Internal Services: Gaps in Needs/Performance and Prescriptions for Effectiveness

Abstract

Internal services are fundamental to corporate competitiveness today. Not only do they support line functions but also are directly adding value to the company′s final offerings. However, the level of performance of internal service providers is not meeting the requirements of their users. The authors, continuing their research in this area, surveyed 300 executives on the importance and performance of internal services. They demonstrate the perceived gap between service users′ needs and service providers′ performance, try to understand why this gap exists, and offer some organisational diagnostics for identifying these gaps and prescriptions for redressing them.