| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 商學研究所 === 102 === Due to the decline of birth and mortality rates, the global population is displaying a trend of rapid aging. Taiwan ranks as one of the countries with the fastest rate of population aging. Faced with a large market opportunity provided by healthy and sub-healthy elders, the questions of which key elements constitute the core facets of elderly care in a competitive market, how to create services with high added value, and how to strengthen the competitiveness of elderly care services, are now the main focus of Taiwan’s elderly care industry.
In this study, service design, service encounter, service value, service experience, and other service management related theories were systematically organized and explored to construct an analytical framework of the relationship between service organizations, front line service personnel, and customers. Actual investigation and analysis, as well as qualitative research methods such as secondary data compilation, interviews, participant observation, and case studies, were used to provide a more comprehensive understanding of elderly care service organizations.
An in-depth case study was conducted on the developmental process and applied management of elderly care services at Suang-Lien Elderly Center. Results of the study showed that service designs should focus on grasping the physical and psychological characteristics and differences of service users, and use subtle management techniques to meet elders’ need for independence and control; service encounters should emphasize consistency throughout the organization and also provide appropriate holistic health care services; the delivery of service value between the service organization and the customer should be bilateral so that each can learn from the other to create value and positive feedback; the three service experience dimensions of elderly care services are service design, service encounter, and service value, and our case study successfully optimizes functional, human, and mechanic clues to realize core service experiences where elders are respected and service providers take pride in their service.
This study is limited by a focus on a single non-medical, hospice-based, elderly care service model which excludes studies on home care or informal care where the caregivers are primarily family members or foreign nurses; this means that the scope of the study may be inadequate. Finally, with regard to the future of the elderly care services industry, we suggest that more attention be focused on the preventive care market of elders, the trend of consumer self-awareness, and the development of technology for the well-being of elders, in order to provide a more diversified future for Taiwan’s elder care industry.
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