Oper Manag Res (2008) 1:31–39

DOI 10.1007/s12063-008-0002-2

Critical challenges of inventory management in service

parts supply: A Delphi study
Christopher A. Boone & Christopher W. Craighead &
Joe B. Hanna

Received: 13 November 2007 / Revised: 23 January 2008 / Accepted: 26 February 2008 / Published online: 18 April 2008
# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract The primary purpose of the study is to determine 1 Motivation for research
the critical challenges facing service parts managers and to
help bridge the gap between research and practice. In order Many companies have shifted their focus from improving
to accomplish this, a series of semi-structured interviews their product manufacturing and product delivery processes
with 18 senior service parts managers from a variety of to improving after sales service and customer support
industries frequently dealing with service parts inventory (Vigoroso 2005). While some products like cell phones
issues was used as the basis of input for a web-based appear to be disposable, service parts management for
Delphi study. The results of the study include 18 commonly many other products like copy machines and automobiles
identified potential service parts inventory issues and ten is becoming increasingly important (Pfohl and Ester
key challenges for the service parts supply industry. The 1999) and has grown into a $700 billion a year business
identified challenges should serve as a guide for both (Patton and Steele 2003). To provide the necessary after
researchers seeking to contribute to the service parts body sales service, enough parts, often referred to as service
of knowledge and practitioners who are regularly faced parts, have to be available at appropriate points within
with service parts inventory issues. the supply chain to guarantee the desired service level
(Botter and Fortuin 2000). As shown in Table 1, Kennedy
Keywords Service supply chain . Purchasing . et al. (2002) identified several key differences between
Procurement . Service operations . Service inventory . service parts inventories and traditional manufacturing
Delphi panel . Supply management inventories.
The planning and control of inventories and related
activities is critical to the success of supply chain efforts
(Jones and Riley 1985). Managers must continuously seek
reliable and effective inventory practices and systems to
C. A. Boone : J. B. Hanna remain competitive (Closs 1989). One might expect the
Department of Aviation and Supply Chain Management, seemingly infinite stream of inventory theory related
Auburn University,
research to be a key resource for managers seeking to gain
Lowder Business Building, Suite 403,
Auburn, AL 36849–5247, USA a competitive advantage through inventory management.
However, some have suggested that managers who turn to
J. B. Hanna
e-mail: hannajb@[Link] inventory research may find it to be of little significance
(Krautter 1999) or conclude that it has little to offer in terms
C. W. Craighead (*) of enhancing inventory practices (Wagner 2002). This has
Department of Supply Chain & Information Systems,
led many to suggest a gap exists between inventory theory
Smeal College of Business, The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA 16802, USA and practice (Lenard and Roy 1995; Silver 1981; Wagner
e-mail: cwc13@[Link] 2002). While the varied insights offered to bridge this gap
32 C.A. Boone et al.

Table 1 Comparison of inventory functions and policies

Work-in-process inventories Finished product inventories Service parts inventories

Function Address variability in production Serve as a source of products for delivery Assist a maintenance staff in keeping
flow brought on by changes in product to customers and addresses irregularities equipment, systems, or products in
mix, equipment breakdown, differences in lead time demand, differences in quality operating condition in response to both
in production rates between different levels, differences in machine production Scheduled or unscheduled (due to
processes, material handling rates, labor troubles, scheduling problems, product failure) maintenance
differences between capacity and demand
Policies Policies can be adjusted to increase Policies can be adjusted to increase or Policies are largely a function of how
or decrease inventory by changing decrease inventory by reducing lead products are used and maintained
productions rates and schedules times, changing production schedules,
and improving quality and improving quality

