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- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
Most advanced economies have evolved into service economies with the majority of their activity and jobs being in the service sector. The manufacturing sector is also going through a similar shift towards services. Manufacturers are increasingly complementing their products with new services in order to satisfy a broader array of customer needs and increase the value of their offerings. This shift has offered significant opportunities to the sector and the success of major firms such as IBM, Caterpillar, and Rolls-Royce in competing through services has been remarkable.
Despite the increased importance of services in the manufacturing sector, the academic literature is yet to investigate the many questions that arise under this new manufacturing paradigm. Perhaps for the same reason study of servitization is listed as a research priority in recent publications both in the field of service operations management and in the field services marketing. This dissertation covers three essays aimed at disentangling multiple aspects of the role of services in the manufacturing sector. The literature on the drivers and implications of transition towards services in manufacturing firms is limited. The three studies in this dissertation aim at shedding light on this issue.
Specifically, the first essay looks at the innovation benefits of service transactions with customers. This paper demonstrate the value of services in getting manufacturers closer to customers and allowing them glean useful information from their service interactions. The second essay investigates the antecedents of service strategy adoption. We suggest that the extant diversification theory does not fully explain servitization and this phenomenon represents a unique type of diversification, which is likely driven by different factors. Through econometric analysis of financial data over a 27-year period, this study explores characteristics of product, firm resources, competition, and industry that encourage adoption of service strategies in manufacturing sector. Finally, the third essay takes a deeper dive and focuses on dealerships, as service centers, in the automobile industry. It investigates the role of dealerships in the success of automakers and explores dealership traits that are critical for market success of an automobile brand.
Despite the increased importance of services in the manufacturing sector, the academic literature is yet to investigate the many questions that arise under this new manufacturing paradigm. Perhaps for the same reason study of servitization is listed as a research priority in recent publications both in the field of service operations management and in the field services marketing. This dissertation covers three essays aimed at disentangling multiple aspects of the role of services in the manufacturing sector. The literature on the drivers and implications of transition towards services in manufacturing firms is limited. The three studies in this dissertation aim at shedding light on this issue.
Specifically, the first essay looks at the innovation benefits of service transactions with customers. This paper demonstrate the value of services in getting manufacturers closer to customers and allowing them glean useful information from their service interactions. The second essay investigates the antecedents of service strategy adoption. We suggest that the extant diversification theory does not fully explain servitization and this phenomenon represents a unique type of diversification, which is likely driven by different factors. Through econometric analysis of financial data over a 27-year period, this study explores characteristics of product, firm resources, competition, and industry that encourage adoption of service strategies in manufacturing sector. Finally, the third essay takes a deeper dive and focuses on dealerships, as service centers, in the automobile industry. It investigates the role of dealerships in the success of automakers and explores dealership traits that are critical for market success of an automobile brand.
ContributorsGolara, Sina (Author) / Dooley, Kevin J (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Dale (Committee member) / Kull, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The phenomenon of global warming and climate change has increasingly attracted attention by researchers in the field of supply chain and operations management. Firms have developed efficient plans and intervention measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While a majority of research in supply chain management has adopted a firm-centric view to study environmental management, this dissertation focuses on the context of GHG emissions reduction by considering a firm’s vertical and horizontal relationships with other parties, and the associated spillover effects. A theoretical framework is first proposed to facilitate the field's understanding of the possible spillover effects in GHG emissions reduction via vertical and horizontal interactions. Two empirical studies are then presented to test the spillover effect in GHG emissions reduction, focusing on the vertical interactions - when firms interact with their supply chain members. Drawing data from Bloomberg Environmental Social and Governance, and Bloomberg SPLC, this study conducts econometric analyses using various models. The results suggest that first, a higher level of supply chain GHG emissions is associated with the adoption of emissions reduction programs by a firm, and that this supply chain leakage contributes to the firm’s financial performance. Second, a firm's supply base innovativeness can contribute to its internal GHG emissions reduction, and this effect is contingent on a firm's supply base structure. As such, this dissertation answers the recent call in the field of supply chain and operations management for more empirical research in socially and environmentally responsible value chains. Further, this study contributes to the literature by providing a better understanding of the externalities that value chain members can impose on one another when pursuing sustainability goals.
ContributorsSong, Sining (Author) / Kull, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Carter, Craig (Committee member) / Dong, Yan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Although many examples have demonstrated the great potential of a human crowd as an alternative supplier in creative problem-solving, empirical evidence shows that the performance of a crowd varies greatly even under similar situations. This phenomenon is defined as the performance variation puzzle in crowdsourcing. Cases suggest that crowd development influences crowd performance, but little research in crowdsourcing literature has examined the issue of crowd development.
This dissertation studies how crowd development impacts crowd performance in crowdsourcing. It first develops a double-funnel framework on crowd development. Based on structural thinking and four crowd development examples, this conceptual framework elaborates different steps of crowd development in crowdsourcing. By doing so, this dissertation partitions a crowd development process into two sub-processes that map out two empirical studies.
