Author’s Purpose
Liu et al.’s purpose is to present a summary of the development of service supply chain management from a behavioral operations perspective, outlining potential future research areas for academics (Liu et al., 2019). To identify research gaps and develop agendas for future studies, this evaluation aims to assess the existing literature on SSCM from a behavioral operations perspective. Liu et al. (2019) attempt to incorporate behavioral aspects into the SSCM to research the situation and make informed decisions that take into consideration the diverse behaviors of supply chain members (Liu et al., 2019). This will make it easier to comprehend the growth and potential of this interdisciplinary research field.
Issue Background
The service sector is a significant driver of the global economy. Many manufacturing organizations have steadily expanded their product range from tangible goods to value-added services in response to intense market competition to survive (Liu et al., 2019). Similar to the definition given in the textbook, the article refers to it as the product servitization trend (Liu et al., 2019; Quigg, 2022).
Various research areas, including the administration of service operations, service supply chains, and service marketing, have been brought to bear on service in this context (Liu et al., 2019). However, according to Tseng et al. (2020), some of the premises of the existing literature require revision in light of the complex interactions and dynamic behavior factors among service supply chain participants. Behavioral economics is an amendment to traditional economics, and not a refutation of it. This is due to the fact that traditional operations management research focused on offering tools and recipes to assist decision makers with tactical operational issues. In fact, decision-makers aim to achieve the most gratifying outcome in line with society’s preferences, rather than just maximizing their personal cash payout.
Relevant Supply Chain Management Theory
The supply chain management theory relevant to the article is the behavioral theory presented in the textbook (Quigg, 2022). Proponents of this approach, which applies behavioral science concepts to the design and administration of companies, aim to help employees reach their full potential to a greater extent (Liu et al., 2019; Quigg, 2022). The basic objective of this strategy, in the broadest terms, is to enhance the company’s effectiveness by improving the effectiveness of its human resources. Its basic tenet is that the effective use of behavioral science will always help to increase employee productivity and organizational effectiveness. Despite many critical positive results presented in the analyzed article, according to the textbook and Wang & Hu (2021), the behaviorist approach has sometimes proven to be untenable in situations that differ from those studied by its adherents (Quigg, 2022). Techniques such as employee involvement and changing the nature of the work are only beneficial for some people and in some situations.
Managerial Implications
From a behavioral standpoint, this paper is the first systematic overview of service supply chain studies. The current state of research is assessed using a two-dimensional classification of the literature, with an eye to potential future study directions. SSCM is a developing trend in the field of supply chain management, with little research on it from the viewpoint of behavioral operations. Sixty-four articles that were published between 2009 and 2018 were chosen for this study (Liu et al., 2019). These papers were systematically examined along two dimensions.
The management of service supply, demand, integration, and the initial link in the service supply chain coordination (Liu et al., 2019). The second dimension is the behavioral factor. The applicability of this article lies in its indication of the need for the values of each indicator and how they will be observed when applying behavioral management supply theory.
The study concludes that different behavior components receive different levels of consideration, with strategic behaviors receiving the most significant focus and the least forecast bias. This conclusion is based on an analysis of the literature. Thus, it makes it possible, with the help of an unbiased opinion, to determine how each of the indicators will be implemented and whether it is advisable to use a behavioral approach in a particular enterprise (Liu et al., 2019). Additionally, research to date has tended to place less emphasis on service demand and integration management and more emphasis on service supply management and coordination management. Therefore, if these areas of management are of higher priority in a particular case, managers can use this paper as a guide for implementing the supply management approach.
Article Summary
In the theory segment, the paper investigates SSCM from the standpoint of behavioral operations and offers the key behavioral elements in the OM fields. The study chose 64 papers from the relevant literature published between 2009 and 2018 after searching five databases (Liu et al., 2019). A view of the links in the service supply chain, a behavioral factor perspective was used to categorize the chosen literature. The gaps in the literature regarding essential human factors in the OM domains were identified through comparative analysis, and five goals for further research were proposed. In conclusion, the study suggests different research agendas.
References
Liu, W., Wang, D., Long, S., Shen, X., & Shi, V. (2019). Service supply chain management: A behavioral operations perspective. Modern Supply Chain Research and Applications, 1(1), 28-53.
Quigg, B. (2022). Supply chain management (1st ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Tseng, M. L., Chen, C. C., Wu, K. J., & Tan, R. (2020). Eco-efficient sustainable service supply chain management hierarchical model based on qualitative information and quantitative data. Management of Environmental Quality, 31(4), 961-984.
Wang, S., & Hu, Z. H. (2021). Green logistics service supply chain games considering risk preference in fuzzy environments. Sustainability, 13(8024), 1-32.