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

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

A case-based cost-benefit consideration for upgrading to an intelligent traffic environment

Within the trend of transforming our daily lives into a smart form, traffic has become one of the development areas for innovators and hence researchers. While many technologies are devised or improved for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), potential impacts of ITS have also raised the interest of researchers. In line with this trend, this study conducted case-based research to identify the potential benefits of ITS implementation in the UK traffic network and to analyse its applicability from a costeffectiveness perspective. In our analysis, we have utilised four use cases in two different road environments -urban and motorway- and analysed their efficiency in three traffic density levels. Our findings demonstrate some specific benefits like the improvement in the safety of urban roads even from the lowest level of technology penetration and also fixed and incurring costs. However, having an immature and continuously developing nature, the field requires more interest and work from researchers in many aspects to obtain further inference about potential benefits and preventable costs.</p

Connected Autonomous Vehicles: Legal and regulatory considerations

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) are poised to revolutionise transportation making traveling safer, more comfortable, and more sustainable than current modes while reducing costs of traveling substantially. These vehicles will be partially or fully drive themselves, potentially and ultimately requiring no human driver participation at all, having the possibility to collect data on their usage and activities, as well as, communicate among themselves and with road-transport authorities. Therefore, there are a number of implications and areas for consideration within the legal and regulatory aspects of CAV and its associated technologies challenging the status quo of the roles of human drivers and vehicles. This report is of interest to the whole CAV ecosystem and believe it is in everybody’s interest to better understand the legal frameworks in which CAVs must operate and, going forward, to help influence what the future might look like. </p

Delivering the digital dividend: Supply chain digital readiness: A survey of 179 European Manufacturers

The term Industry 4 originates from the high-tech strategy of the German government, which sought to re-define the role of manufacturing post the global economic crisis. It suggests that we are on the cusp of the 4th Industrial Revolution, a cyber physical age, which will be realised over the next 20 years. This report has been designed to enable you to complete a self-assessment of your company’s current Industry 4 readiness, whilst providing a benchmark of current Industry 4 readiness across a group of 53 companies.  </p

Challenges and opportunities for UK sustainable steel supply chain

In the 1960s, the UK was ranked as the fifth world’s largest steel producer. However, the slow production in 2016 had dropped the UK to 21st in the world. Key challenges such as brutal international competition, high overhead costs, business rates, and energy prices have made many UK steel plants struggle to be cost-competitive. To make the UK steel supply chain to be more sustainable, this study examines key factors that drive sourcing and operational decisions at different echelons. In order to do this, a supply chain flow for steel plates was mapped for two end customers: shipbuilding and wind turbines. From the mapping, two firms were identified and interviewed. Findings from semi-structured interviews reveal that quality, lead time, and cost are the major factors that influence sourcing and operational decisions for both firms. The findings also highlight that traditional steel supply chain structure, poor integration, and unsustainable supply chain provide significant challenges but also opportunities for future UK steel to be a “vital” industry.</p

Challenges and opportunities for UK sustainable steel supply chain

In the 1960s, the UK was ranked as the fifth world’s largest steel producer. However, the slow production in 2016 had dropped the UK to 21st in the world. Key challenges such as brutal international competition, high overhead costs, business rates, and energy prices have made many UK steel plants struggle to be cost-competitive. To make the UK steel supply chain to be more sustainable, this study examines key factors that drive sourcing and operational decisions at different echelons. In order to do this, a supply chain flow for steel plates was mapped for two end customers: shipbuilding and wind turbines. From the mapping, two firms were identified and interviewed. Findings from semi-structured interviews reveal that quality, lead time, and cost are the major factors that influence sourcing and operational decisions for both firms. The findings also highlight that traditional steel supply chain structure, poor integration, and unsustainable supply chain provide significant challenges but also opportunities for future UK steel to be a “vital” industry.</p

Exploring the relationship between technology adoption orientation, capabilities, service offering and patient satisfaction in general practice in England

Across the world, Healthcare systems had to make radical changes to help manage the Covid-19 pandemic. These changes had a dramatic effect on primary care. Studies in this field provided a generic overview of how technology enabled GPs to offer different services supported by the evidence of existing case studies and surveys. However, there is a lack of understanding the impact of the blended services (face to face and virtual) on the patient satisfaction. This study adopted the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities concepts to explore the change of GPs services.</p

Strategic shame management – triggering the right customer behaviour to meet sustainability goals

Consumers in today's markets enjoy high value, quick deliveries and low prices. However, at which costs are this value realised? This paper challenges the classical view on business performance by enforcing data sharing along supply chains to inform the end customer on the sustainability of their purchase. Our research question is: How can data sharing along supply chains trigger ethical consumer behaviour? We conduct two workshops with industry, policy-makers, and academic participants and capture the system dynamics of their reflection. We show the influence of data sharing to advance ethical purchasing choices and shifts towards sustainability goals.The first author acknowledges the role of funding that helped to support this research: the EPSRC funding, grant reference EP/T024429/1 via 'Elastic Manufacturing systems - a platform for dynamic, resilient and cost-effective manufacturing services' and the ESRC Made Smarter Network+ ('InterAct') Commissioned Research Programme, Early Career Researcher Fellowship number J17293/ES/W007231/1

Exploring the relationship between technology adoption orientation, capabilities, service offering and patient satisfaction in general practice in England

Across the world, Healthcare systems had to make radical changes to help manage the Covid-19 pandemic. These changes had a dramatic effect on primary care. Studies in this field provided a generic overview of how technology enabled GPs to offer different services supported by the evidence of existing case studies and surveys. However, there is a lack of understanding the impact of the blended services (face to face and virtual) on the patient satisfaction. This study adopted the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities concepts to explore the change of GPs services.</p