ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of services to the supply chain as an important source of adding value and as a distinct yet complementary approach to production operations. It is sometimes easy to mistake the supply chain as merely an efficient mechanism for the delivery of goods and indeed many people readily associate fast-moving consumer goods with the term ‘supply chain’. The reality today, however, is that many organizations, particularly in the West, derive most of their revenue from complex bundles of
services delivered downstream from production. This is not to say that products are no longer important – they are. We argue that products and services must be understood as an integrated package that has major implications when it comes to dealing with issues of extended life cycle, designing product recovery systems, emergent new operating models and how organizations such as manufacturers will engage with suppliers and customers in future.
