Over the past years, as sales growth in the durable goods market has slowed and product margins have decreased, the After-Sales (AS) activities have become increasingly important as sources of differentiation and profit for manufacturers. Therefore, a shift in emphasis by many firms is occurring, from a traditional Product-Centric view to a more innovative Customer Centric view. The new perception of AS as a source of competitive advantage and business opportunity, requires a significant emphasis on the definition of a structured business performance measurement system. Monitoring and measuring AS activities allows to ensure a proper balance between business and operational objectives and their assessments. In addition, since more actors are involved along the service chain simultaneously, an integrated and multi-attribute set of measures needs to be properly designed at every level of the AS supply network. This paper discusses the peculiarity of AS strategies and processes and the implications on the assistance network performance measurement system. Basing on case studies in the automotive sector, the paper proposes an integrated framework for AS network performance measurement and develops an extensive analysis of the relationship between a set of drivers related to the industry, to the product and firm-specific and the performance measurement metrics adopted both by the OEM to evaluate its assistance network and by each TAC to measure the achieved performances. The results show different emphasis given by manufacturers to the time perspective in AS performance measurement, accordingly to their strategic objectives. Nonetheless, rather low importance is given to the overall supply chain efficiency. On the contrary, some measures of the overall supply chain effectiveness exist, especially through customer satisfaction.

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT OF THE AFTER-SALES SUPPLY NETWORK. THE CASE OF AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES

SACCANI, Nicola;
2005-01-01

Abstract

Over the past years, as sales growth in the durable goods market has slowed and product margins have decreased, the After-Sales (AS) activities have become increasingly important as sources of differentiation and profit for manufacturers. Therefore, a shift in emphasis by many firms is occurring, from a traditional Product-Centric view to a more innovative Customer Centric view. The new perception of AS as a source of competitive advantage and business opportunity, requires a significant emphasis on the definition of a structured business performance measurement system. Monitoring and measuring AS activities allows to ensure a proper balance between business and operational objectives and their assessments. In addition, since more actors are involved along the service chain simultaneously, an integrated and multi-attribute set of measures needs to be properly designed at every level of the AS supply network. This paper discusses the peculiarity of AS strategies and processes and the implications on the assistance network performance measurement system. Basing on case studies in the automotive sector, the paper proposes an integrated framework for AS network performance measurement and develops an extensive analysis of the relationship between a set of drivers related to the industry, to the product and firm-specific and the performance measurement metrics adopted both by the OEM to evaluate its assistance network and by each TAC to measure the achieved performances. The results show different emphasis given by manufacturers to the time perspective in AS performance measurement, accordingly to their strategic objectives. Nonetheless, rather low importance is given to the overall supply chain efficiency. On the contrary, some measures of the overall supply chain effectiveness exist, especially through customer satisfaction.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11379/165818
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