Design of service systems using a knowledge‐based approach
Maya Kaner, Reuven Karni · Knowledge and Process Management · 2007
Abstract The service industry makes up an increasingly large proportion of modern economies. Despite the importance and expansion of this sector the topic of new service development, as opposed to new product development, has been largely neglected. One of the crucial steps in new service development is the conceptualization of a service concept: a qualitative description of a future service system in terms of its objects, their attributes, and possible values for these attributes. Our knowledge framework, as described in the following paper, encompasses a five‐level taxonomy of service objects: major class, main class, minor class, attribute, and value. We further suggest several knowledge‐based processes for applying the framework to the conceptual design of a new service, drawing upon model‐based reasoning and case‐based reasoning. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.