SERVSIG conference uses services research to address refugee issues
The current influx of migrants into Europe calls for an entire ecosystem of services, which include processing asylum applications, receiving asylum-seekers, finding accommodation for legal status holders, arranging healthcare and education, and many more issues. What can we learn from the scientific insights and models developed by service marketing researchers? Can these models and insights be applied in emerging countries?
These highly topical issues will be discussed during SERVSIG 2016, which will be held in Maastricht from 17 to 19 June. This year's edition is organised by the Service Science Factory (SSF) and the Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. SERVSIG was founded in 1993 as a special interest group of the American Marketing Association.
'There's no underlying contact within the complex ecosystem of migration services,' explains Gaby Odekerken, former SSF director and professor of Customer Centric Service Science at Maastricht University. 'This makes life overly complicated for refugees. As researchers, we can identify the challenges and use them to redesign this ecosystem. We may need to develop a central communication point to facilitate mutual coordination or create a roadmap for refugees. We may also need to support service providers such as doctors and educators in their interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds.'
The programme includes presentations by local and international experts. Ruth Bolton, professor of Marketing at Arizona State University, is considered a leading international authority on transformative services, which translates services research into socially relevant issues like healthcare or the refugee crisis. The SERVSIG 2016 organisers also sought cooperation with the Maastricht refugee centre (COA) in Maastricht. Jolanda Gerbecks, a COA case manager, will introduce the plenary session on the service complexities facing migrants who enter Europe. Participants will then examine the research opportunities this presents from a scientific perspective.
A second important question is: to what extent can our models be applied to emerging countries? UM graduate Manuel Koser is the CEO of Silvertree Capital and co-founder of Zando, an online footwear and apparel retailer in South Africa. He will investigate the link between Western scientific models and African practice.
In addition to these two special sessions, the conference will also give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas about new themes, such as digital service innovation (AirBnB, Facebook, online games), smart services (in collaboration with the smart services campus in Heerlen), big data, customer loyalty, complaints management and financial services.
More information? Visit the Servigs website
