Service modularity in e-learning programs: an analysis from the perceived usefulness perspective

Purpose - This study investigates the effects of service modularity on the perceived usefulness (PU) of e-learning programs through the perceived ease of use (PEoU) and service customization. Design/methodology/approach - Structural equation modeling was used to test four hypotheses with survey data from 517 undergraduates in Turkey. Findings - Results show that service modularity affects the PU of e-learning programs through the PEoU. Service customization negatively moderates the effect of service modularity on the PEoU, but positively moderates the effect of the PEoU on the PU of e-learning programs. Practical implications - This study offers insights that support the decisions of policymakers and higher education institutions on how to design appealing e-learning programs cost-effectively. Social implications - This study reveals the determinants of the PU of e-learning, which could support the democratization of access to higher education in emerging countries where barriers to higher education are relatively greater than in developed countries. Originality/value - The concept of service modularity is explored in the e-learning context from the students' perspective. This study shows that the standardized interfaces across course modules increase the PU of e-learning programs by improving the ease of use. It also shows, interestingly, that service customization, enabled by modularity, is not always appreciated by service consumers, because of the potential extra effort demanded in communicating their unique needs to service providers

Modularization of the Front-End Logistics Services in e-Fulfillment

This study exploits service modularity in front-end logistics services in e-fulfillment, from a customer-centric approach, particularly in order management, delivery, and return. Through an online survey of UK customers, the service priorities of 494 respondents via AHP (Analytic Hierarchical Process) were analyzed. Extracting customers' service priorities, ordering behavior, and demographic information as input data, the clustering algorithm KAMILA (KAy-means for MIxed LArge data sets) was further applied. The three identified customer clusters (multichannel shoppers, infrequent shoppers, and online fans) provide preliminary evidence on how commonality and variability aspects of service modularity in front-end logistics services can optimize the number of service options and their performance levels. Therefore, our study, building on value co-creation and modularity, proposes a systematic way of exploiting service modularity for the customer segmentation process that addresses heterogeneous customer preferences cost-efficiently and uncomplicatedly. Furthermore, we provide a framework for the governance of front-end logistics services, guiding outsourcing decisions. Accordingly, it reveals the implications of customer priorities and service decomposition logic choices on value creation. Finally, the propositions formulated aim to develop theoretical foundations for explaining how the heterogeneity in customer priorities for logistics services can be managed with modularity, creating value both for customers and retailers

Challenges and Opportunities of Developing Wine Tourism in a Small Community in Turkey

This paper offers an analysis of practices in wine tourism and its implementation to Turkey. Wine tourism is a rapidly developing in Turkey parallel to the development of the sector around the world. In this paper, Sirince is selected as a case and an analysis of the situation in the village with regard to wine tourism is presented. The analysis includes a number of aspects along with the implemented marketing strategies, such as design of bottling, packaging and labeling. In addition, the effects of wine tourism on improvement of social and economic situation of Sirince are also examined

A new framework for supply chain risk management through supply chain management capability

Supply chain risk management is considered as one of the most powerful competitive tools for the companies. Therefore, the concept has caught the attention of researchers especially in the recent years. However, supply chain risk management has not been examined in the literature by considering the maturity and capability levels of supply chain members. This study aims to address this gap and develops a new framework on supply chain risk management which focuses on different supply chain orientation levels of the supply chains members. The framework proposed in this study is named as “Supply Chain Management Capability Model”. This model is the first attempt to illustrate the required supply chain risk management capabilities of companies for different supply chain orientation levels. This model presents developing supply chain structures with increasing orientation levels, which also serve for Business to Business (B2B) and relationship marketing purposes. The results of this study show that supply chain members’ capability levels also vary in terms of sustainability dimension. The results of the study provide relevant findings both to guide practitioners and motivate researchers to conduct further studies in this are

Brand elevation in supply chains

In the last decades supply chain management has been explored from different perspectives fueling a myriad of research in the field. Although the literature on supply chain management (SCM) is vast, major gaps requiring scientific exploration still exist. Among these, interaction of branding and supply chain concepts clearly stands out. The aim of this paper is to investigate the power of brand in supply chains by taking literature devoted to supply chain management into consideration, relationship marketing and brand management. This paper explores the power of brand in terms of SCM and it defines the concept of “brand elevation in supply chain”. The objectives of this study are thus twofold: identifying “brand elevation in supply chain” concept and proposing a conceptual model associated to the power of brand in supply chains