Lean potential of network-enabled remote service outsourcing: spatio-temporal decoupling and resource flexibility Online publication date: Sun, 13-Feb-2005
by Alfonso Duran
International Journal of Services Technology and Management (IJSTM), Vol. 5, No. 5/6, 2004
Abstract: The development of internet-enabled remote service provision and outsourcing is currently transforming the services industry, as the Indian IT outsourcing business stunningly illustrates. This article focuses on how this approach can be used to foster flexibility, responsiveness and waste elimination in services. By extrapolating from the physical goods manufacturing lean experiences, the issues surrounding service request queues and spatial co-location restrictions are analysed. The various components of resource-related flexibility are examined, along with how they are affected by network-enabled remote service outsourcing. That leads to the development of a framework comparing how fluctuations in demand, operational incidences
and stringent operational efficiency requirements are managed in both product manufacturing and service production, in conventional and in lean/network-enabled outsourcing environments.
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