A systematic literature review on the service supply chain: Research agenda and future research directions

Question 1

What is the paper investigating?

Answer 1

Service supply chain. Since the emergence in 1980s the focus has mainly been on the manufacturing supply chain. There is a need for more research on the service part, due to contributing to 30-87% of GFP in different countries. The paper reviews previous literature.

Question 2

What is the problem?

Answer 2

There is a lack of research on service supply chains due to:

• Most economies rely on manufacturing technologies
• The misconception is that manufacturing supply chain management can be used for services.

Question 3

What are the findings?

Answer 3

1. The majority of service supply chain research is focused on more traditional supply chain management concepts, resulting in a scarce investigation of the robustness of ideas in this area.
2. A more cross-disciplinary approach is needed to uncover the potential of service supply chain dynamics to understand and develop service supply chain research
3. Future research needs to focus on environmental-friendly practices, better market orientation and service provider-customer relations.
4. Modern technology tools and modes need to be investigated in the service supply chain as these have already been shown as beneficial in the manufacturing supply chain.