Improving Customer Experience and Profitability: NOV Service Design

This report investigates the application of service design thinking to enhance customer experience and business profitability within the oil field industry, using National Oilwell Varco (NOV) as a case study. It explores the service design principles related to project design, planning, resource deployment, and communication to improve customer satisfaction. The report examines the interaction between service providers and their customers, emphasizing the importance of service design in a competitive environment. It delves into the impact of technology, information flow, and dynamic pricing. The study also assesses the significance of leadership behavior and dynamic managerial capabilities. The research includes a literature review of service design concepts, research methodology, findings, and recommendations for NOV's management. The report addresses research questions concerning the impact of employee behavior, service design integration, factors affecting service quality, and the role of strategic leadership in design management, offering insights into how NOV can optimize its service delivery system.

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Applying the principle of service design thinking to improve customer experience and
business profitability: A case study on National Oil well Varco

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Abstract
The report explores the design of service in the oil field industry as it relates to activity of project
design, planning and organizing people, deployment of infrastructure, communication and
resources components of a service delivery, in a bid to improve customer experience and
enhance client satisfaction. The thesis will explore the interaction between oil field service
provider and its customers as well as thier overall experience. The increasing relevance of the
service sector, within the context of cultural bias of people employed, employee engagement and
of course, economic importance, requires services to be accurately conceptualized and designed
to be fit for purpose. Service delivery would be viewed and developed as a minimum viable
service, and then deployed and constantly iterated and improved upon to add additional value as
a consequence of customers feedback. Impact of future technology on service design,
Information flow and dynamic pricing, as driven by the forces of demand and supply will form a
critical element of this research. The study will also look into the significance of leadership
behaviour in the area of dynamic managerial capabilities, being a catalyst in navigating the
workforce to achieving organizations’ design of service. The report will particularly be interested
in what constitutes dynamic managerial capabilities, how they are developed and implemented,
and what is the net effect in fostering employee engagement towards improved service delivery
from customer satisfaction perspective.

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Table of content
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................7
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................7
1.2 Rationale of Research............................................................................................................7
1.3 Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................................8
1.4 Research Questions................................................................................................................9
1.5 Background Information........................................................................................................9
1.6 Theories and Context of Study............................................................................................10
1.7 Research Outline..................................................................................................................12
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................12
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................12
2.2 Service design concept........................................................................................................13
2.2.1 Service delivery system design..........................................................................................14
2.2.2 Principles of Service design..............................................................................................14
2.3 Background information on Service design thinking..........................................................15
2.4 Gaps Model in Service design quality.................................................................................19
2.5 Factors influencing service design concept.........................................................................20
2.6 Impact of service design thinking........................................................................................22
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................24
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................24

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3.2 Research Aims and Questions.............................................................................................25
3.3 Research Framework...........................................................................................................25
3.4 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................26
3.4 Methodological Paradigm....................................................................................................27
3.5 Research Approach and case study strategy........................................................................27
3.6 Research Design..................................................................................................................28
3.7 Data Collection....................................................................................................................29
3.8 Sampling..............................................................................................................................29
3.9 Ethical Consideration...........................................................................................................30
3.10 Validity..............................................................................................................................30
3.11 Reliability..........................................................................................................................31
3.12 Limitations.........................................................................................................................31
3.13 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................32
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion..............................................................................................32
4.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................32
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................41
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................41
5.2 Addressing Research Questions..........................................................................................41
5.3 Recommendations................................................................................................................42
5.4 Research Limitations...........................................................................................................43

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5.5 Future Scope........................................................................................................................44
References......................................................................................................................................45

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
According to Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2012), the transformation in the contemporary
business world has been taking place due globalization, technological changes, highly
competitive pressure, as well as the pursuit for producing new products. Performance of
individuals in the organizational world has created diverse issues and interests inside a business
cycle. As opined by Martins, Rindova and Greenbaum (2015), modification in business is quite
vital as it allows the workforce to adopt and acquire new abilities and skill as well as investigate
fresh opportunities. It also helps the firm to exercise their creativity in ways that ultimately
benefit the organization through new ideas as well as enhance commitment. According to
Morgan (2012), it is essential to keep track of individuals changing demands in this rapidly
transforming business environment. The organization should change its business structure and
management system as well as align their business goals according to the customers demand.
According to Stickdorn, Hormess, Lawrence and Schneider (2018), service design is stated as an
activity that explores the customer service by effective project designing, planning and
organizing people, infrastructure deployment, efficient communication and appropriate resources
mechanisms. This system is used to enhance the interaction and quality between the providers
and their customers.
1.2 Rationale of Research
The wonder of this report is that it focuses on the significance of service design thinking within
the oil field industry and its impact on various aspects of National Oilwell Varco. The research
conducted in quite wide and shows all the characteristics and models in service design thinking.

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According to Randhawa and Scerri (2015), there is a huge competition in the service business,
mostly in parts on designing services and configuration of the service delivery system. The
motivation for doing this research emerges while going through the service system of the
company, National Oilwell Varco. After analyzing all the information and gathering all the
knowledge about this topic, it was clear that service designers needs to incorporate holistic
approach to inculcate the contemporary designs in the organization. However, this report was
formulated to identify the concept of the service design thinking and its impact on consumer
experience and business profitability.
1.3 Aims and Objectives
The aim of the research is to apply the principles of service design thinking to enhance the
customer experience and business profitability of National Oilwell Varco. The purpose is to
explore the interaction between the providers and overall experience of their customers.
The research objectives are said to be the building blocks of any research work which is created
to determine the scope and overall direction of research. The report will seek to enumerate the
following objectives.
 To evaluate the research context and theoretical background of service design thinking
and its development of its framework.
 To study the impact of service delivery system on business profitability.
 To explore the underlying factors responsible for designing a service delivery concept
using Harvard Business model.
 To assess the level of service design implementation and its impact on business
profitability at National Oilwell Varco.

