Anu Bask

Relationships among TPL providers and members of supply chains – a strategic perspective

Outsourcing of logistics services has increased rapidly during the last few years. Accordingly, third‐party logistics and supply chain management as a research phenomenon has gained increased attention from academia. However, a strategic view focusing on the relationship between supply chain management and third‐party logistics service strategies has gained little attention. This paper focuses on alternative supply chain strategies and their relationship to different types of third‐party logistics services. A normative framework for organizing these relationships is developed. The strategic view adopted in this paper fills a gap in the understanding of how third‐party logistics providers should offer their services more effectively and efficiently to different types of supply chains.

The concept of modularity: diffusion from manufacturing to service production

Purpose – Modules and modularity have been popular concepts in operations research and management rhetoric for decades. Nevertheless, it seems that there is no single universal definition of modularity for classical research themes such as modularity in physical products or modular manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of modularity research and to clarify the concept and impacts of modularity by means of a literature review. The paper discusses whether the modularity concept originally developed in the context of physical products could be applied in the context of product‐related services.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors use a methodology called systematic integrative literature review to describe the current state of modularity research and to define – based on the findings of the review – the themes that are most commonly related to the modularity concept. As service modularity research is a relatively new topic, the authors look for definiti...

Semi-integrated Supply Chains: Towards the New Era of Supply Chain Management

This paper discusses trends in contemporary management that reflect the need for reassessing the notion of supply chain integration. Recent developments in the areas of strategy, channels, processes, relationships, organisation and performance measurement show pressures that call for attention to the various dimensions and varying intensities of integration. It is concluded that emphasis should be directed to focused efforts instead of holistic overall integration, and the concept of semiintegrated supply chains is offered for collectively describing the phenomena in todays supply chain management.

Framework for modularity and customization: service perspective

Purpose – Modularity has been identified as one of the most important methods for achieving mass customization. However, service models that apply varying levels of modularity and customization also exist and are appropriate for various business situations. The objective of this paper is to introduce a framework with which different customer service offerings, service production processes, and service production networks can be analyzed in terms of both modularity and customization.Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds theory and offers a systematic approach for analyzing service modularity and customization. To illustrate the dimensions of the framework, the authors also provide service examples of the various aspects.Findings – In the previous literature, the concepts of modularity and customization have often been discussed in an intertwined manner. The authors find that when modularity and customization are regarded as two separate dimensions, and different perspectives– such as the service o...

Developing a Framework for Supply Chain Management

It has been suggested that successful Supply Chain Management (SCM) requires the understanding and management of three important issues: who are the members in the supply chain; which supply chain processes link them; and. What type/level of integration do these supply chain processes require? This article is based on an extended conceptual framework developed by previous researchers and provides an application in a health care setting. The main purpose of this work is to test the usefulness and to increase the understanding of the framework in a case environment. The objective is to assess the applicability of this supply chain framework for managerial purposes.

Matching service strategies, business models and modular business processes

Purpose – In recent decades, supply chains have diverged and new types of services and operators have emerged in the logistics sector. The purpose of this paper is to focus on analyzing service strategies and service‐related business models, as well as their modular business processes in logistic services. The aims are to describe these three levels and to match strategic service positioning with business models and modular business processes. Different types of services are analyzed and the analyses are conducted on both the industry and corporate levels.Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical focus of the paper illustrates frameworks for service strategy, service positioning, business models, and business processes. The corporate level approach aims to describe the efficiency and quality of services and their processes, while the industry level approach focuses on service strategies in an industry and on the organization of business, i.e. business models. A case study is used to illustrate the str...

Typology for Modular Service Design: Review of Literature

This paper presents a typology for modular service design. The authors review engineering, manufacturing, and service research literature and develop three key concepts for service modularization: service module, service architecture, and service experience. Thereafter these key concepts are further decomposed into detailed constructs. Basing on the reviewed literature, they develop a common typology for modular services. The authors argue that their typology provides a foundation for the development of modular service design methods. The authors also expect that it is important to recognize how customers perceive the service. They propose that service experiences can be characterized by value creation, role perception, personalization, and task complexity and by how the customers experience the particular services.

E-Commerce Logistics: A Literature Research Review and Topics for Future Research

E-commerce has attracted increasing interest at the beginning of the 21st century, in both academia and practice. Today, the Internet is commonly used by both consumers and businesses as a means of purchasing goods. The authors’ study focuses on e-commerce logistics, focusing on the physical delivery of goods sold over the Internet. Based on a systematic review of articles, the authors will summarize and analyze the main findings of academic literature and highlight certain research issues recognized on this topic. The main objective is to study the state-of-the-art of e-commerce logistics research and future research needs. The reviewed articles have been formed into seven categories, and each category is discussed in the paper. The largest categories discuss e-commerce logistics in relation to retail strategies, logistics strategies and structures, and buyer preferences. Although logistics is a critical part of e-commerce, it seems based on the review that not many e-commerce logistics solutions have been developed or studied in current research, and logistics has often been treated as only a minor issue among other issues in e-commerce.

Modularity and customisation in LSPs' service strategies

This paper has two objectives. The first is to classify the service strategies that logistics service providers (LSPs) apply. The second is to examine how modularity and customisation are used by LSPs in their implementation of strategies. We use a framework from literature that should help in illustrating different combinations of the degrees of modularity and customisation in service offerings, service production processes and service production networks. We first classify the service strategies of 23 companies. Then, after selecting five case companies from these, we examine in more depth the usability of the framework and develop a measurement system for modularity and customisation. Our preliminary findings show that the service strategies are reflected in differences relating to modularity and customisation in the service offerings, service production processes and service production networks of the LSPs. The results also help to give substance to the previously vague concepts of modularity and customisation in the service context.

Modularity in logistics services: a business model and process view

Companies are currently looking for new and more cost-efficient ways to provide variety and customisation in services. We believe that modularity in business models and processes may help companies to meet development challenges and to offer flexibility. Consequently, this paper connects modularity to business models and processes in order to facilitate understanding of how modular structures can be applied in services. The theoretical focus of the paper is on the analysis of different types of business models, service processes, and modularity. The empirical focus is on the logistics service industry. The range and scope of logistics services has increased enormously in recent decades, making the industry interesting for studying service modularity. The findings show that by providing flexibility and customisation, modularity can provide a background for the development of business models and processes and can assist in the development of more efficient service processes.