This thesis has the objective of examining the Early Supplier Involvement approach applied to the service context. The ESI approach consists in the establishment of a relationship with a supplier since the design phase of the new service or new product to be developed; as suggested by Johnsen et al. “the concept of ESI emphasizes the importance of involving suppliers early in new product development process in order to fully capitalize on suppliers’ specialized capabilities, which is an important step in ensuring design-for-manufacture” (where “design-for-manufacture means that the design process is carried out with a specific view to putting the product into production”)[58]. This topic has been studied by different authors, but the vast majority of these examinations and research cases looked at the ESI strategy from the manufacturing perspective, in particular dealing with the high-tech products. Examples of this are the study by Zu’bi M. F. Al-Zu’bi, whose research is about two manufacturing industries, machinery and electronics [82]; or, again, the case of Lakemond et. al, whose results are derived from 6 cases dealing with packaging companies [83]; von Corswant and Fredriksson also studied the ESI applied to a car manufacturer case [84]. The objective of this analysis is to understand, at first, which are the mechanisms intervening during the decision of the buyer about which supplier to select for the ESI approach. The second objective of the thesis is related to the different characteristics that the established relationship has to possess in order to be successful and to achieve the benefits of the ESI. Then, the focus moves to the buyer-company: what is investigated in that part of analysis are the internal capabilities and skills that the company should have in order to build the ESI partnership with the characteristics previously analysed. The last objective is about the benefits; indeed, if all the previously considered characteristics are present, it is crucial to define which are the advantages achievable by both the sides, with a stronger focus on the buyer’s one. In order to investigate the topics previously mentioned (the mechanisms, the characteristics, the internal capabilities and the benefits), a case study from the travel industry has been examined. The tour operator Earth Viaggi, thanks to its top manager and to three of its supplier, who participate to interviews – oral for the top manager and written for the suppliers -, is the object of the investigation. The crucial nature of the partnerships and of their establishment during the design phase of the packages to be offered to the final customer pushes the choice towards this tour operator and the industry in which it operates. The approach used starts from a framework about the critical success factors for the right application of the ESI approach in the service context, thas has been proposed at the end of the literary review; this framework is analysed with the aim of being confirmed or modified on the basis of the results obtained from the case. Furthermore, the nature of the data and information analysed pushes the approach of the examination to be a qualitative one: the pattern of the answers of the different interviewees has been analysed to understand the importance of the different discussed topics. The results mainly confirm the proposed success factors needed for a proper ESI partnership and highlight their different levels of importance. The strongest focus of the investigated companies is on their missions and philosophies, which have to be perfectly aligned among each other: satisfying the customers offering them a travel which translates into an “inspiring” experience to be always remembered. The alignment allows the companies to improve continuously the quality of the information shared, the communication and the training to build the necessary trust which makes possible the exploitation of the partnership as a value creator by both the sides. The results of the analysis are able to answer to the research questions adding a specific research case to the literature not yet deepened about the ESI approach in the service environment.
L’obiettivo di questa tesi è quello di esaminare la strategia di “Early Supplier Involvement” applicato al contesto dei servizi. Questo approccio consiste fondamentalmente nel coinvolgere il fornitore durante la fase di design del nuovo servizio da sviluppare. Questo argomento è stato studiato da diversi autori, ma la maggior parte di questi studi e ricerche sono stati condotti focalizzandosi sull’approccio ESI dalla prospettiva del manifatturiero, concentrandosi in particolare sui cosiddetti prodotti “high-tech”. Lo scopo dell’analisi è quello di capire, innanzitutto, quali sono i meccanismi che intervengono durante il processo di decisione relativo a quale fornitore selezionare in prospettiva dell’applicazione della strategia ESI. Il secondo tema di interesse si riferisce alle diverse caratteristiche che deve possedere la relazione con il fornitore per avere esito positivo e, conseguentemente, per ottenere i benefici di questo approccio. Successivamente, l’attenzione viene spostata sull’azienda “buyer”, ovvero che necessita di un fornitore: in questa parte di analisi vengono esaminate le capacità e abilità interne che l’azienda deve possedere per costruire una partnership di tipo ESI che abbia le caratteristiche analizzate tramite l’analisi precedente. L’ultimo argomento di interesse dell’indagine sono i benefici: se tutte le caratteristiche precedenti coesistono nella medesima partnership, definire quali sono i vantaggi che le due parti possono ottenere è fondamentale; qui l’attenzione maggiore è dedicata alla prospettiva del buyer. Con l’intento di rispondere alle domande di ricerca precedentemente menzionate, è stato esaminato un caso di ricerca appartenente al settore del turismo. Il caso è quello del tour operator Earth Viaggi: l’azienda è l’oggetto in esame grazie alle interviste a cui hanno partecipato il top manager e tre fornitori – orale nel primo caso e scritta nel secondo. Il ruolo cruciale delle partnership e della loro “creazione” sin dalla fase di design del nuovo pacchetto da vendere al cliente finale, hanno spinto la scelta verso