Service Supply Chain Systems ─ A Systems Engineering Approach

Supply chain management is a well-developed area. The traditional supply chains are dynamic systems which include the forward and reverse flows of physical products and the related information and fund. However, a service supply chain is different because the real "product" may take the form of a "service" which implies that many traditionally crucial decisions in supply chain management such as product shipping problems are no longer important. Here, a service supply chain is defined asa supply network that transfers resources into services or servitised products, with or without physical products, to satisfy customer needs. As a result, managing a service supply chain system requires innovative strategies with new models. Currently, there is an absence of a comprehensive reference source that provides the state-of-the-art findings on this important topic. It will thus be significant to develop a well-balanced edited volume that includes both theoretical results (from different perspectives) and application cases/studies on service supply chain systems.

This book is a pioneering text on service supply chain systems. It features papers which adopt the systems engineering approach in conducting service supply chain analysis. It includes both theoretical results (from different perspectives) and application cases/studies on service supply chain systems. It will be a good reference book for industrialists and academics who are interested in the service industry, service operations, service management, and service sciences.

Dr. Tsan-Ming Choi (Jason) is currently a Professor in Fashion Business at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and has been active as an Associate Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University until June 2014. Over the past few years, he has actively participated in a variety of research projects on supply chain management and applied optimization. He has authored/edited ten books and guest-edited twelve special issues for various leading journals on related topics. He has published over 100 papers in peer-refereed academic journals such as Annals of Operations Research, Automatica, Computers and Operations Research, Decision Support Systems, European Journal of Operational Research, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (Parts A, B, C; Systems), International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Omega, Production and Operations Management, Service Science (INFORMS Journal), Supply Chain Management, Textile Research Journal, Tourism Management, Transportation Research, etc. He is currently an area editor/associate editor/guest editor of Annals of Operations Research, Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, European Management Journal, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Systems, Information Sciences, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Production and Operations Management, and various other operations management and information systems journals. He is also an executive committee member of professional organizations such as IEEE-SMC (HK) and POMS (HK). He received the President's Award for Excellent Achievement of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November, 2008 (the most prestigious award for a faculty member at the university level). He is a member of various internationally renowned professional organizations such as IEEE, INFORMS, ITAA, and POMS.