Product details

This case is about Bobby’s Signature, a hairdressing salon founded by Mr Bobby John Ekeh, a first class graduate of Forestry, Research and Management. It is a high-profile and popular beauty salon which, although originally set up to offer unisex services, over the years evolved into a female-only salon. Its emphasis was initially on developing skilled professionals capable of offering quality and innovative hair styles, an aim which has been met. But this has brought to Bobby’s greatly increased demand for its services which it does not seem to have the capacity for. The situation has also been exacerbated by a compensation system that encourages the stylists to choose their clients. The result is long waiting times, indifferent stylists and frustrated customers. The case aims to demonstrate to students that to achieve excellence in service often requires organisations to diagnose the full set of customer expectations and to satisfy them completely b focusing on three aspects of service: the service product, the delivery process, and customer satisfaction. The competitive priorities should be articulated in the organisation’s mission statement, as should strategies to achieve them. Finally, the case highlights the importance of capacity planning and demand management in service operations.