Global Service Supply Chain Management

Introduction

To begin with it should be stated that the increased levels of globalization the role of global services and the supply chains of these services has increased essentially. The improved service supply chains is originally aimed to decrease the costs of service procurement generally by outsourcing the skilled labor force, thus, reducing the overall necessity in stuff for the period of operating in the environment of suppliers and customers. From this point of view Lee (2004) emphasizes the following: “Practitioners of global service supply chain management must weigh important factors related to global supply chains when making decisions. Invited papers should cover cutting edge issues related to global service supply chains that may be of interest to researchers and practitioners to foster discussions on empirical and theoretical work on global service economics and management to meet the needs of the service sectors in this increasingly global economy.”

Maintaining High Quality Service Supply Chain

It is often emphasized that the global service supply chains are represented by the on-line shops and other companies, offering their services in the internet. Initially, there were other types of companies, which were reliable on the service supply chains. Nevertheless, the main principles of these organizations and companies are the following:

• They are relevant with the global service sector
• The companies have the strong financial basis and powerful supply chain management, and globalization.
• scientific approach is applied for solving the appearing problems
• Significant impact on practice, theory and management

The fact is that, the real price of the services has fallen over the past 20 years all over the world, even in spite of the fact that the variety of the services and the channels of providing these services have increased essentially. Meanwhile, the quality of the products from the point of view of durability and the amount of defects has improved. First of all this may be explained by several factors and rules, the strict observation of which promoted the rapid development of the service sector. The companies are obliged to follow the principles of successful business, and, it is necessary to mention that it is fully based on the principles of customer care strategies. They are the following:

1. Solve the customer’s problem completely by insuring that all the goods and services work, and work together.
2. Do not waste the customer’s time.
3. Provide exactly what the customer wants.
4. Provide what’s wanted exactly where it’s wanted.
5. Provide what’s wanted where it’s wanted exactly when it’s wanted.
6. Continually aggregate solutions to reduce the customer’s time and hassle.

Thus, Womack (2005) states the following on the principles of service supply chains: “From the lean perspective, the stampede to outsource manufacturing to China in order to serve North American and European customers is questionable, but not for the reasons usually cited. The real challenge for lean providers is the inability of remote production facilities to respond instantly to changing customer demands, such as a surge in requests for size nine gray “Wonder Wings.” Consequently, from the point of view of the increasing trend of the outsourcing business and the strong tendency of moving the business procedures and performances to the offshore locations it is considered reasonable for the companies to concentrate on improving the means for providing the services they offer. First, there are a number of barriers to address if service purchasing is to be improved.

Problems

While implementing the principles of successful service supply chain, it is necessary to take into account numerous barriers and difficulties which may arise. The problems are generally the following:

Lack of resources used for providing the services. This problem is generally caused by the poor service supply and material supply management. If this happens, it means either serious fault in management or imperfectness of the system in general.

Lack of information. This is the trouble of the technological support. If this occurs, it means that the technology system needs restructuring, and increased attention level should be paid to informational gap coverage.

Some companies make serious mistakes in the process of outsourcing. Originally there are clear rules of outsourcing the business or some business processes. It is stated that overdependence on service providers because of reliance on supplier-specific assets, such as ordering and information systems, decreases the power that the buyer has over the supplier (Womack, 2005).

Lack of holistic view of service spending. This problem is generally caused by the decreased spending flows in the system of formal systems and processes. The spending on services is fragmented across many functions and locations, and often flows through decentralized structures.

Conclusion

Finally, it should be stated that the service supply chain is difficult to adjust properly, taking onto account all the possible troubles and difficulties which may arise. In spite of the improved and expanded technological base and the essential spread of on-line services, the problems and difficulties stay the same, and require proper planning of the business process.

References

1. Lee. H. L. The Triple-A supply Chain. Harvard Business Review. 2004
2. Womack, J. P. Daniel T. J. Lean Consumption. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. 2005