Sequential Decisions for Location and Service Intensity by Professional Service Firms with Geographically Dispersed Clients

국문 초록 (Abstract)

프로페셔널 서비스를 제공하는 회사들은 그 서비스의 특성상 서비스 공급자의 수가 적고, 서비스를 타인에게 교육시키기가 힘들며 서비스 전달과정에 직접적으로 관여해야 할 필요성이 크다. 이러한 상황에서 회사가 넓은 지역에 서비스를 제공하려 한다면 상품의 유통과는 다른 형식의 서비스 유통망을 필요로 하게 된다. 본 연구는 프로페셔널 서비스 회사가 복수의 지역에 동시적으로 서비스를 공급하려고 할 때 어떤 지역을 선택하고 그 선택한 지역에 얼마만큼의 서비스를 할당하는가는 문제에 어떠한 변수들이 영향을 끼치는가 하는 것을 토빗(Tobit) 모형을 통해서 조사하였다.
본 연구의 데이터로는 1989년과 2001 년 사이에 미국의 암전문의들이 Visiting Consultant Clinic(VCC)라는 시스템을 통하여 전문의들 자신이 위치한 도시지역에서 떨어진 넓은 시골 지역에 서비스를 제공하는 행위가 데이터로 사용되었다.
본 연구의 결과에 의하면 서비스회사가 서비스를 제공할 지역을 결정하는 것과 그 지역에 대한 서비스 강도에 관한 결정은 비슷한 요소들에 의해서 영향을 받는데 얻을 수 있는 이익이 크고 기회비용이 적게 소요되는 곳을 우선적으로 선택할 뿐만이 아니라 그러한 지역에 서비스 강도를 더 증가시키는 것이 밝혀졌다. 또한 서비스회사는 이전에 서비스를 제공한 지역에서 지속적으로 사업을 유지하는 경향이 강했으며 과거의 서비스 강도가 현재의 서비스 강도에도 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다.
주목할 점은 서비스 회사가 지역선택과 서비스 강도를 결정하는데 있어서의 경쟁자의 영향이다. 서비스 회사가 진입하려고 하는 새로운 시장에서 경쟁자의 숫자는 진입결정에 별 영향을 미치지 않는 반면 진입 결정을 한 후 서비스 강도를 결정하는데 있어서는 기존의 경쟁자들의 서비스강도에 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 즉 경쟁자의 서비스 강도에 자신의 서비스 강도를 맞추는 경향이 있음을 밝혀졌다. 또한 경쟁자들이 위치한 본거지에 너무 가까운 지역에 대해서는 지역선택의 확률도 떨어지고 서비스 강도 역시 다른 지역에 비하여 작음이 밝혀졌다.
이 연구는 기존의 연구들이 단일 위치 선정을 중심으로 위치선정에만 초점을 맞춘 것에 비해 복수의 지역을 동시에 서비스 하는 상황에서 위치 선정만이 아니라 그 이후의 서비스 강도에 대한 결정을 동시에 고려한 모델을 수립하였다는 것에 학문적인 공헌을 하고 있다고 믿는다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The issues of inseparability, the difficulty of knowledge transfer, and the limited number of service providers requires professional service firms(PSFs) to develop unique service deliverysystems to serve geographically dispersed clients. This study examined service location and intensity decisions for a multi-location service delivery system. in other words, this study examined two inter-related questions; 1) how they chose locations in which to practice that lay outside the urban areas where their home offices resided, and 2) how much resources they allocated to the selected location. These two sequential questions are investigated with a generalized Tobit model.
This research tested hypotheses using a unique data set of medical oncology specialty group practices in the state of Iowa in the U.S. for the period 1989.2001. This study focused on the service delivery decisions made by these specialized physicians regarding practicing in rural areas near the urban center where they are located. Specifically, this study examined their decisions regarding the locations and intensity of service via visiting consulting clinics(VCC) in rural hospitals.
This study found that the practice locations in a given year were determined by the benefits of the location as well as the opportunity costs to serve that location. Furthermore, past experience played an important role in the choices made by these professional service firms. However, the data showed that the number of incumbent competitors does not affect PSF’s location decision. With respect to the level of resource allocation(service intensity) to these locations, the decisions by the PSFs in the sample of this study were driven by many of the same factors as their choices to practice there in the first place. Locations with larger client bases and lower opportunity costs enjoyed higher levels of service intensity. The PSFs also allocated more resources to locations that were not overly attracted to competitors. Although the number of competitors did not affect the choice decision, the service intensity of the incumbent competitors affects the focal PSF’s service intensity. In other words, once a PSF decides to enter the market the PSF tends to provides high level of service intensity when the competitors are allocating more resources.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION
• Ⅱ. BACKGROUND
• Ⅲ. LOCATION CHOICES AND SERVICE INTENSITY DECISIONS
• Ⅳ. EMPIRICAL STUDY
• Ⅴ. RESULTS
• Ⅵ. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
• REFERENCES

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