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The purpose of this paper is to examine how modularity is used for enabling value creation in managing healthcare logistics services.

Material logistics of four different kinds of hospitals is examined through a qualitative case study. The theoretical framework builds on the literature on healthcare logistics, service modularity and value creation.

The case hospitals have developed their material logistics independently from others when looking at the modularity of offerings, processes and organisations. Services, such as assortment management, shelving and developing an information platform, have been performed in-house partly by the care personnel, but steps towards modularised and standardised solutions are now being taken in the case hospitals, including ideas about outsourcing some of the services.

This paper proposes seven modularity components for healthcare logistics management: segmentation, categorisation and unitisation of offerings, differentiation and decoupling of processes, and centralisation and specialisation of organisations. Thus, this study clarifies the three-dimensional concept of modularity as a cognitive frame for managing logistics services with heterogeneous customer needs in a rapidly changing healthcare environment.

Modularity offers a tool for developing logistics services inside the hospital and increases possibilities to consider also external logistics service providers.

Managing healthcare logistics services through modularity has potential social implications in developing healthcare processes and changing the usage of health services. On a wider scale, modularity is helping healthcare systems reaching their goals in terms of service quality and cost.

This paper shows the context-specific antecedents of service modularity and the usage of modular thinking in managing healthcare logistics.

This paper aims to develop a framework of QFD (quality function deployment)‐based logistics service design to integrate the HOQ (house of quality) technique and modular logic to help in designing logistics services with high quality and a large service variety.

Based on a literature review, a conceptual research framework is built integrating the QFD method and modular logic together. A case study is used to illustrate a real application in logistics service design of the third‐party logistics (3PL) provider.

The results show that QFD and modularity used simultaneously as design principles can ensure service design quality at three layers (service, process, activity) in the modular logistics service platform.

This paper provides multi‐disciplinary insights for both industry and academics on how QFD/HOQ and modular logic can be integrated to systematically translate customer requirements into logistics service designs.

The framework proposed is directed to show how, at the operational level, the service providers can transform customer requirements to customer value with modular services and develop new service modules more quickly for new customers that have not been served before.

The resulting framework combining QFD philosophy and modular logic, particularly integrating three‐level HOQs paralleled with three layers in the modular service platform, adds knowledge in the research on service design, operations management and marketing.

The present challenge for many service firms is to develop an offering that is flexible and open for tailoring and at the same time achieves efficiency through standardizing processes. Modularity has been suggested as being one tool for achieving this. The goal of the present study is to find out how services provided in modular form (here referred to as service modularity) can exert an influence on the value perception of the customer in the professional services field.

Empirical part consists of a case study of a large provider of professional services involving construction, engineering, procurement and project management service. Data were gathered by semi structured theme interviews of representatives of the case company and representatives of two of its customers.

The modular processes had an influence on the customer's expectations that are related to the experienced quality of the service, and hence they create value for the customer. In addition to the service outcome, the modular processes enhanced the customer's trust in the service provider's employees and their skills in co‐operating in a suitable way during the service process. The organizational modularity eased the customer's tasks of managing the project implementation.

The present study contributes the knowledge related to modularity in business services by incorporating the knowledge from the theoretical discussion on customer perceived value.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate how product‐centric businesses (PCBs), operating in a business‐to‐business environment, develop industrial services to align with their services strategies and sources of market differentiation. PCBs are companies whose businesses were historically based on the products, rather than the services, that they sold.

This was a UK‐based study that included interviews with 40 managers in 25 industrial companies for whom services are a market differentiator.

The empirical results show that PCBs' industrial services are aligned with their services strategies and sources of market differentiation and can be categorised, i.e. “discrete services”, closely linked to PCB‐supplied products, either their own or those of other suppliers; “product lifecycle services”, concerned with product‐related activities throughout the lifecycle of a PCB's products; “output‐based solutions”, providing solutions to customers' operational issues. Modularity in design means that service categories are often backward compatible, meaning that PCBs supplying output‐based solutions can also supply product lifecycle and discrete services.

The main limitation is the focus on the perspective of suppliers, with customers likely to impact which service offerings PCBs provide.

PCBs should align industrial services with their resources that provide market differentiation, for example related to their products or relationships with other parties. Whilst it can be valuable to increase the range and depth of services provided to customers, creating modular offerings will ensure that customers are able to find an appropriate level of services engagement with their product suppliers.

