Right first time

Abstract

Ongoing research on service quality bas provided both practitioners and academics with a clearer understanding of the nature and composition of service quality. Service reliability most frequently emerges as the most important service quality dimension to the customer - usually by a considerable margin. The results of a survey with 1,000 of the 'top" service Industry firms In the United Kingdom allowed the development of a checklist and benchmark results that enable managers to assess their firms' service reliability. The findings also offer research based evidence for the often affirmed relationship between reliable service delivery and Improved business performance. Managerial Implications and recommendations are also made. Like “quality", the notion of reliability has Its roots in the physical goods manufacturing sector, where common definitions concentrate on the probability that product offerings will function satisfactorily when used according to specified conditions for specified time intervals.