Service excellence models: a critical discussion and comparison

Purpose – As customer expectations expand and as product offerings hardly differ from each other, service excellence has gained in importance as a means of enhancing customer loyalty. The aim of this paper is to focus on expanding and extending what companies can do to achieve service excellence by comparing and evaluating three popular approaches to excellence.Design/methodology/approach – The authors compare three of the most commonly used excellence models, Johnston's conceptualisation of service excellence, the EFQM Model as a representative of national quality award models and the Kano model, and their respective applicability and specific perspective on service excellence. The evaluation is based on theoretical arguments, criteria and on a qualitative expert study.Findings – Combining the selected models provides a comprehensive approach to service excellence. Since all models are compatible and complementary with each other, the analysis provides an enhanced understanding of service excellence and ...