Service supply chain management: research implications from the service-dominant logic

Abstract

The increasing relevance of the service sector in the majority of the world’s developed economies has motivated scholars to investigate how the performance of global service operations can be increased, in order to maintain competitiveness. While approaches originating from traditional supply chain management initially appeared promising, it is now evident that these approaches are often not applicable to service organisations, and that our understanding of what constitutes a service supply chain is limited and incomplete. This paper addresses these issues, by developing a framework that allows for a clearer distinction between goods dominated supply chains, and service dominated supply chains. By drawing on the service science literature, we then utilise the service-dominant logic to examine the underlying features of both types of supply chains, and present research artefacts that aid researchers and practitioners to better understand the underlying dynamics apparent in supply chain interactions. Drawing from these findings the paper culminates in a set of research implications.