The first study examines the relationships between elements of event design and crowd emergence and the mechanisms underlying these relationships. This study takes a strong inference approach and tests whether tournament theory is more applicable than diffusion theory in explaining the relationships between elements of event design and crowd emergence in crowdsourcing. Results show that that neither diffusion theory nor tournament theory fully explains these relationships. This dissertation proposes a contatition (i.e., contagious competition) perspective that incorporates both elements of these two theories to get a full understanding of crowd emergence in crowdsourcing.
The second empirical study draws from innovation search literature and tournament theory to address the performance variation puzzle through analyzing crowd attributes. Results show that neither innovation search perspective nor tournament theory fully explains the relationships between crowd attributes and crowd performance. Based on the research findings, this dissertation discovers a competition-search mechanism beneath the variation of crowd performance in crowdsourcing.
This dissertation makes a few significant contributions. It maps out an emergent process for the first time in supply chain literature, discovers the mechanisms underlying the performance implication of a crowd-development process, and answers a research call on crowd engagement and utilization. Managerial implications for crowd management are also discussed.
This dissertation studies how crowd development impacts crowd performance in crowdsourcing. It first develops a double-funnel framework on crowd development. Based on structural thinking and four crowd development examples, this conceptual framework elaborates different steps of crowd development in crowdsourcing. By doing so, this dissertation partitions a crowd development process into two sub-processes that map out two empirical studies.
The first study examines the relationships between elements of event design and crowd emergence and the mechanisms underlying these relationships. This study takes a strong inference approach and tests whether tournament theory is more applicable than diffusion theory in explaining the relationships between elements of event design and crowd emergence in crowdsourcing. Results show that that neither diffusion theory nor tournament theory fully explains these relationships. This dissertation proposes a contatition (i.e., contagious competition) perspective that incorporates both elements of these two theories to get a full understanding of crowd emergence in crowdsourcing.
The second empirical study draws from innovation search literature and tournament theory to address the performance variation puzzle through analyzing crowd attributes. Results show that neither innovation search perspective nor tournament theory fully explains the relationships between crowd attributes and crowd performance. Based on the research findings, this dissertation discovers a competition-search mechanism beneath the variation of crowd performance in crowdsourcing.
This dissertation makes a few significant contributions. It maps out an emergent process for the first time in supply chain literature, discovers the mechanisms underlying the performance implication of a crowd-development process, and answers a research call on crowd engagement and utilization. Managerial implications for crowd management are also discussed.
ContributorsLiu, Zhongzhi (Author) / Kull, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Dooley, Kevin (Committee member) / Oke, Adegoke (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
While agency problems inevitably exist in buyer-supplier relationships, the focus on how to overcome such problems has been confined to the buyer-supplier dyad as if the dyad exists in isolation. In this dissertation, I re-frame the agency problems beyond the dyadic relationship between a buyer and its supplier and suggest a new way to overcome agency problems. While the current Agency Theory suggests that the buyer can monitor and provide incentives to mitigate the agency problems, I propose to look beyond the dyad in addressing buyer-supplier agency problems.
In the first chapter, I examine the impact of the “indirect links” in which the buyer is connected to the supplier through a third actor. I propose a conceptual framework that specifies how the indirect links can overcome agency problems through the effects of information exchange, mutual monitoring, power change, and network governance. These different effects are enabled by the indirect links based on the different network positions and levels of connectivity of the third actor. The first chapter provides a theoretical framework for Chapter 2 and 3.
In Chapter 2, the effect of network governance enabled by the indirect links is investigated. In particular, two scenario-based role-play experiments were conducted with managers to examine the effects of dyadic and network governance mechanisms on supplier opportunism. In Study 1, the participants took the perspective of a supplier, while in Study 2, the participants took the role of a buyer. The results show that network governance mechanism reduces the supplier's opportunistic behavioral intentions directly and indirectly through the negative affection prediction, and while suppliers may overlook the buyer's reactions as they make decisions, the buyers are likely to react against the supplier, such as engage in negative word-of-mouth or reduce level of commitment.
Finally, directed sourcing, a direct application of how a buyer could overcome agency problems beyond the dyad, is examined in Chapter 3. Directed sourcing is an emerging sourcing practice in which the buying firms bypass the top-tier suppliers and directly manage or contract with lower-tier suppliers, and research on this new practice is in its infancy. Therefore, multi-tier multi-task principal-agent models are developed to investigate the effect of directed sourcing practice on each member in this three-tier supply chain, comparing with traditional tiered sourcing. The results show that directed sourcing generally benefits the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and the lower-tier supplier, while it harms the top-tier supplier. Yet, directed sourcing is not always beneficial to the OEM. Therefore, an OEM should be selective in implementing this new strategy.
In the first chapter, I examine the impact of the “indirect links” in which the buyer is connected to the supplier through a third actor. I propose a conceptual framework that specifies how the indirect links can overcome agency problems through the effects of information exchange, mutual monitoring, power change, and network governance. These different effects are enabled by the indirect links based on the different network positions and levels of connectivity of the third actor. The first chapter provides a theoretical framework for Chapter 2 and 3.