represent valuable research, input from practitioners is 2 Research method

noticeably absent.
In one of the earliest assessments of the operations The Delphi method is appropriate when insight from a
management field, Buffa (1980) calls for operations panel of experts is sought (e.g., Martino 1983). The Delphi
management to have a strong relationship with the method creates opportunities to gain valuable insight from
practicing world. Similarly, Mentzer and Flint (1997) practicing managers and to identify topics that academics
suggest that a business discipline like supply chain can address (Malhotra et al. 1994).
management should evolve in such a way that it becomes
more rigorous and increasingly relevant to practitioners. 2.1 Panel selection
Gibson et al. (2005) extol the need for both academics and
practitioners to play an active role in the maturation of the In order to identify a set of challenges that would prove
supply chain discipline. In particular, practitioners provide a applicable to a wide range of service parts industries, a diverse
perspective that is invaluable in highlighting areas of panel of experts was sought. Senior service parts managers
limited or incomplete knowledge (Malhotra et al. 1994). from a variety of industries and U.S. military organizations, as
Malhotra et al. (1994: p. 190) suggest that the academic well as third party service parts support providers, were
community has an important role to play in making identified through personal contacts, referrals, and professional
industries more competitive, stating that: association listings and contacted regarding their willingness
to participate. Recommendations for the minimum panel size
The tremendous amount of resources and expertise
vary, ranging from eight members (Elliot 1986) to 15
that exists within the academic community offers an
(Mitchell 1991) members, with groups of at least ten
opportunity for significant contributions. This is true
providing the best performance (Brockhoff 1975). Our initial
from both the research and teaching standpoints.
panel of 20 represented a variety of industries including
However, the contribution of the academic community
manufacturing, aerospace/aviation, heavy equipment, tech-
in enhancing productivity growth can only be obtained
nology, utility, automotive, telecommunications, medical and
by understanding what issues managers believe are
maritime. The 20 panel members had a combined total of 351
important.
years of experience, with the average panelist having 19.5
The growing importance of the service parts industry, the years of service parts experience.
need to understand the challenges of service parts manage-
ment, and the need to identify challenges that academics 2.2 Questionnaire development and testing
can address served as the motivation for this study. The
study’s intent is to provide input from a panel of practicing The initial questionnaire is usually open ended (Lummus
service parts inventory managers from a variety of et al. 2005). However, this approach can prove troublesome
industries and government agencies to identify a set of to both panel members and researchers due to its lack of
critical inventory related challenges. These challenges will structure (Martino 1983) and ambiguity (Sackman 1974).
serve as the foundation for future research aimed at Since the goal of the initial effort was to collect general
improving our understanding of service parts management remarks and leave space for the respondents to point out
and aid in addressing the pressing challenges within the other potential relevant issues, we conducted 18 semi-
field. structured interviews to generate an initial set of issues
Critical challenges of inventory management: A Delphi study 33

