Specific Characteristics of Service Supply Chain

A) Customer-supplier duality
Service – an act or deed performed on customer’s mind, body,
belongings or information provided by service provider.
Customer also acts like a supplier to the service provider who gets the
service done.
Dual role of customer also being supplier is called “Customer-supplier”
duality. Service delivery

Service provider Customer

Inputs provided
by customer

Bi-directional relationship
Single level bi-directional relationship

Service

Service provider Inputs Customer

Type of Service Customer as supplier Customer as customer

Customer
Service provider supplying inputs receiving service

Air travel Airline Passenger Themselves and Transported passengers and

luggage luggage

Education Educational Students Minds Enlightened mind

institutions
Health care Body with Body without
Doctor
Treating a disease Patient disease disease
Two level bi-directional relationship
Service Service

Next level Service provider Customer

Customer’s Inputs
Service provider
input
Type of Supplier of Customer Customer Customer supplying inputs to
service customer interfacing the initial service provider
interfacing service who sends to another supplier
service provider
provider As supplier As customer

Healthcare Laboratory Doctor Patient Blood/test Test result and

request diagnosis
B) Pure services provide packaged service
Airlines

Hotels

Transportation Tour Travel

Customer
providers operator agent
Sight seeing
operators

Set of services A Typical tourism and hospitality supply chain

C) From a customer’s perspective, many service supply relationships
are Hubs not Chains Audio/Visual
inputs
Cases/Readings

Service
46 students
Operations

Problem solving
Textbook
D) Service capacity is analogous to inventory
 In a manufacturing supply chain, inventory is used as a buffers to
deal with variations in customer demand.
 Customers arrivals may be random with expectation of immediate
service.
 Services cannot be inventoried; some excess capacity must be held
in reserve to accommodate expectation.
E.g - Reservations to schedule customer arrival to match with
capacity.
Challenges in managing service supply chain
Human element in service
Manufacturing Service
Human capital is typically the most
contributory asset.
 People work differently even if
standardization prevail in the
organization
 Varying outcomes of service employee,
managing and controlling performance
in service supply chain is challenging