Product & Service Design - Product and Service Customization

Background:

As is well known, interaction with the customer often affects process performance adversely. Because so many services involve interaction with the customer the human resources issues of recruiting and training can be particularly important ingredients to the success of the service process.

Questions for Thought:

1. Is the customer always right? Can you think of examples when a customer isn't always right?

2. Is there a balance between customer interaction and mass production? How do fast food establishments deal with this balance?

3. What is the responsibility of a manager and a firm for designing products and services that accommodate customers idiosyncrasies or special requirements?

4. Jack Nicholson and the waitress (Lorna Thayer) seem to have bypassed the entire "customer service" process in the video clip from Five Easy Pieces. We all know that Jack's character could have handled things better, but could the waitress have handled things better? Could the process be modified to accommodate both the customer and the waitress and in fact accommodate the process of "no substitutions" itself?