Hard-to-copy services: research into the factors that make successful service products difficult to imitate

Doutoramento em GestãoThe received wisdom says that most successful products in the service sector are rapidly copied. However, evidence suggests that some service products are more profitable than others, irrespective of the average profitability of the industry. Thus, superior performers ought to possess something special and hard-to-copy that allows them to reap sustained superior performance and outperform their competition. In this exploratory study, the researcher has adopted the sequential mixed-method design consisting of a two-phase sequential design. The researcher started with qualitative data collection and analysis to identify potential advantages of hard­ to-copy products, using the results to design a subsequent questionnaire mailed to a number of U.K. service sectors. This study reveals that hard-to-copy products do exist in the services sector. Furthermore, they seem to out-perform typical products on a wide range of performance measures, from profitability to market share, from customer retention to growth. The fmdings show that hard-to-copy products have a distinct profile. They are likely to score highly on ten competitive factors, which can be combined under three headings: they are produced in a 'learning' culture; they provide superior branding, service and customer benefits; and they are built on innovation from the beginning. Moreover, it was found that a hard-to-copy position is protected by simultaneously perfomring well on approximately seven out of ten key competitive flictors. Arguably, it is this simultaneous performance that makes it so difficult for competition to come up with an effective copycat