives fail. These failures can be attributed to a lack of SM understanding, the absence of a fully implemented SM strategy, poor communication and people issues. This research describes an investigation of SM implementation. A number of recognised frameworks are explored and critically analysed. The common strengths of these frameworks and the results of an exploratory pilot study are used to construct an SM implementation framework. This framework is then tested empirically by means of an online survey, and revised in the light of the results of this survey. The framework comprises two distinct phases, namely a Foundation phase and a Managed Services phase. The Foundation phase comprises 8 critical preparatory activities that take a service provider to state of readiness to provide and manage ICT services. The Managed Services phase comprises 5 key cyclical steps for the management of ICT services, including Planning, Analysis, Design, Implementation and Review.

SAs are documents that specify the business relationship between stakeholders to an outsourcing agreement. SAs specify this relationship in a legally binding manner that assists in managing expectations of the stakeholders about the service provision. According to Verma (1999), an SA is a precise statement of the expectations and obligations that exist in a business relationship between two organisation: the service provider and the client. In order for organizations to have successful outsourcing partnerships, they need well crafted methods of developing Service Agreements (SAs). Successful methods will produce a conclusive contract that will act as a working document that details the spirit of cooperation between the service provider and the service recipient. This research investigates the development of SAs in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector, and proposes a model for their development. A number of models for SA development have been analysed. Models are analysed from leading researchers in the area, from software houses such as Microsoft and from international standards organisations such as the BS15000 which stipulates the ITIL framework. Eight development principles are identified and explored. An investigation into SAs and their development is conducted. A model is proposed that is composed of the development principles. The development of SAs was explored in an empirical study by means of a survey administered to industry practitioners and a series of interviews with managers in the ICT industry. The results of the study indicate varying levels of support for the development principles and limited relationship between the development principles and the success of the SA, as defined by the number of changes made to the SA after it is completed.

This was accomplished by first examining the nature of competitive strategies within the lodging industry. Subsequently the relationships among competitive strategies, three dimensions of organization structure, company size, and five measures of firm performance were examined. Furthermore to more rigorously control for environmental effects this analysis was undertaken for the industry as a whole as well as within four distinct subsegments of the industry. Six hypotheses were developed, that dealt with the nature of competitive strategy types; and the relationship among strategy types and 1) the degree of organization structure, 2) organizational performance, and 3) organization performance where a strategy/structure match had been achieved. The findings of this study tend to indicate that the nature of the industry or environment in which organizations compete may be an important factor in determining the content of competitive strategies employed in that environment. Furthermore, not only do industry characteristics tend to affect the content and appearance of competitive strategy profiles, but different segments within an industry also impact the appearances of different competitive profiles. However, the perspective that organizational variables are in a direct relationship with contextual variables is not supported by this study. The critical link appears to lie in the decision makers evaluation of the organization's environment and the choices they consequently make regarding the organization's competitive strategy and its internal structure. The structure that is appropriate to a particular competitive strategy profile is not constant. Rather, the nature of the operating environment intervenes in the appropriate strategy/structure "match" relationship. Organizational performance is contingent upon a "match of the strategic choices of strategy and structure, but the "appropriate " choice appears to be modified by subenvironmental factors. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An investigation of the servicisation phenomenon and its influence on the product life cycle of high technologically manufactured goods. Rising demand for services and ongoing commoditisation of goods has forced businesses to purse alternatives to differentiate themselves in the market place. This has renewed interest to reposition the unit of exchange from a goods dominant to a service dominant perspective. Although applicability of the product life cycle as a marketing tool has often been questioned, it continues to form a fundamental building block of marketing theory. The purpose of this research report was to determine whether the servicisation phenomenon can be utilised as part of corporate strategy to extend the product life cycle of high technological goods. The primary objective was to gain new insight into the interesting and profitable combination of goods and services within the goods manufacturing industry. The main focus was to test whether a service dominant business model can extend the product life cycle. A case study of the product life cycle of the Apple iPod versus Creative’s digital media player value offerings was analysed. The main finding was that the iPod as opposed to Creative’s media player, did show signs of a longer product life cycle in the role of a service delivery vehicle. The service dominant business model has created many alternative revenue streams for Apple. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Ondersoek oor die dienste verskynsel en die invloed daarvan op die produkleefsiklus van hoë tegnologiese goedere. ‘n Toename in die aanvraag na dienste, en voortdurende omskepping van verbruikersartikels in kommoditeite, forseer besighede om na alternatiewe te soek om hulself in die markplek te differensieer. Daar is dus nuwe belang om die eenheid van handel te herdefinieer vanuit ‘n diens perspektief teenoor die tradisionele goedere een. Alhoewel die toepaslikheid van die produkleefsiklus, as ‘n instrument vir bemarkingsbesluitneming, talle keer bevraagteken is, bly dit ‘n hoeksteen van bemarkingsteorie. Die doel van hierdie navorsingsprojek was om te bepaal of die dienste verskynsel gebruik kan word in korporatiewe strategie om die produkleefsiklus te verleng. Die hoof doelwit was om nuwe insig te kry oor hoe ‘n produk en dienste gekombineer kan word om winste van vervaardigers te verbeter. Die hoof fokus was om te toets of ‘n diensgesentreerde besigheidsmodel die produkleefsiklus kan verleng. ‘n Studie van die produkleefsiklus van Apple se iPod is gedoen teenoor dié van Creative se digitale mediaspeler. Daar is bepaal dat die iPod, teenoor Creative se mediaspeler, wel tekens van ‘n langer produkleefsiklus toon, in die rol van ‘n diensleweringsinstrument. Dié diens gesentreerde besigheidsmodel voorsien Apple van vele alternatiewe bronne van inkomste.

