<p>Considering the changes of business environments and the scenario of service failures, this paper aims to examine whether there are any differences in service remedies between state-owned enterprises and private companies after service failures. It also compares their willingness to adopt different types of service guarantees and their approaches to managing negative word-of-mouth messages. This paper conducts a questionnaire survey on the private wholesale and retail businesses and all the state-owned enterprises in the service industry in Taiwan. The respondents are mainly middle managers and senior executives. The empirical study indicates that compared to state-owned enterprises, private companies tend to actively compensate for their service failures from the perspective of the after-purchase behavior after service failures. Private companies are more likely to adopt either single or combined service guarantees. Compared to state-owned enterprises, private companies pay more attention to the negative messages of word of mouth after service failures. The findings suggest that private firms can leverage their stronger attention to customer service in competitive markets to enhance customer retention and satisfaction.</p>