Service Parts Management: An Empirically Derived Agenda

Faced with global competition, declining sales, and shrinking profit margins, many firms have adopted some form of service-based model to complement or build existing businesses, shifting their focus from simply improving... [ view full abstract ]

Faced with global competition, declining sales, and shrinking profit margins, many firms have adopted some form of service-based model to complement or build existing businesses, shifting their focus from simply improving product manufacturing and delivery to cultivating after-sale service and customer satisfaction. One major component of after-sale service involves service parts management. However, service parts businesses are rarely stand-alone ventures and are typically seen as add-ons to existing business models. As such, many service parts operations are managed using ad-hoc practices that are often subordinated to primary businesses. This research serves to disambiguate this burgeoning area of supply chain management and present a unified agenda for future research. This research uses a grounded theory approach to generate two models thus helping build theory in this nascent area of supply chain management and provides a theory-based agenda aimed at narrowing the gap between service parts research and practice.