Cycles of genocide, stories of denial : Atom Egoyan's Ararat

This article focuses on Atom Egoyan's Ararat and explores how, through a convoluted narrative structure, Egoyan grapples with denial of the Armenian Genocide and the consequences of those denials for present generations—both Turkish and Armenian—illuminated in the film as an extension of the genocide. Egoyan uses a film-within-a-film to move beyond a popular definition of genocide as mass killing alone and links the understanding of stories, truths, and perspectives in everyday life to the dehumanizing acts of genocide. Employing the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas’ ethical theory of the Other (the ethical) and philosophical understandings of ontology (dehumanization) to illuminate the genocide and its ongoing denial, this article contends that Egoyan's focus on the generations of genocide survivors points to the ethical responsibility to one another that underlies everyday lives and sits at the heart of what is absent in the acts of genocide.

Service innovation in Australia : a preliminary exploration of the Cinderella sector

Service innovation is of increasing importance in the Australian economy, yet it remains a largely neglected area of study. Recent studies overseas have shown that services are becoming more engaged with innovation, and that service innovation is complex and multi-dimensional. Official R&D and business innovation statistics in Australia are examined, and they reveal that service providers across all service industries in Australia are performing R&D and are actively innovating, a finding that is consonant with the overseas studies. However, innovation performance varies across and within service industries, reflecting differences in the nature and structure of those industries. A clear need for further research is identified, both to provide a clearer understanding of the nature of service innovation and to provide a basis for practical recommendations.

A qualitative evaluation of a regional early psychosis service 3 years after its commencement

Objective. To outline the major findings of a qualitative evaluation of an Early Psychosis Service 3 years after its establishment.

Design. Data to evaluate the service were collected from team meetings, focus groups, individual interviews and questionnaires administered to clinicians, school staff, patients, carers and families.

Setting. Barwon Health; Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Services provide public mental health care to the Geelong, Victoria, region (population 270 000), which is a mixed urban and rural setting. The Early Psychosis Service model implemented involved the placement of two early psychosis workers into each offive adult geographically based Area Mental Health Teams rather than the establishment of a single Early Psychosis Team.

Results. The service was found not to adhere to its original design in several key respects. Caseloads and periods of case management were found to be lower and shorter respectively than was originally planned for, caseworkers often experienced isolation and resentment from their adult service coworkers, the service was perceived to be difficult to access and premises not to be youth friendly and communication and engagement with external agencies and service providers was perceived to be poor.

Conclusions. The choice of service model, inadequate consultation with stakeholders and inadequate promotion of the service contributed to its failure to reach early expectations. Because of these and other issues, including difficulties distinguishing between early psychosis and non-psychosis, a decision was made to restructure youth services and

Service quality assessment in provision of library services

Libraries are dynamic organization providing dynamic services to their patrons. However, advances in IT and networking have created a serious competition to libraries from many information service provisioning agents. The purpose of this study is to understand the issue relevant to service quality assessment in libraries and subsequently develop a conceptual model of aligning library quality of service assessment for effective reporting of library value and performance to stakeholders. In this paper, we will focus on the provision of library services and the nature of the relationship and interactions between various components of library services.

The antecedents of re-purchase intentions: the service quality perspective

The aim of this quantitative study is to undertake empirical research investigating the nature and magnitude of the determinants of re-purchase intentions from the point of view of service performance and post purchase perceptions. A theoretical model linking service quality issues and re-purchase intentions was developed and tested using structural equation modelling of 318 surveyed participants at various day spa locations. The findings of this study confirm that the enhancement of the delivery of high quality service, an accommodating environment and strengthening relationships with customers are more likely to increase re-purchase intentions. The major values of this study are the establishment of the role of service quality on re-purchase intentions and the mediating role of customer relationship strength. The major limitation of this research is the study was undertaken in a single service industry.

Time series analysis of air transportation service quality and travel demand in Japan

The evolution of domestic air travel service in Japan is a product of many factors including airline responses to the changing aviation market, government interventions in terms of regulatory/deregulatory policies, infrastructure investments, and changes in market structure. This paper presents an empirical investigation of the changing quality of passenger airline service and its implications in the domestic aviation market in Japan using qualitative review and a time series analysis of the domestic airline markets from 1986 to 2003. The results show that to meet the ultimate aim of deregulation to increase air passengers’ welfare gain, there is a need to instill measures to correct service imbalance and to create innovative airport demand-capacity management measures.

A good place to raise a family? Comparing parents, service-providers', and media perspectives of the inner and outer suburban areas of Melbourne

In Australia, the suburbs have historically been the favoured place to raise children. However this is being challenged both by social change and government policy encouraging innerurban renewal. We examined how inner-urban areas compare with more traditional suburban locations as places to raise a family. Recognising that there are many influences on perceptions of place, we included the opinions of parents, service-providers and the media in the two locations.

Research focused on two municipalities in Melbourne, one located >25km and the other <10km from the CBD. Themes were obtained and compared from in-depth interviews with parents, serviceproviders and analysis of municipality-specific and state-wide newspaper articles.

Service provision was the only theme common at all levels of analysis. For all other themes, differences occurred between perspectives of service-providers, media and parents, as well as between the two residential locations. These in-depth snapshots on the challenges and rewards of raising children in different urban locations can help inform government in planning healthy neighbourhoods that better serve the needs of contemporary Australian families.