(Story et al. 2001). This was done to help increase panel the removal of four challenges: service parts sourcing, lack
member commitment and to improve overall response rates of service focused metrics, minimizing embedded costs,
(Mitchell 1991). During the interview, each panel member and satisfying regulatory and legal requirements.
was asked to provide six responses (Schmidt 1997) to the Five days after the conclusion of the first round, a
following research question: What are the most critical second questionnaire was developed, piloted and then sent
challenges of service parts inventory management? A to the 18 panel members who participated in the first round.
questionnaire, containing a consolidated list of issues, was Each of the panel members received another email explaining
developed, pre-tested and prepared for submission to the the importance of his or her continued participation and a link
panel via the internet. to the Round 2 questionnaire. Panel members were given 9
days to complete Round 2. At the close of the round, 15 panel
2.3 Delphi rounds members had responded to the questionnaire, resulting in an
83% response rate (15/18). As shown in Table 3, the lack of a
The initial questionnaire becomes the first in a series of systems approach and the inaccuracy of service parts again
linked questionnaires. Subsequent questionnaires provide ranked as the two most critical challenges.
panel members feedback from the preceding questionnaires Since not much is gained by iterating more than twice
and ask for further information. The number of rounds (Dalkey 1969; Lanford 1972; Ford 1975), a decision was
needed to reach consensus can vary from 2 to 4 (Martino made to end the study after two rounds and proceed with
1983), but needs to be as few as possible, to avoid panel the analysis and assessment of the identified challenges and
fatigue and attrition (Mitchell 1991). Consensus among their rankings. Another key in the decision not to conduct a
panel members has been measured in various ways. We third round was the convergence of the panel responses.
utilized the percentage of panel members ranking a Following a similar approach as Doke and Swanson (1995),
challenge as one of the ten most important (Doke and those challenges ranking as one of the ten most critical by
Swanson 1995; Murry and Hammons 1995). Though the more than 60% of the panel members in both rounds of the
literature offers little guidance on the percentage of responses Delphi were considered to have achieved consensus. The
necessary to constitute consensus (Murry and Hammons level of consensus was also measured after each round
1995), there is precedent for concluding consensus for those using Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W), as recom-
challenges being ranked in the top ten by at least 60% of the mended by Schmidt (1997). As suggested by Schmidt
panel members (Doke and Swanson 1995). (1997), the formula for computing W was adjusted to
account for the fact that each panel member only ranked 10
of the 18 challenges in Round 1 and 10 of the 14 challenges
3 Analysis and results in Round 2. After Round 2, the Kendall’s coefficient of
concordance showed reasonable agreement (Landis and
The semi-structured interviews resulted in a total of 114 Koch 1977) across panel members (W=0.22, p<0.001),
responses being generated which we distilled to 18 (see which we felt was sufficient given the diversity of our
Table 2 for descriptions). Once the 114 items were received, panel.
the researchers attempted to categorize the items into
relatively homogeneous groups. Once agreement was
reached on the categories, a numerical tabulation was 4 Discussion
completed. Infrequent (mentioned less than three times)
were excluded, and a listing was formulated. Based on our results, the top ten challenges facing service
On the first day of Round 1, the 20 panel members parts inventory managers are contained in Table 4. These
received an email explaining the importance of his or her ten challenges serve as a guide for future researchers
participation and a link to the web-based questionnaire. seeking to contribute to the broad area of service parts
Panel members were asked to select and rank the ten most management. We briefly discuss each challenge.
critical issues, with 1 being the most important. Round 1 of
the Delphi study was open for 9 days with 18 of the 20 4.1 Lack of a system or holistic perspective
panel members responding resulting in a 90% response
rate. The mean responses and percentage of panel members During both rounds of the Delphi study, panel members
who ranked each challenge in their top ten are shown in ranked the need for a more holistic perspective of system
Table 3. In an effort to further refine the set of challenges; performance as the most critical challenge facing service
those items not receiving one of the top ten mean ranks and parts managers. Supply chain researchers may be able to
not ranked as a top ten issue by a simple majority (Schmidt provide considerable insight into establishing a holistic
1997) of the panel members were removed. This resulted in view or system perspective. Considerable research using
34 C.A. Boone et al.

