Flexibility of Resources in Global After-Sales Service Networks in the Context of Service Individualization

摘要

Industrial after-sales services are an important business for traditional manufacturing companies. The design and the provision of services can be approached through a three layer service system model. Customers of service providers are more and more willing to externalize operations, such as maintenance of a machine and at the same time become more demanding. Service providers themselves are urged to offer service variants in order to fulfill specific customer requirements and thus remain economically successful. The service system model allows to approach this business need. The present paper highlights the opportunities and limitations service providing companies face, when striving for efficient service variants through exploiting the flexibility of their resources. After introducing the economic relevance of the topic and the service system model, possible generic attributes specifying service variants are delineated. The outcome of this paper shows a qualitative analysis of the flexibility of the service system resources that allow the offering of service variants.