Good Service is a Strategic Problem, Not Just an Operational One

Delivering good service is not just an operational challenge; it is fundamentally a strategic one. The ability of a company to provide high-quality service is often determined by strategic decisions made long before the product reaches the customer.

How Strategy Impacts Service:

1. Product Line Complexity: A company that tries to serve too many market segments with too many product variations creates immense complexity. This "gums up the service works," as resources are spread too thin supporting low-volume widgets instead of being focused on the most important products.
2. Technology Choices: Choosing to support multiple, incompatible technologies (like three different operating systems) creates a massive service burden in documentation, training, and support. A strategic decision to simplify and standardize can dramatically improve service quality.
3. Market Focus: A strategic decision to focus on a handful of market segments simplifies the product line, reduces support requirements, and allows the company to deliver a higher quality of service to its chosen customers.
4. Sacrificing for Service: True service leadership often requires making strategic sacrifices, such as forgoing a technological edge to ensure stability (like IBM) or investing heavily in manufacturing process improvements to simplify production and improve reliability (like Japanese semiconductor firms).

Poor service is often unwittingly planned into a company's strategy. Conversely, good service is the result of a deliberate business strategy that prioritizes simplicity, focus, and the long-term needs of the customer. This is a key responsibility of leadership, as Good Service Starts at the Top.