Table 2 Service parts challenges

Issue Service part challenge

1 Planning for new product introduction: The introduction of new products or systems often results in the need for new types
of service parts. Planning for these new services parts is often difficult due to the lack of historical demand and failure data
2 Planning for the service requirements of ageing products and the repair of ageing parts: Service parts requirements become
less predictable as the supported systems and the service parts both increase in age
3 Satisfying regulatory and legal requirements: Regulatory and legal requirements often require organizations to provide service
part support long after the production of the serviced item has ended
4 Maintaining repair cycle process discipline: The repair cycle, including all stages through which a repairable item passes from
the time of its removal or replacement until it is reinstalled or placed in stock in a serviceable condition, must be managed
carefully to avoid excessive investment. Good repair cycle discipline is characterized by timely return of unserviceable parts by
field service providers and customers as well as the appropriate prioritization of repair by the repair providers
5 Lack of a system or holistic perspective: Emphasis on individual functional performance without a broader focus on system
performance leads to sub-optimization. For example, a functionally motivated effort to reduce transportation costs could result
in the need for additional inventory to meet customer demands, increasing overall system cost
6 Maintaining accurate configuration management and product revision data: Planning for service parts is complicated by both
the lack of accurate configuration data and revisions to the serviced item
7 Understanding the criticality or essentiality of each service part: Understanding the criticality and essentiality of each service
part enables service parts managers to concentrate their attention on the parts that are most important to equipment or product
operation and customer satisfaction
8 Lack of service focused performance metrics: Common measures of inventory performance are often more applicable to a
manufacturing setting than they are to service parts management. Service parts management requires an emphasis on service
levels, responsiveness, and demand satisfaction
9 Lack of accurate service parts usage data: Accurate part usage data would enhance the ability to plan and predict the need for
service parts
10 Lack of system integration among suppliers, repairers, customers, and service providers: Lack of information system integration
and information sharing among suppliers, repairers, customers, and service providers inhibits strategic decision-making and
diminishes overall system performance
11 Inaccuracy of service parts forecasts: Demand for service parts is often sporadic and highly variable, which complicates efforts
to forecast future demand
12 Planning the location and physical distribution of service parts: The physical distribution of service parts (location, warehousing,
material handling, packaging, and transportation) is a key to providing the necessary flexibility to meet customer demands and
to achieve desired levels of customer service
13 Lead time variability: Consistency and stability in service parts pipelines is necessary for accurate parts planning and ensuring
desired customer service levels
14 Minimizing embedded costs associated with service parts management: The embedded costs of providing service parts support,
like the cost of fuel, cost of labor, and cost of storage space, must be considered by service parts managers
15 Fulfilling fiscal and budgetary requirements: Service parts management organizations must often function under stringent
budgetary or fiscal requirements. Requirements to exhaust an annual budget or to remain within established spend levels for
a service contract can significantly influence service parts management decisions
16 Acquiring, developing, and maintaining a knowledgeable service parts workforce: Many professionals come from a
manufacturing background and must adopt an alternative approach or philosophy to succeed in service parts management.
Thus, there are a limited number of professionals that comprehend the fundamental differences between service
parts inventory management and inventory management in a manufacturing environment
17 Minimizing service parts obsolescence: Service parts may become obsolete because new or superior items supersede them or
because they are no longer needed
18 Service parts sourcing: Service parts managers must often rely on multiple sources to obtain service parts, including the
purchase of new parts and the repair of unserviceable parts. In other instances, service parts may no longer be in production,
requiring a part to be manufactured to meet customer demands. In both cases, leverage with suppliers is often limited

contract law principles and structured incentive packages to Oftentimes these contractual relationships are built
aid in the development of effective strategic alliances is around long-term alliance-type relationships that are per-
currently available. Oftentimes these buyer–seller alliances formance based in nature. Entering into performance based
are designed to enhance collaborative relationships, en- contractual relationships is increasingly common and tends
hance information sharing, and lead to a synchronized to focus on long-term service and support performance
supply chain (Cachon and Lariviere 2005). requirements as opposed to procuring a product or focusing
Critical challenges of inventory management: A Delphi study 35

Table 3 Delphi results

Issue Service part challenges Mean rank % Ranked in Mean % Ranked in

top 10 rank top 10
Round 1 Round 1 Round 2 Round 2

1 Planning for new product introduction 5.18 61 6.70 67

2 Planning for the service requirements of ageing products and the repair of 5.82 61 6.10 67
ageing parts
3 Satisfying regulatory and legal requirements 8.83 33 Not ranked Not ranked
4 Maintaining repair cycle process discipline 5.92 67 6.91 73
5 Lack of a system or holistic perspective 3.55 61 3.00 80
6 Maintaining accurate configuration management and product revision data 4.50 67 5.71 93
7 Understanding the criticality or essentiality of each service part 5.50 50 5.33 60
8 Lack of service focused performance metrics 6.67 33 Not ranked Not ranked
9 Lack of accurate service parts usage data 6.11 50 4.13 53
10 Lack of system integration among suppliers, repairers, customers, and 4.83 67 4.73 73
service providers
11 Inaccuracy of service parts forecasts 3.88 89 3.67 100
12 Planning the location and physical distribution of service parts 5.73 61 7.00 73
13 Lead time variability 5.50 67 5.18 73
14 Minimizing embedded costs associated with service parts management 7.80 28 Not ranked Not ranked
15 Fulfilling fiscal and budgetary requirements 6.40 56 6.44 60
16 Acquiring, developing, and maintaining a knowledgeable service parts workforce 5.63 44 7.33 60
17 Minimizing service parts obsolescence 4.91 61 5.90 67
18 Service parts sourcing 6.38 44 Not ranked Not ranked