The services internationalization process: n exploratory investigation of Australian service company internationalization to China

Service companies possess different characteristics from non-service-based companies, affecting their process of internationalization. This article examines the internationalization of service organizations using case studies of 23 Australian service organizations internationalizing to China. It finds that the internationalization process is influenced by the type of service the organization produces. The Uppsala internationalization model partially explains internationalization for companies producing exportable services but did not explain internationalization for companies, which produce nonexportable services (services that must be located within the market). International experience, government regulations and capital intensity were influential for internationalization. The findings develop a model for service organization internationalization.

Exploring the effects of perceived service provider sincerity on consumers' emotional state and satisfaction during service consumption

A holistic approach to satisfaction and its effects seems to be particularly important in high-affect, high-involvement, and extended duration services such as those offered by many travel and tourism providers. This means understanding the complexities of service provision and its processes. Consumers value service interaction that appears sincere. For this reason, organizations expect service providers to manage their service "performance" to reflect a genuine display of positive emotions towards the customer, which has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and possibly overall life satisfaction. This study explores consumers' perception of sincerity and tests its effects on positive emotions and satisfaction in an extended duration service. The findings indicate that perceived service sincerity positively influences consumers' emotions during a service and has important direct and indirect effects on life satisfaction, service satisfaction, and intention to repurchase. Implications for managers and opportunities for further research are discussed.

Alternative service delivery models for families with a new speech generating device: perspectives of parents and therapists

Purpose: Research has revealed limitations in the provision of in-person services to families with a new speech generating device (SGD), both in Australia and overseas. Alternative service models such as parent training, peer support and telepractice may offer a solution, but their use with this population has not been researched to date.

Method: Using interviews and focus groups, this study explored the experiences and opinions of 13 speech-language pathologists and seven parents regarding alternatives to in-person support and training for families with a new SGD. Data were analysed using grounded theory. Themes explored in this paper include the benefits and drawbacks of alternative service models as well as participants’ suggestions for the optimal implementation of these approaches.

Result: Participants confirmed the utility of alternative service models, particularly for rural/remote and underserviced clients. Benefits of these models included reduced travel time for families and therapists, as well as enhanced information access, support and advocacy for parents.

Conclusion: Participants viewed the provision of ongoing professional support to families as critical, regardless of service modality. Additional issues arising from this study include the need for development of organizational policies, resources and training infrastructure to support the implementation of these alternative service models.

The antecedents of word-of-mouth behaviour: the service quality perspective

The aim of this study is to undertake empirical research investigating the nature and magnitude of the determinants of word-of-mouth behaviour from the point of view of service performance and postpurchase perceptions. A quantitative study was undertaken. A theoretical model linking service quality issues and word-of-mouth behaviour was developed and tested using structural equation modelling of 280 surveyed participants at various day spa locations. All major fit indices from structural equation modelling methods show satisfactory results for the measurement and structural models. The results confirm significant relationships between the constructs in the model. While the quality of the product, customer service, and servicescape atmosphere lead to customer satisfaction, it is servicescape atmosphere and customer satisfaction that drive word-of-mouth behaviour. The results of this study provide insights to aid service providers and marketing professionals in the service industry in fully understanding that the enhancement of the delivery of high quality service, an accommodating environment, and instilling feelings of satisfaction with their customers will more likely lead to positive word-of-mouth referrals. One major limitation is that the survey was conducted within one industry in one country. The major value of this chapter is the establishment of the role of service quality on word-of-mouth behaviour. This research provides empirical results of the impacts of service performance and post-purchase perceptions on word-of-mouth behaviour.

Amalgamation of health services in South-West Victoria: reinvention or survival?

In Australia 'the hospital' has long been considered the cornerstone of small, rural health services. However, this premise has been altered significantly by the introduction of casemix loading and diagnostic-related groups that promote a rationalised output-based model of management. In the light of these changes, many rural health services have struggled to reinvent themselves by establishing a range of service models such as Multi-purpose Service (MPS) and Health Streams, while maintaining traditional models (i.e. bush nursing centres, nursing homes and aged-care facilities). These changes are about survival. This paper analyses one such case in south-west Victoria, the Macarthur and District Community Outreach Service, and compares the outcomes with other similar Victorian rural health research projects. Particular attention is paid to the nature of the health services, the management of change and the proposed health outcomes for the local rural communities. In conclusion, it is argued that this study adds to the body of knowledge surrounding the construction of models of community health and development programming, These models impact upon future rural and remote area initiatives throughout Australia.

Influences of spatial practices on pressure ulcer management in the context of spinal cord injury

Nursing practice is significantly influenced by the type and use of space in which nursing is practised. While investigating current patterns of service delivery for the management of pressure ulcers from the perspective of people with spinal cord injuries and their families, the space in which care was delivered was identified as a central determinant of care. Qualitative methods were used to investigate consumer perspectives among patients residing in both metropolitan and rural communities who had been hospitalized for the management of pressure ulcers. Issues related to the spatial practices of the hospital are discussed, demonstrating a link between well-being and the creation of an appropriate caring milieu. It is concluded that service could be improved markedly if health-care professionals placed more consideration on the impact of space on their service delivery.

Consumer satisfaction and post-purchase intentions: an exploratory study of museum visitors

This paper examines the relationship between consumer satisfaction and subsequent intentions in the museum context, as well as the moderating influence of demographic characteristics such as gender, age and education in that relationship. The relationship between satisfaction and a range of service elements, overall satisfaction with the experience and intentions was investigated. Museum marketers can profit by examining the "value chain" of museum experience outlined in the model presented, especially the greater likelihood of consumers recommending the experience to others than making a repeat visit themselves, and by investigating segment differences beyond those reported here.