In Chapter 2, the effect of network governance enabled by the indirect links is investigated. In particular, two scenario-based role-play experiments were conducted with managers to examine the effects of dyadic and network governance mechanisms on supplier opportunism. In Study 1, the participants took the perspective of a supplier, while in Study 2, the participants took the role of a buyer. The results show that network governance mechanism reduces the supplier's opportunistic behavioral intentions directly and indirectly through the negative affection prediction, and while suppliers may overlook the buyer's reactions as they make decisions, the buyers are likely to react against the supplier, such as engage in negative word-of-mouth or reduce level of commitment.
Finally, directed sourcing, a direct application of how a buyer could overcome agency problems beyond the dyad, is examined in Chapter 3. Directed sourcing is an emerging sourcing practice in which the buying firms bypass the top-tier suppliers and directly manage or contract with lower-tier suppliers, and research on this new practice is in its infancy. Therefore, multi-tier multi-task principal-agent models are developed to investigate the effect of directed sourcing practice on each member in this three-tier supply chain, comparing with traditional tiered sourcing. The results show that directed sourcing generally benefits the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and the lower-tier supplier, while it harms the top-tier supplier. Yet, directed sourcing is not always beneficial to the OEM. Therefore, an OEM should be selective in implementing this new strategy.
ContributorsYang, Yang (Author) / Choi, Thomas Y. (Thesis advisor) / Carter, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Kull, Thomas (Committee member) / Yin, Rui (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Nonprofit operations management has gained increasing attention from both academia andpolicymakers. While the literature has focused on monetary donations, it is important
to recognize that individuals also support charity organizations through volunteering and
in-kind gifts. This dissertation examines the role of in-kind donations in supporting the
operations of Nonprofit organizations. It is divided into three pieces: the first two investigate
the relationship between individuals’ time and monetary donations, and their implications
for Nonprofit operations, while the last part centers on individuals’ goods donations.
The first chapter explores a fundamental question: Do volunteering activities discourage
or encourage donations? While some research suggests that people view their time and financial
contributions as substitutes, others believe that they should be complementary. Two
controlled online experiments indicate that volunteering improves subsequent monetary donations
and that, as greater effort is required, people tend to reduce their donations. These
results highlight the importance of considering both the labor and financial contributions
of volunteers and creating volunteer projects with an appropriate level of effort.
The second chapter is about how to manage volunteers, taking into account how volunteers
can be unpredictable, heterogeneous, and even donate money. The results challenge
conventional knowledge in volunteer management, highlighting the need to integrate the
management of volunteers and donors. Volunteers are not only suppliers of labor, but also
consumers of volunteering activities. Moreover, enhancing the job efficiency of volunteers
may also hinder the performance of charities.
Last, the donation of goods is a vital form of supply for charities, which can be resold
to generate additional revenue. However, not all in-kind gifts are useful, and unwanted
donations can place a financial strain on charitable organizations. Despite this, nonprofits
may hesitate to reject undesired donations for fear of discouraging future support. In
response, I employ behavioral interventions to encourage donors to voluntarily increase the
quality of their gifts.
Contributorswu, chao (Author) / Eftekhar, Mahyar (Thesis advisor) / Uichanco, Joline (Committee member) / Kull, Thomas (Committee member) / Wang, Yimin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
In the current knowledge economy, the decision on whether to outsource knowledge assets is arguably the most important decision in operations and supply chain management (OSCM). However, the theories of transaction cost economics (TCE) and the resource-based theory (RBT) are inconsistent in their ability to predict, describe or explain knowledge outsourcing decisions. Currently, a theory to explain this important OSCM decision does not seem to be available. This dissertation takes a view that strategic decisions like that of knowledge asset outsourcing are made by a two step decision process where (1) an individual level cognitive process where managers generate their solutions and (2) a firm level social process where managers seek to influence other managers about their opinion. Part I uses a behavioral experiment to understand how managers form their solutions to the knowledge outsourcing question. The part tests if the psychological closeness to a task being outsourced i.e. the task affinity and self-interest influences the managers to subvert the rational decision process and make “favorable” outsourcing decisions. Additionally, it also tests if the influence is indirect and mediated by the perception of asset specificity (TCE variable) and core competence (RBT variable). Part 2 adopts a naturalistic paradigm and conducts case study research to understand how these cognitive managers with different mindsets try to influence the firm decision. The structuration theory framework is adopted to study 11 decision opportunities and frame a typology of decision processes that are used by managers. The parsimonious typology has 4 ideal types based on the nature of data exchange (naive and involved) and the nature of mindset exchange (naive or involved). The dissertation offers a comprehensive understanding of how knowledge asset outsourcing decisions emerge. It aligns the strategy research in OSCM field to the current beliefs in strategic management. The typology can be used to develop contingencies that suggest the type of decision process to use in different conditions. The experiment validates that TCE and RBT influences how managers make decisions but shows that task affinity and self-interest influences the perception of core competency and the outsourcing decision.
ContributorsShah, Piyush (Author) / Kull, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Carter, Craig (Committee member) / Bendoly, Elliot (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020