“Scalability”: the paradox  of human resources  in e‐commerce

Hallowell, Roger H.

doi:10.1108/09564230110694820

Cited by 35 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…They may also have ramped up too quickly because of a lack of understanding of the constraints of scalability. Despite there being a spectrum of scalability, from high to low (Boyer et al, 2001), their behavior is consistent with assuming that the scalability is much higher that should be expected from the service context (Hallowell, 2001). This was compounded by a failure to recognize the complexity of the service supply chainindeed, as one senior manager at ETEL stated, "We have no supply chain.…”

Section: Ramp Up Decisionssupporting

confidence: 81%

“…The speed of ramp up is linked to scalability. Two factors that can limit scalability are the non‐IT elements of the service and the complexity of the service (Boyer et al., ; Hallowell, ), these were evident in all three cases, thus limiting the scaling of the services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research into digital service supply chains has shown how unforeseen problems can lead to the phenomenon of fallout (Akkermans & Vos, 2003). Scalability is an important aspect of service ramp ups, both the nature of the service and management assumptions affect it (Boyer, Hallowell & Roth, 2001;Hallowell, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ramp Up and Ramp Down Dynamics in Digital Services

Akkermans

Voss

Oers

2019

J Supply Chain Manag

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Volume ramp ups are notoriously difficult in digital services, where market pressures can lead to ramping up too soon and too rapidly which in turn can lead to the need to ramp down. This paper addresses the challenge of taking innovation to scale in an established firm by enhancing our understanding of the nature of service ramp ups and ramp downs. Digital service ramp ups differ substantially from production ramp ups as the speed is much greater, and problems are visible to customers. However there are similarities between service ramp downs and product recalls and an important contribution is exploring the nature of ramp downs their processes and possible causes. Using an engaged research approach, longitudinal data from three consecutive ramp ups in a European telecom operator were collected. Through analyses of cases, qualitative and quantitative case data, and using a system dynamics model, we identified a set of issues that affect service ramp ups and ramp downs. These include the need to ramp up the service supply chain, biases leading to unrealistic assumptions about scalability and problem‐solving, decision biases in various functions, launching digital services in beta form, a lack of transparency of capacity and lack of learning from previous ramp ups. We show that if these problems are not addressed or resolution is delayed, this can lead to cycles of delay, backlogs and productivity problems and the inevitability of a ramp down. We explore reasons and importance for such delays that lead to service ramp downs.

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Section: Ramp Up Decisionssupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ramp Up and Ramp Down Dynamics in Digital Services

Akkermans

Voss

Oers

2019

J Supply Chain Manag

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“…This focus on objectively studying Internet-retail conduct extends service operation management research that has mainly focused on investigating customers' stated preferences regarding eservice quality (e.g., Thirumalai and Sinha, 2005) or that has only considered subjective evidence about the e-service quality-profit link among retailers (e.g., Hallowell, 2001).…”

Section: Academic and Managerial Contributions And Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking e‐service quality and markups: The role of imperfect information in the supply chain

Rabinovich

2006

J of Ops Management

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Consumers' access to the Internet has greatly expanded their ability to compare offers across a wide array of retailers. In some particular industries (i.e., music), the Internet has also provided consumers with unprecedented opportunities to consider retail offers involving physical goods (i.e., CDs) alongside specialized services. As shown in this paper, these circumstances have important implications for the design and management of customer relationships. These circumstances also permeate relationships across retail and wholesale echelons in music supply chains. In particular, an empirical analysis shows that online consumer access to information on CD retail markups compels retailers to market a level of service quality that is consistent with that markup information. However, limitations in consumer access to markup data, available only to wholesalers and to Internet retailers, allow retailers to inversely link their markups to the fulfillment service quality offered to consumers with wholesaler support. #

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“…Some of this work has studied linkages between service quality and perceptions of performance, satisfaction, and loyalty among consumers (Heim and Sinha, 2001;Boyer et al, 2002;Thirumalai and Sinha, 2005;Boyer and Hult, 2005a,b). Other research has articulated a number of service quality roles that are conducive to the generation of competitive advantage for retailers (Hallowell, 2001;Starr, 2003;Piccoli et al, 2004). Few studies, however, have empirically linked retail pricing policies to services in the supply chain (Rabinovich and Bailey, 2004).…”

Section: Literature Review and Industry Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical distribution service performance and Internet retailer margins: The drop‐shipping context

Rabinovich

Rungtusanatham

Laseter

2008

J of Ops Management

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A B S T R A C TIn this paper, we investigate the relationship between Internet retailer margins and retailer promises regarding product distribution service. We focus particularly on Internet retailing in a drop-ship context, because this model provides a purer separation of these activities and the related costs and constitutes a critical context for the empirical examination of the relationship between retailer margins and promises. Drawing upon retailer and consumer perspectives, we articulate and justify a set of propositions regarding the relationships among different Internet retailer margins and promised product distribution service performance. We examine a sample comprising over 2000 retail transactions with customers and find partial empirical support for the set of propositions. Specifically, the results show that product margins and the margins on shipping and handling are inversely proportional. We also find a direct relationship between promised product distribution service performance and shipping and handling margins even after key product characteristics known to influence the cost side of the margin equation are controlled for. These results confirm an intuitively logical view of the relationships among pricing and promised product distribution service performance. The study also offers insights for practitioners regarding the opportunity to enhance performance in this domain and demonstrates the benefit and power of employing objective measures drawn from the vast array of information captured via online transactions.ß

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“Scalability”: the paradox of human resources in e‐commerce

Cited by 35 publications

References 13 publications

Ramp Up and Ramp Down Dynamics in Digital Services

Ramp Up and Ramp Down Dynamics in Digital Services

Linking e‐service quality and markups: The role of imperfect information in the supply chain

Physical distribution service performance and Internet retailer margins: The drop‐shipping context

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