Abstract

The present omnibus volume is based on results of the project “Service Engineering in the Housing Sector” conducted from 2001 to 2004 by the IZT Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment in Berlin, the IÖW Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Berlin and Heidelberg, and the University of Hannover, Department of Marketing I: Marketing and Consumer Research. In order to gain results of practical use, the research institutes cooperated with four companies: GSW Gemeinnützige Siedlungs- und Wohnungsbaugesellschaft mbH in Berlin, Gundlach Wohnungsunternehmen GmbH & Co in Hannover, ServiceHaus Service-GmbH für Modernes Wohnen und Leben in Mannheim and GBG – Mannheimer Wohnungsbaugesellschaft mbH. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Service Engineering represents a model for a systematic service development that is composed of four development phases (Situation Analysis, Service Creation, Service Design, Service Management). All articles included in this report are based on practical experiences with the cooperating housing companies reflecting various aspects of service engineering in the housing sector. The first article „Situationsanalyse und Service Creation in der Praxis“ (“Situation Analysis and Service Creation in Practice“) written by Helga Jonuschat and Michael Scharp presents an overview on different possibilities to prepare the actual Service Design phase by exploring the companies situation and relevant service ideas. Equally, the second article „ServiceHaus GmbH – Dienstleistungen ‚Rund um das Wohnen’ aus einer Hand“ (“ServiceHaus Ltd. – One-stop Home Service Provision”) written by Dirk Scheer, Gerd Scholl and Thorsten Schneider is concerned with those two first development phases that are explained by the example of an actual ICT service engineering process. Furthermore, the authors portray the service provider Service- Haus Ltd. that was founded as subsidiary by the GBG housing company in Mannheim in order to care exclusively of home service provision and development. The third article „Dienstleistungskooperationen in der Wohnungswirtschaft“ (“Service Cooperation in the Housing Sector”) written by Dirk Scheer presents all forms of institutional arrangements for a home service provision. The fourth article „Mieterbarometer: Servicequalität und Kundenzufriedenheit im Unternehmensvergleich“ („Tenants’ Barometer: Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Company Comparison“) written by Dirk Hohm and Mark Wendlandt is dedicated to the survey of customers’ satisfaction as instrument to integrate the tenants’ demands in the Service Engineering process. The authors describe survey methods on one hand and present results of an actual survey conducted during the project on the other hand. The fifth article „Mit Mietern für Mieter – Kundenintegration mit Fokusgruppen bei der Entwicklung wohnbegleitender Dienstleistungen“ („Integrating Customers in the Service Engineering Process via Focus Groups“) written by Dirk Scheer highlights another instrument for integrating customer demands. The author explains the focus group method and resumes the results created by a focus group in the project context. Finally, on basis of German and international service examples, the sixth articles „Beispiele für das Angebot von wohnbegleitenden Dienstleistungen“ („Examples for a Home Service Offer”) written by Michael Scharp and Helga Jonuschat presents the wide range of possibilities for housing companies to provide home services.

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