The study provides a new typology of PCB service categories that are related to services strategies and sources of market differentiation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine customer knowledge sharing between a buyer of a logistics service and the logistics service provider (LSP). The authors attempt to fill the gap in current research by investigating inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing.

A survey study was conducted. Data were collected from buyers of logistic services. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were used to analyze data and test hypotheses.

Results suggest that open and fluent communication mediates the relationship between customer knowledge sharing and satisfaction with a logistics service provider. In addition, the close relationship with the logistics service provider is needed to strengthen the relationship between customer knowledge sharing and satisfaction with the logistics service provider.

This study provided new empirical evidence concerning inter‐firm customer knowledge sharing. The authors suggest that logistic service providers should be incorporated into the customer knowledge management process to ensure open and fluent communication about customers.

This study provides practical insights for companies that sell logistic services.

Customer knowledge sharing has been largely studied in an intra‐firm context, for instance information sharing between marketing and research and development departments. This research extends the concept of customer knowledge sharing to the inter‐firm context.

This study seeks to identify the generic elements of a business model in the field of technology‐based services and uses those elements to build a networked business model. A networked business model reflects a situation when it is impossible for a single company to govern all the relevant resources and activities needed in developing, producing, and marketing technology‐based services.

The empirical part of the paper presents a qualitative futures study that employs the Delphi method and scenario planning.

The paper presents a framework describing the core elements of a networked business model, and shows how it can be applied in developing business model scenarios for technology‐based services.

By examining the business model from a network perspective, the study creates conceptual tools for both researchers and managers to describe, plan and develop future business models.

This study aims to explore the literature related to modularity in developing and manufacturing physical products in order to employ the idea of modularity into the business services context.

In order to answer the defined research question, the authors construct an empirically grounded model for modular service platform. The research design follows an abductive logic beginning with the construction of a theoretical pre‐understanding and elaborating upon it empirically. Streams of literature that are applied are service marketing and operations and product development and modularity research including product architecture design. In the empirical part of the study, the authors elaborate on these issues through a qualitative single case study.

The results show that the developed modular service platform including four modularity dimensions: service, process, organisational and customer interface dimensions can be used to create value in business services.

With a reviewing literature of modularisation of manufacturing products and processes, an empirically grounded model of this paper shows how the business service providers can use modularisation in platform approach to identify, develop and deliver new services cost efficiently and more flexibly.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the management of the logistics-manufacturing interface between the manufacturer and its logistics service provider from the perspective of the service-dominant (S-D) logic.

The approach adopted is that of abductive reasoning through case study: data are primarily gleaned from semi-structured in-depth interviews. Field visits and secondary documentation are used to ensure data validity.

The results show that the interface can be categorized into three levels: design interface between products and logistic services, process interface between manufacturing processes and service-offering processes, and information interface between manufacturing information systems and logistics information systems. The results also indicate that ten foundational premises of S-D logic, especially service-focussed, customer-oriented and rational views can be applied in defining and managing these interfaces.

This research contributes not only to the theory of S-D logic and managing interface, but also provides managers with guidelines of applying S-D logic to build a service-focussed, customer-oriented and relational logic to effectively manage the logistics-manufacturing interface. However, the research is limited to the context of automotive and logistics industries.

Three levels of logistics-manufacturing interface, including design, process and information are identified, and S-D logic is applied to identify and manage the interface.

Modularity has been identified as one of the most important methods for achieving mass customization. However, service models that apply varying levels of modularity and customization also exist and are appropriate for various business situations. The objective of this paper is to introduce a framework with which different customer service offerings, service production processes, and service production networks can be analyzed in terms of both modularity and customization.

The paper builds theory and offers a systematic approach for analyzing service modularity and customization. To illustrate the dimensions of the framework, the authors also provide service examples of the various aspects.

In the previous literature, the concepts of modularity and customization have often been discussed in an intertwined manner. The authors find that when modularity and customization are regarded as two separate dimensions, and different perspectives– such as the service offering, the service production process, and the service production network – are combined we can create a useful framework for analysis.

Rigorous testing is a subject for future research.

The framework helps companies to analyze their service offerings and to compare themselves with other companies. It seems that in practice many combinations of modularity and customization levels are used in the three perspectives.

This paper develops a framework for analyzing service offerings in terms of modularity and customization. The framework provides a basis for analyzing different combinations of these two aspects from the three perspectives, and herein lies its value.