Examines the interfunctional linkages between product distribution and after‐sales service support functions in business organizations operating in marketing channel environments. Also discusses managerial and logistic implications of the process of selecting product distribution and service support channels in the context of specific market segments of a particular product industry. An examination of the operations of two computer equipment manufacturing firms indicates that in “low substitutability” environments, such as in the case of specialty products, manufacturing firms tend to centralize both product distribution and service support functions. In contrast, in “high substitutability” environments, such as in the case of commodity products, manufacturing firms tend to decentralize both product distribution and service support functions. These case studies suggest that both product distribution and after‐sales service support strategies are closely linked to each other. Also, several product‐, firm‐, and industry‐related attributes, which dictate the choice of product distribution and after‐sales service support channels, were identified for the computer‐equipment industry.
IntroductionThe last few decades have seen a growing trend toward aggressive global competition, increased marketplace demands, and accelerated technological changes. These developments are forcing organizations to take a closer look at their marketing channel strategy including addressing the issue of how to distribute their products and offer associated after-sale service support. Many value-conscious consumers are demanding that a company's products offer more value than its competitor's products not only in its design and manufacturing, but also in product delivery and support (Sherman, 1992). Increasingly, distribution and service support options available for a product are key determinants in consumers' product purchase decision (Corey et al., 1989;Lele and Sheth, 1987).Product sale and distribution issues typically involve specific mechanisms for pricing a product and distributing it to the end consumer. On the other hand, after-sale service support issues entail all activities undertaken by service support providers (manufacturers, retailers, and/or independent servicers) to ensure that a product is available for trouble-free use to consumers over its useful life span. It includes elements such as warranty provision, extendedservice contract option, availability of repair service, loaners, toll-free phone service, etc.Management experts and marketing channel analysts alike agree that distribution and after-sale service support functions do increasingly warrant significant attention because they make up for an integral part of the product package. In a 1990 article, the management guru Drucker pointed out: … Changes in distributive channels may not matter much to GNP and macroeconomics. But they should be a major concern to every business and industry … Everyone knows how fast
Offering a well-designed reverse supply chain programme can significantly improve the ability of any organisation to differentiate itself, and even to take market share away, from its competitors. Reverse supply chain considerations should be a part of an organisation's corporate strategy. From a macro-level perspective, value propositions of reverse supply chains in for an organisation, and/or the industry in which the organisation operates, include considerations for both strategies (to reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, retrieve parts or cannibalise components, recycle, scrap, redesign returned products, etc.) and effective operations (to handle and sort returns by value and ease of remanufacture) to sustain and even enhance organisational competency. In this article, we examine the role of sorting used products before disassembly for parts retrieval and remanufacturing under stochastic variability based on customer demand using a Markov decision process. We address a problem of managing costs in a remanufacturing environment with stochastically variable demand and model it for two types of used parts. Each part type is assumed to have varying quality and acquisition costs. The cost function includes manufacturing, holding and backlog costs components. We compute optimal purchase policy that maximises the expected average profit per period. Using a case example from photocopier industry, numerical analysis is performed to study the implications of various holding cost for two parts on optimal purchase policy in remanufacturing environments.
Value‐added services expand manufacturing organizations’ ability to compete beyond traditional measures of manufacturing competitiveness such as cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery. This concept of expanding the roles of factories to include service has received considerable attention and wide acceptance among both researchers and practitioners. For example, recent empirical studies have demonstrated that manufacturing performance, particularly delivery performance can be enhanced through expanded service roles that focus on effective information flows within the company and to external customers. Despite such benefits, the scope of analysis has been limited to individual manufacturing organizations. Given the realities of global competition, practitioners require knowledge that extends beyond individual organizations. The domain of their problems includes the complexities of interactions with multiple stakeholders along global supply chains. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to extend the concept of the service factory to global supply chains. Specifically, the approach will be to provide a conceptualization of the role of service in global supply chain management that can be used as a starting point for discussion and further research in this area. We provide several propositions and conclude with implications for both researchers and practitioners.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a transformative service-based model, which analyzes tripartite service interaction logics among trafficking survivors, anti-trafficking agencies and the community during a process of actively- and passively transformative exchanges. It aims to help researchers and practitioners better understand services that facilitate reintegration of trafficking survivors into society. Design/methodology/approach Using theory development from sociological and liminality schools of thought, this paper explores a variety of coping strategies that anti-trafficking agencies can offer human-trafficking survivors in post-trafficking service settings. Findings A novel transformative service-based framework extends current conceptualizations of social and service exchange in a tripartite interaction setting. Anti-trafficking agencies can create a supportive community environment to offer trafficking survivors passively transformative services and to cultivate and nurture their coping skills towards reintegration into society. Research limitations/implications Important implications for transformative service-based theory and practice of serving trafficking survivors are discussed. In addition, the study limitations are addressed. Practical implications The transformative service-based model analyzes tripartite service interaction logics during a process of exchanges between trafficking survivors, anti-trafficking agency and community ecosystem to achieve meaningful post-trafficking reintegration into society. Social implications Using the transformative service model, community ties need to be re-established for trafficking survivors to achieve successful reintegration into society, and for communities to heal and restore human dignity. Originality/value This research proposes a new framework for actively- and passively-transformative service logic for anti-trafficking agencies to offer assistance to trafficking survivors, based on sociological and liminality schools of thought.
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