on short term service contractual relationships. This con- 4.3 Lack of system integration among suppliers, repairers,
tracting transformation is significant, perhaps in large part customers, and service providers
because some companies have discovered that their industry
is characterized by opportunities in post-production support. Panel members highlighted the lack of information system
In some industries, post-production support generates more integration and information sharing among suppliers,
profit per dollar of revenue than initial sales, causing repairers, customers, and service providers as one of the
organizations to build and expand their supply chain most critical challenges of service parts management.
alliance-type relationships to maximize long-term service Several panel members described the difficulty of satisfying
and profit opportunities (Dennis and Kambil 2003). customer demands given their lack of information regarding
A system perspective is vital to effectively fit together all the availability of parts at a supplier and/or the status of
of the complex pieces of the service parts supply chain parts within the repair process.
(Patton and Steele 2003). All efforts related to service parts,
from the earliest stages of product development to the Table 4 Top ten challenges
design of the product support system and customer support,
Final ranking Service part challenges
should be based on a holistic perspective with system (based on mean rank)
performance and customer satisfaction as the objective.
Despite this potential to solve complex supply chain 1 Lack of a system or holistic perspective
problems, the system perspective continues to be insuffi- 2 Inaccuracy of service parts forecasts
3 Lack of system integration among suppliers,
ciently developed (Holmberg 2000).
repairers, customers, and service providers
4 Lead time variability
4.2 Inaccuracy of service parts forecasts 5 Maintaining accurate configuration
management and product revision data
The only challenge that was a unanimous selection by all 6 Minimizing service parts obsolescence
panel members related to the inaccuracy of service parts 7 Planning for the service requirements of
forecasts. The old adage that the forecast is always wrong is ageing products and the repair of ageing parts
certainly applicable to service parts. Much of the demand 8 Planning for new product introduction
9 Maintaining repair cycle process discipline
for service parts is due to equipment or part failure, making
10 Planning the location and physical distribution
demand for service parts sporadic and often highly variable, of service parts
significantly complicating forecasting efforts.
36 C.A. Boone et al.

