Manufacturer-supplier relationships and service performance in service triads

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the manufacturer-supplier relationship in service performance within service triads.  Design/methodology/approach - An abductive case-research approach was adopted, using three embedded cases and 26 interviews in complex, multilevel manufacturer-supplier relationships within the same service network. Cannon and Perreault's (1999) multidimensional relationship framework was deployed to achieve granular and nuanced insight.  Findings - This study corroborates the idea that relational relationships within service triads and servitization improve performance. The role of each relationship dimension in service performance is discerned and their interplay is captured in an analytic model. Information exchange, supplier relationship-specific adaptations, and the degree of formalization of the relationship directly influence performance, while cooperative norms and operational linkages are further back in the causal ordering. The study also highlights the importance of contingent factors (the size of the service site, the proportion of its revenues coming from service contract activities) and how they affect the relationship dimensions.  Research limitations/implications - The work was conducted in one network and the findings were generalized to theory rather than additional empirical settings.  Originality/value - This study is the first to derive a contextualized causal ordering of the Cannon and Perreault (1999) framework of relationship connectors and link it with service performance

Clarifying the Role of Reshoring in Global Manufacturing Strategy

Reshoring is a hot topic within operations management. However, there is a lack of understanding surrounding the ‘fit’ between strategies and reshoring decision. This presentation clarifies the state of UK reshoring, including indirect reshoring is more dominant than direct reshoring. Reshoring can improve company performance when driven by differentiation strategy

Building Bridges: Boundary Spanners in Servitized Supply Chains

Purpose: Solutions provision depends on effective and efficient supply chains. Existing discourse within servitization has remained at the organisational or inter-organisational level with a limited emphasis on the role of individuals. However, supply chains are not just relationships between organisations, they are complex, inter-personal relationships that span organisational boundaries. The limited focus on boundary spanners and their interactions means that managerial roles critical for the provision of solutions remain unidentified. The purpose of this paper is to identify the functions, roles and practices of boundary spanners that connect organisations and enable the effective provision of solutions. Design/methodology/approach: A case study comprising 61 interviews in 11 firms was conducted in the UK network of a commercial vehicles manufacturer, to investigate boundary spanning for product and solutions provision. Findings: The functions of boundary spanners move from communicating product and price features in product provision towards strategic communication, dissonance reduction, professional education, consultation and leveraging offerings in solutions provision. The study also identifies the boundary spanning roles and practices that form these functions for solutions provision. Originality/value: This is the first study in servitization that identifies and describes the boundary spanning functions, roles and practices. By adopting the lens of boundary spanning, the research addresses the lack of empirical managerial-level enquiry within servitization research. It extends the theoretical discussion on the differences between supply chain management in servitized vs product contexts

Using project demand profiling to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability and utility of supply chain (SC) segmentation through demand profiling to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects by identifying different types of project demand profiles. Design/methodology/approach A three-stage abductive research design was adopted. Stage 1 explored the applicability of SC segmentation, through demand profiling, to the portfolio of infrastructure projects in a utility company. Stage 2 was an iterative process of “theory matching”, to the portfolio, programme and project management literature. In stage 3, theoretical saturation was reached and “theory suggestions” were made through four propositions. Findings Four propositions outline how SC segmentation through project demand profiling could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of infrastructure projects. P1: the ability to recognise the different demand profiles of individual projects, and groups thereof, is a portfolio management necessity. P2: projects that contribute to the strategic upgrade of a capital asset should be considered a potential programme of inter-related repeatable projects whose delivery would benefit from economies of repetition. P3: the greater the ability to identify different demand profiles of individual/groups of projects, the greater the delivery efficiency. P4: economies of repetition developed through efficient delivery of programmes of repeatable projects can foster greater efficiency in the delivery of innovative projects through economies of recombination. Originality/value This work fills a gap in the portfolio management literature, suggesting that the initial screening, selection and prioritisation of project proposals should be expanded to recognise not only the project type, but also each project’s demand profile

Logistics outsourcing and the market value of the firm : an empirical investigation

