Supply chain management is a well-developed area. The traditional supply chains are dynamic systems which include the forward and reverse flows of physical products and the related information and fund. However, a service supply chain is different because the real "product" may take the form of a "service" which implies that many traditionally crucial decisions in supply chain management such as product shipping problems are no longer important. Here, a service supply chain is defined as a supply network that transfers resources into services or servitised products, with or without physical products, to satisfy customer needs. As a result, managing a service supply chain system requires innovative strategies with new models. Currently, there is an absence of a comprehensive reference source that provides the state-of-the-art findings on this important topic. It will thus be significant to develop a well-balanced edited volume that includes both theoretical results (from different perspectives) and application cases/studies on service supply chain systems.
This book is a pioneering text on service supply chain systems. It features papers which adopt the systems engineering approach in conducting service supply chain analysis. It includes both theoretical results (from different perspectives) and application cases/studies on service supply chain systems. It will be a good reference book for industrialists and academics who are interested in the service industry, service operations, service management, and service sciences.
"This is a pioneering book in the area of service supply chain systems by using a system engineering approach. Scholars, students, practioners all can learn how to manage service supply chain after reading this book. Thus, this book is great reference book for people who are interested in the service operations management."
Prof. Bin Shen, Assistant Professor inthe department of Electronic Commerce and Logistics,Donghua University, China.
"Tsan-Ming Choi has emerged as a leading figure in Service Supply Chain research. This book adds to his earlier work, he has collected works from scientists around the world, looking at service supply chains from many different, some very original, perspectives. We find inputs on classical (in normal supply chains) subjects such as coordination, management accounting, power structures and resilience, but also more unique subjects such as the use of signs as services and the relationship to big data in services. In addition, there are several chapters purely about, or related to, applications. Readers used to supply chain research, but unfamiliar with service supply chains may find the applied chapters very useful to really grasp the peculiarity of supply chains without physical products, or services attached to, but different from, the physical products they service.
This is a good book to have for those of us who teach logistics or supply chains as a means to find examples of service supply chains and what makes them different from other supply chains."
Professor Stein W. Wallace, professor of operational research at the Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway.
