An internal perspective concerns itself with building blocks
and their relationships within the university system. On this
subject, there is general agreement that universities are
distinctive from organizations in other sectors [15-17]. While
commercial enterprises are designed to make a profit and
government agencies are organized to act in the interest of the
general public with oversight and other services, universities
are places where knowledge is created, accumulated and
passed on from faculty to students, generation by generation.
To support these essential activities, universities must also
deal with issues such as administration, facilities, logistics,
infonnation technologies, involving a wide range of
infrastructure, operations and services, not to mention the
large number of students and staff. Oespite the importance of
these entities and interactions to the success of a university,
much of existing research is devoted to administration
principles rather than service operations. Systematic
examination of universities as service systems remains rare.