In this paper we investigate the shareholder value effects of logistics outsourcing decisions. To this end, we use the event study methodology to examine the reaction of equity investors to 165 logistics outsourcing announcements for the case of 119 manufacturers for the period from 2000 to 2015. Using both parametric and nonparametric tests we find a significant positive reaction to logistics outsourcing announcements of planning activities. Further than academics, these findings are of importance to practitioners as they provide them with key insights on their decision to outsource logistics activities

Servitization and the effect of training on service delivery system performance

Manufacturers moving into services must design a service delivery system that can effectively and efficiently support their product-service offerings. Commonly, such manufacturers outsource customer service and support to independent service suppliers, while maintaining the ownership and control of certain service units. Despite the increasing number of studies in service triads investigating ways that may improve service performance and customer satisfaction, the dynamics of mixed-ownership service delivery systems have remained understudied. By deploying the Motivation–Opportunity–Ability (MOA) framework, and synthesizing insights from research in franchising and the literature on training effectiveness, we hypothesize that manufacturer-led formal training increases the service performance of the entire network, but that outsourced service units choose more suitable training courses and derive comparatively higher performance benefits than company-owned ones. We test (and find support for) our hypotheses within the UK service network of a major commercial vehicles manufacturer, using several panel data regression models and objective measures of training and performance. This study primarily contributes to the literature on servitization and service triads by showing the performance-enhancing capacity of manufacturer-led training. The results have practical implications for the development and implementation of the service operations strategy of servitized manufacturers that support customers through mixed-ownership service networks

Treat me well and I may leave you kindly: A configurational approach to a buyer’s relationship exit strategy

Research shows that the choice of relationship exit strategy by the instigator of exit can have significant negative consequences for the party that is being dropped. In this study we focus on what we coin as kind exit, where the risk of harm to the supplier as a result of the buyer’s relationship termination is low. In line with current research, which is suggesting that the characteristics of a buyer-supplier relationship play a critical role in the instigator’s choice of exit strategy, we examine the link between the buyer’s perception of its relationship with the supplier and the manner in which the buyer-supplier relationship ends. We posit that this phenomenon is causally complex and context dependent, and as such, there will be multiple types of buyer-supplier relationships that will lead to a kind exit. To uncover these types, we examine 315 terminated buyer-supplier relationships in manufacturing and service sectors in the UK, employing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Our results show that contrary to extant literature, there is not one relationship type that leads to a kind exit; instead, we uncover four alternative equifinal configurations of relationship dimensions and two exogenous factors

Business triads in servitization; The influence of the provider's - partner relationship on the performance of the partner towards the provider

The thesis is concerned with a problem arising in contexts where there is provision of integrated product-service offerings (servitization). It may be the case that the provider relies on independent service partners for the delivery of the services to the customer, which means that the three actors (provider, service partner and customer) form a triad. This makes the performance of the partner determinative for customer satisfaction and hence an important issue for the provider. Because the buyer – supplier relationships and business triads literatures suggest that relationships affect the performance of the related parties, the aim of this work is to understand how the provider – partner working relationship influences the service performance of the latter. To satisfy the aim, an appropriate setting in the UK commercial vehicles industry was identified (one provider plus a network of service partners), and a mixed-methods research design was employed. The qualitative part consisted of several exploratory interviews and three case-studies of purposively sampled provider – partner relationships. The quantitative part had a supplementary character, and as part of it, questionnaires completed by 38 of the provider’s partners were analyzed with the use of a configurational method (fsQCA). In this study, the firm-level working relationship was considered as a five-dimensional construct based on Cannon’s and Perreault’s (1999) framework of relationship connectors. The findings consist of: 1) A model capturing the causal ordering of the relationship dimensions, their interplay with two emergent exogenous factors, and their eventual impact on the service performance of the partner. 2) A set of configurations of relationship dimensions and exogenous factors enhancing service performance. With the in-depth study of the influence of the provider – partner relationship on the performance of the partner towards the provider’s customer-base, my research simultaneously contributes to knowledge in two ways. Firstly, it helps in the theoretical development of the phenomenon of servitization, and secondly, it extends triadic research by examining in depth and in a novel setting the relationship – performance interdependence within the triad