Customer Information Driven After Sales Service ... - RePub

1. Introduction
in Section 1.2, none of the data sources in real life is perfect. Therefore, we also study
the impact of varying IB data quality on the after sales service management decisions
that are under-consideration. The contributions of our research are as follows:
1. We devise solution methods that enable us to meet the varying service needs of
a heterogeneous customer base in after sales service. As mentioned in Section
1.3.1, we focus on spare parts logistics planning and execution. The provision
of differentiated services to a heterogeneous customer base is conceptually similar
to demand management or revenue management. The key idea in these subjects
is to observe the demand of a segmented customer base and match the available
resources to the segmented demand for service fulfillment. In this thesis, we follow
similar ideas to devise solution methods for spare parts logistics.
2. We study the value of IB information for spare parts logistics by comparing the
value addition induced by IB enriched decision making to the baseline situation.
The baseline situation represents decision making without utilizing the IB data.
We also study the potential impact of varying IB data quality. We should mention
that the value of information is contextual and relies on the ability of the decision
maker to use the information for potential gains. In this thesis, we assume the
decision maker to be rational and we do not account for any behavioral aspects of
the decision making situation.
These research contributions are the result of studying a variety of research problems.
We shall discuss the details of the associated research problems in Sections 1.4 and 2.8.
First, we discuss the research methods utilized in this thesis.
1.3.3 Research Methods
Many researchers have emphasized the importance of empirical input to enhance the
practicality and relevance of supply chain management and operations management research.
In line with the discussions by Boyer and Swink (2008); Fisher (2007); Meredith
et al. (1989); Flynn et al. (1990); Bertrand and Fransoo (2002), the approach we take in
this thesis is heavily influenced by the ground realities in spare parts logistics. We aim to
combine practice and theory by using a two dimensional approach. We examine the after
sales service academic literature simultaneously with the business trends in after sales
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