4.4 Lead time variability 4.8 Planning for new product introduction

Variability in supplier or repairer lead times can have a The introduction of new products or systems results in the
significant impact on inventory levels and costs throughout need for new service parts. Panel members described the
a service parts supply chain. One panel member from a challenge of planning for service parts in this initial phase
heavy equipment manufacturing and service organization of the service parts life cycle. During this initial phase, very
declared that consistency, not velocity, of lead times was little is known about the failure behavior of the parts
the key to efficient service parts planning and management. (Fortuin 1980), complicating any efforts to forecast future
Inconsistent lead times result in the use of buffer inventories demands. This is complicated by the fact that the initial
as a means for ensuring desired levels of customer support. phase is often the most critical phase of product life to those
Of course, this excessive inventory leads to higher financial in sales, where negative perceptions can cripple a new
costs and risks (Christopher and Lee 2004). product (Patton and Steele 2003). Service parts managers
are often forced to rely on their knowledge and experience
4.5 Maintaining accurate configuration management (Fortuin and Martin 1999).
and product revision data
4.9 Maintaining repair cycle process discipline
Panel members described the importance of having accurate
system configuration data. They explained that often times The repair cycle is a complex process that begins with its
the service provider is unaware of configuration changes or removal or replacement, includes the repair process, and
revisions until a technician is on site (Patton and Steele ends with it being replaced or returned to stock in a
2003). Such inaccurate configuration and revision data serviceable condition. To avoid excessive investment and
complicates service efforts and creates the need to keep cost, this process must be managed carefully. Panel
additional service parts in stock (Fortuin and Martin 1999), members explained that the challenge with managing the
both of which increase overall costs. repair is that the bulk of the responsibility for good repair
cycle discipline lies with field service providers, repair
4.6 Minimizing service parts obsolescence organizations, and customers. Good repair cycle discipline
is characterized by timely return of unserviceable parts by
One of the greatest risks associated with service parts field service providers and customers as well as the
management is the obsolescence of parts. With rapid appropriate prioritization of repair by the repair providers.
changes in product introduction and design, panel
members described the risk associated with stored service 4.10 Planning the location and physical distribution
parts becoming obsolete as new or superior items of service parts
supersede them. Other panel members detailed the risk
associated with losing a service contract, rendering the In many instances, service is accomplished where the end
inventory linked to that contract obsolete. The challenge product is used (Patton and Steele 2003). This makes the
for service parts managers is to limit the investment in physical distribution and location of service parts (location,
parts subject to obsolescence, while maintaining required warehousing, material handling, packaging, and transporta-
levels of service. tion) a key challenge. Panel members described the
distribution decision as crucial to providing the necessary
4.7 Planning for the service requirements of ageing flexibility to meet customer demands and to achieve desired
products and the repair of ageing parts levels of customer service.

The end of product production presents a unique challenge

for service parts managers. Many products, like heavy 5 Implications for future research
equipment and aircraft, may remain in service for decades
after the end of production, but continue to generate needs Subjects dealing with aftermarket support, like service
for service. Panel members described the challenge as being parts, are often overlooked and under investigated (Farris
multifaceted: determining the final buy of service parts, et al. 2005). This is a bit disturbing given the importance of
identifying and maintaining suppliers and repairers for services (Ellram et al. 2004; Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons
ageing parts, and establishing policies for managing the 2006), and after sales service (Pfohl and Ester 1999; Patton
repair and refurbishment of parts. and Steele 2003; Vigoroso 2005). The importance of this
Critical challenges of inventory management: A Delphi study 37