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 To propose recommendation to the top tier management of National Oilwell Varco on the
choice of appropriate design strategy for enhancing the customer experience and develop
questions accordingly.
1.4 Research Questions
1. To what extent does employee behavior impact service design in the work place
environment?
2. How does the Service Design integrate into organization overall strategy in creating
better end-user experience?
3. What are the factors that cause gaps in service quality and how these gaps closed to
enhanced better customer experience?
4. How does the principle of service design and its inter-relatedness with strategic
leadership breeds new thinking in design management?
1.5 Background Information
Actively, service design has experienced a lot of attention from various industry and the
customers over the years. The perception of service design has been highlighted and
hypothesized with numerous perspectives and definition. According to Lin, et. al. (2011), the
process of service design is an activity that assists in planning and establishing individuals,
infrastructure, communication and various material components of any services. These processes
are initiated to enhance the quality as well as improve interaction amongst the customers and its
service providers. The notion of this service design was presented and has been highlighted in
recent years, because of enhancement in technology and innovation. This technological
advancement has made the customers to expect more from product and services (Gabrielsson and
Gabrielsson, 2013). Hence, people are wanting transformation in service designs and it has been

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viewed as a key driver in the company for increasing competitive advantage, profit, enhancing
customer experience and productivity. As per Randhawa and Scerri (2015), the service design
thinking for the company is said to be valuable as it aids to design ideal human communication
by utilization of tools like service blueprint and empathy maps. The designers by designing a
holistic design are capable to capture the entire end-to-end journey of the customers and their
experience.
Like every organization, the concept of introducing and implementing new approach for service
design thinking has been quite popular in oil field industry as well. As per Blythe, et. al. (2018),
the oil and gas industry need more profound modification to meet the consumers demands which
can be met by designing a new and innovative service design. The company taken as a case study
for identifying and understanding their process of service design thinking is National Oilwell
Varco (NOV). As stated by National Oilwell Varco (2020), NOV is a multinational American
corporation constructed in Houston, Texas. The organization is a leading global provider of
components and equipment and that is used in operations of oil and gas drilling, oilfield
facilities, and supply chain mixing services.
1.6 Theories and Context of Study
Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory (EDT)- The expectation theory is often termed as EDT and
is referred to as the widely used theories regarding processes of customer satisfaction. According
to Lankton and McKnight (2012), the expectation theory attempts to predict the short-term
interests of the customers in future based on the present long term demands and needs. As per
Grimmelikhuijsen and Porumbescu (2017), the EDT theory holds the result acquired from the
consumer’s evaluation of the performance by the services with predetermined standards of
perception.

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Fig-1- Expectancy Disconfirmation Model
Source- Lankton and McKnight (2012),
The EDT can measure the satisfaction of the customers by calculating the difference between the
expectations of the customers and their perceived notion about the services. As identified in Fig
1, the model constitutes of four elements: Perceived performance, Expectations, Disconfirmation
of the beliefs and Satisfaction. Once the actual performance of a particular service is not able to
meet the customer’s expectancy, negative disconfirmation is bound to occur making the
customer’s dissatisfied (Zehrer, Crotts and Magnini, 2011).
As per Elkhani and Bakri (2012), if the perceived presentation of the particular service is capable
of exceeding the demand of the customers, hence positive disconfirmation will leadsto the
customer’s satisfaction. Lastly, when there will be no difference between the actual performance
and customer’s expectation, it will signify that the perceived performance is equal to the desired
expectation thus leading to simple confirmation. However, there has been some agreements and
disagreement regarding the explanation of simple confirmation. Some of the researchers believe

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that satisfaction among customers is the outcome of simple confirmation. While other suggests
that state of satisfaction or dissatisfaction does not lead to simple satisfaction.
Therefore, in order to contextualize the research within the discussed perspective, it is vital to
identify and examine ways of enhancing customer satisfaction and experience through service
design thinking. Focusing on the NOV the research will be conducted to understand and
elaborate the organization goal on incorporating service design in their production process.
1.7 Research Outline
In order to explore the study, an in-depth research is conducted that will be presenting about the
concept and theories of service design in the literature review. The literature will entail details
about the service delivery system and the impact it has on customers experience, business
profitability and organization structure. The research methodology will be highlighting the
purpose of the qualitative analysis and process of data collection. The finding and discussion part
presented in the research will be exploring the case study of National Oilwell Varco and
providing insights on its service delivery system process. Hence to conclude, a chapter of
Conclusion and Recommendation has been provided that will incorporate conclusive
interpretation with a short summary about the findings, thereby presenting future
recommendations for the company.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
A literature review has been conducted for understanding this study and stimulating additional
knowledge about the service design thinking and its impact on customer experience and business
profitability. The primary purpose for constructing this literature review is to obtain a vision into

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other published research for establishing existing trends and transformation in business structure
and service delivery styles. Therefore, this part of the research allows to identify the gaps in
current literature. This chapter provides an overview and scrutinizes the following aspects such
as: the concept and framework of service design thinking, service design leadership, impact of
service design thinking on customer experience and business profitability and exploring service
design system on oil filed industry.
2.2 Service design concept
As per Reason, Løvlie and Flu (2015), service design is a process where the designers need to
focus on generating optimum service experiment. The entire procedure requires captivating
holistic views on all the related designs, their communications as well as supportive structures
and materials. Service design is said to include the utility of customer journey maps that helps to
explain the perspectives of different customers communication with diverse brands, thereby
offering profound insights.
Fig 2. Concept of Service design
Source- Reason, Løvlie and Flu (2015)