This dissertation presents innovative demand management techniques for service systems with limited resources. The first study analyzes demand management policies of animal shelters with limited Kennel space as a set of interacting stochastic queueing systems. In practice, there are two main policies being used, which we call "Kill" and "No-Kill" policies. In a "Kill" system, animals may be euthanized if a shelter is full. Many shelters have moved to a "No-Kill" policy, where they avoid killing for space and adopt other approaches to reduce supply and demand mismatch. Our goal is to provide insights on how No-Kill policies, such as coordination, adoption and neutering campaigns, help reduce the animals' killing rate so that the shelter management can choose the way to effectively solve their problems. In the second part, we consider a topic of demand management for the Sports and Entertainment (S&E) industry, called "Scaling the house", i.e., how to divide seats into zones for different prices to maximize revenue across the venue. From the data obtained from several performance venues in the U.S., we find ticket demand is impacted by locations of seats as well as by price. We characterize closed-form solutions for the optimal two-dimensional zoning decision (with row and column cuts) and the one-dimensional decision (with row cuts), and explore when each model should be applied. The third study considers pricing as a tool to manage demand for the S&E tickets. We develop dynamic pricing with demand learning models where demand is also affected by time left until the show dates. Since the show's popularity is usually uncertain to the seller, we propose a method to learn the overall popularity via Bayesian updates. We perform computational experiments to understand properties of the model solutions and identify when demand learning is most beneficial.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Indianapolis is considered by many a competitive, large population city with incredible resources for business conferences and event tourism. The city’s flagship event, The Indianapolis 500, has paved the way for the city’s success. With initiative, planning, construction, and implementation the city’s tourism prowess has grown over the past three decades. Indianapolis has become host to a plethora of mid-size and large conferences every year, a regular on the host circuit for the NCAA Final Four, host of the annual Big Ten basketball tournament and most recently the host of the 2012 Super Bowl. Indianapolis continuously attempts to bring in more events every year. Not many residents get to see, or are even aware of, the associates busy at work attempting to fill hotel rooms, conference centers and stadiums. The Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) of the city are constantly working and tweaking strategies to increase exposure and get tourists excited about visiting Indianapolis. However, it is difficult to identify what truly separates Indianapolis as a tourist destination from any other competitive, second-tier population, landlocked city. Centrality within the country and the tourism infrastructure may be argued, but a representative from nearly any city in competition with Indianapolis may make a counterpoint to most resources. Instead of running in circles with this argument, this thesis looks to probe into a resource for Indianapolis that could be turned into a strong marketing tool for tourism: its employees. The overall purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of resident contact employees in the food service and lodging industries concerning Indianapolis’ tourism attributes, and their relation to Indianapolis’ destination marketing and managerial strategies.