area combined with the limited amount of research activity approach to service parts management on organizational
led to the motivation for this research; to provide an performance.
empirically derived research agenda. Additionally it should be noted that several of the 18
This study sought to engage practicing senior service issues listed in Table 2 are related. For example, Planning
parts managers in the identification of the critical chal- for new product introductions (#1), Planning for aging
lenges of service parts management. The study identified an products (#2), and Minimizing obsolescence (#17) could all
initial set of 18 challenges through interviews with senior be broadly categorized as related issues dealing with new
service parts managers. Then, using a modified Delphi product support. In these cases, demand is not stationary,
approach, the study identified the ten most critical perhaps further complicating the forecasting process and
challenges. These ten challenges should be interpreted as increasing the challenges associated with service parts
a “call to action” for researchers. Obviously, researchers inventory management. Furthermore, it could be argued
with interests in service operations, service supply chains that maintaining accurate configuration and revision data
and inventory should consider investigating these issues. (#6), Lack of performance metrics (#8), Lack of usage data
However, given the challenges presented, attention from (#9), Lack of system integration (#10), and perhaps others
researchers interested in product design, information tech- all lead to information based challenges related to a lack of
nology, maintenance and logistics is also warranted. communication, integration, or dealing with an unknown.
Moving forward, we believe that there are many ways Once again, these issues are huge challenges for service
that researchers could address the needs presented in this parts inventory managers. Similar categorizations can be
paper. Future research could focus on any one of the top ten made when reviewing the results displayed in Table 4.
challenges or even one of the original 18. Investigators may As pointed out by 100% of the panel members in the
also combine like challenges into a broader research study. second round, demand for service parts is difficult to
While there are many studies that could enlighten these forecast due to its lumpy nature. While much has been
challenges, there are some specific opportunities that written about forecasting, comparatively little research has
warrant additional mention based on the importance taken place on the subject of stock control when facing
assigned by the panel members. intermittent demand. While in general, the subject of lumpy
The lack of a system or holistic approach was the highest demand has been largely ignored in the literature (Fortuin
ranked challenge. While this touches upon many facets of and Martin 1999), Croston (1972) did address the issue and
supply management, we believe that this should be applied propose a method of estimation that is still frequently used
to some of the most fundamental decisions such as those by today’s inventory control software packages (Syntetos
related to inventory replenishment. Despite the growth in et al. 2005).
value and importance of service parts management, and the In a recent review of service parts research (Kennedy
recognized need for more holistic approaches to service et al. 2002), only Foote’s (1995) effort which documented
parts management, many organizations continue to rely on the implementation of a control based forecasting system
simple, item based approaches to service parts management and its impact on inventory effectiveness was identified as a
(Thonemann et al. 2002). These traditional item approaches study focusing solely on the service parts industry and the
rely on simple inventory models that usually seek to unique challenges it poses. More recent efforts such as the
balance inventory costs (Sherbrooke 1992). Such item study by Willemain et al. (2004) have begun to seek new
based approaches are ill-suited for situations in which and alternative approaches to service parts forecasting.
higher level or service focused objectives, like those However, further research targeting service parts forecasting
associated with service parts management, are sought and service parts forecasting related issues continues to be
(Lenard and Roy 1995). Instead, a more holistic or system needed.
based approach to inventory management is needed (Lee Information and the management of information was a
and Billington 1992) to achieve maximum inventory perfor- common theme among several of the challenges (e.g., lack
mance (Closs 1989) within a supply chain environment. of systems integration, maintaining accurate configuration
Thonemann et al. (2002) suggest that the delayed adoption data). However, while 100% of respondents agreed about
of a system focused approach to inventory management is the difficulty of forecasting service parts inventory,
because such an approach is perceived to be time respondents seemed to be somewhat split with regards to
consuming and costly and thus the implementation can the importance of some information issues. For example,
only be justified if it is expected to have a significant respondents who ranked Lack of Service Parts Inventory
positive impact on performance. Researchers should seek to Data high, tended to give it a fairly high mean score,
provide empirical evidence of the impact of a services indicating a large level of importance. However, only one-
38 C.A. Boone et al.

half to two-thirds of the respondents denoted the issue as managers. While the quality of respondents participating
being important, indicating this issue may only be in the research was very high, future research should strive to
important in specific contexts or situations. broaden the diversity of industries represented in the
Information sharing is believed to be vital to improving research. While providing a listing of key issues to address,
supply chain performance in terms of costs and service a broader based and more all-inclusive research effort would
level (Zhao et al. 2002). Though qualitative and anecdotal most certainly serve to help further our understanding of the
evidence supports this belief, limited empirical evidence many key, unique challenges faced by service parts
exists indicating the magnitude of its impact (Closs et al. managers in various industries. Second, future research
1998) or quantifying its benefits (Lee et al. 2000). While it efforts should strive to expand the issues surrounding service
is clear from the results of our exploratory research that parts inventory by addressing a wider variety of related
data can be highly important to some practitioners, this is topics and issues directly impacting after sales service
not a consensus opinion. Our results indicate the impor- support. In the future, researchers seeking to contribute to
tance of information may be situation dependent with the the body of knowledge related to service operations, service
value of information being highly valued by practitioners supply chains and service parts management can use the
facing some situations and comparatively less valued when challenges and limitations identified in the current research
facing other service parts inventory situations. Another as the basis for their studies. Practitioners, looking to
explanation may be the accuracy or timeliness of data academia for assistance, will then find research that is both
provided impacts the respondent’s perceptions of the value rigorous and relevant to the challenges they face.
of the information.
Past research has been varied (Sahin and Robinson
2005) and often inconclusive (Cachon and Fisher 2000). As
a result, researchers should seek to quantify the value of References
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