questo particolare tour operator e verso l’industria in cui esso opera. L’approccio usato è quello deduttivo: l’indagine parte da un modello relativo ai fattori critici per il successo della strategia nel “nuovo” contesto dei servizi; il modello è stato proposto in seguito all’analisi della letteratura già esistente. L’obiettivo dello sviluppo del modello, precedentemente rispetto all’analisi, è quello di essere confermato o modificato sulla base dei risultati ottenuti dal caso. Inoltre, la natura dei dati e delle informazioni analizzate spinge ad usare un approccio di tipo qualitativo: ciò che è stato discusso e studiato è il pattern, l’andamento delle diverse risposte fornite durante le interviste, con lo scopo di comprendere l’importanza dei diversi argomenti trattati. I risultati ottenuti confermano nella maggior parte dei casi i fattori critici al raggiungimento del successo proposti, evidenziandone i diversi livelli di importanza. L’attenzione maggiore, per quanto riguarda le aziende analizzate, è sulla mission e sulla filosofia che deve essere perfettamente allineata con quella del partner: soddisfare i clienti finali offrendo loro un viaggio che si deve tradurre in una esperienza “ispirante”, che venga ricordata per sempre. Questo allineamento permette alle aziende di migliorare continuamente la qualità delle informazioni condivise, la comunicazione e il training necessari alla creazione della fiducia, che è ciò che rende possibile lo sfruttamento della partnership, ciò che la rende un “value creator”, una fonte di valore, per entrambe le parti. I risultati di questa analisi sono in grado di rispondere alle domande di ricerca arricchendo la letteratura, non approfondita, attualmente esistente riguardo l’approccio ESI nei servizi.
Exploring early supplier involvement in the service industry
DE MARCHI, BARBARA
2016/2017
Abstract
This thesis has the objective of examining the Early Supplier Involvement approach applied to the service context. The ESI approach consists in the establishment of a relationship with a supplier since the design phase of the new service or new product to be developed; as suggested by Johnsen et al. “the concept of ESI emphasizes the importance of involving suppliers early in new product development process in order to fully capitalize on suppliers’ specialized capabilities, which is an important step in ensuring design-for-manufacture” (where “design-for-manufacture means that the design process is carried out with a specific view to putting the product into production”)[58]. This topic has been studied by different authors, but the vast majority of these examinations and research cases looked at the ESI strategy from the manufacturing perspective, in particular dealing with the high-tech products. Examples of this are the study by Zu’bi M. F. Al-Zu’bi, whose research is about two manufacturing industries, machinery and electronics [82]; or, again, the case of Lakemond et. al, whose results are derived from 6 cases dealing with packaging companies [83]; von Corswant and Fredriksson also studied the ESI applied to a car manufacturer case [84]. The objective of this analysis is to understand, at first, which are the mechanisms intervening during the decision of the buyer about which supplier to select for the ESI approach. The second objective of the thesis is related to the different characteristics that the established relationship has to possess in order to be successful and to achieve the benefits of the ESI. Then, the focus moves to the buyer-company: what is investigated in that part of analysis are the internal capabilities and skills that the company should have in order to build the ESI partnership with the characteristics previously analysed. The last objective is about the benefits; indeed, if all the previously considered characteristics are present, it is crucial to define which are the advantages achievable by both the sides, with a stronger focus on the buyer’s one. In order to investigate the topics previously mentioned (the mechanisms, the characteristics, the internal capabilities and the benefits), a case study from the travel industry has been examined. The tour operator Earth Viaggi, thanks to its top manager and to three of its supplier, who participate to interviews – oral for the top manager and written for the suppliers -, is the object of the investigation. The crucial nature of the partnerships and of their establishment during the design phase of the packages to be offered to the final customer pushes the choice towards this tour operator and the industry in which it operates. The approach used starts from a framework about the critical success factors for the right application of the ESI approach in the service context, thas has been proposed at the end of the literary review; this framework is analysed with the aim of being confirmed or modified on the basis of the results obtained from the case. Furthermore, the nature of the data and information analysed pushes the approach of the examination to be a qualitative one: the pattern of the answers of the different interviewees has been analysed to understand the importance of the different discussed topics. The results mainly confirm the proposed success factors needed for a proper ESI partnership and highlight their different levels of importance. The strongest focus of the investigated companies is on their missions and philosophies, which have to be perfectly aligned among each other: satisfying the customers offering them a travel which translates into an “inspiring” experience to be always remembered. The alignment allows the companies to improve continuously the quality of the information shared, the communication and the training to build the necessary trust which makes possible the exploitation of the partnership as a value creator by both the sides. The results of the analysis are able to answer to the research questions adding a specific research case to the literature not yet deepened about the ESI approach in the service environment.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2017_08_De Marchi.pdf
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Descrizione: Testo della tesi
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/136327