WEEK 9
Measuring and Designing Flexibility
in e-Processes
Synopsis
Early on in
the history of e-Services (i.e., 1997 or so), many e-Business pundits and e-Professors
posited that it was crucially important to be the first-mover in the e-Service world
– thereby locking in network externalities and associated economies within the
service's Web site – to “win the game.”
Later, capacity problems started making themselves known through e-Service failures, and
widespread use of the terms “scalability” and “reliability” began to
cast an operational light on the previous theories of e-Success.
Now, some writers such as Nicholas Carr, have proposed that e-Services can never stop
moving and changing themselves, and have stressed the concept of flexibility.
These later
issues point to the question of an appropriate technology strategy and technology choice
for electronic services in order to create a system that can "sense and
respond." An organization must be flexible on the product-design side in order to
"sense," and on the delivery side in order to "respond."
Unfortunately, the extent of most articles' insights on flexibility is usually "Your
e-service needs to be flexible!" or "I believe Technology A is more flexible
than Technology B" -- whatever that means. This level of discussion provides little
insight for practitioners or researchers.
The theme that ties together most of the articles found below is that of
“flexibility.” To the best of my knowledge, no author has yet (i) explained the
meaning or the full breadth of flexibility needed in e-Services, or (ii) presented a
comprehensive model for managers to use when choosing technologies that support
“flexibility” in an e-Service.
Thus, our objective for this week is to consider (i) strategic activities carried out
within e-Service operations, which are (ii) positions of potential uncertainties (in the
market, in suppliers, in competitors, in technology, etc.), and (iii) try to better
identify where we might concentrate on applying flexibility. This week, we’ll
consider the concept of e-Service flexibility, and we will attempt together to develop an
improved model of “e-Service flexibility”.
Readings
Motivation
This first selection of articles covers
some of the fundamental ideas behind technology strategy for electronic services,
specifically the ability to sense and respond to customers. The first two readings (Handed
out in class) are short snippets that provide some of early ideas. The Bradley and Nolan segment perhaps was the first source to widely
disseminate the concept of the need to quickly "sense and respond" to customers.
The Hagel and Armstrong segment lists some of the strategic
value gained by various parties participating in e-Services. The Nicholas Carr articles are really short, and essentially stress the
point of the importance of flexibility.
(Required) Bradley, S. P., and R. L. Nolan, Sense and Respond, Harvard Business School Press, S. P. Bradley and R. L. Nolan (eds.), Harvard Business School Press, 1998, p. 1-7.
Will Hand Out In Class During Week 8 (If you were not in class, e-mail me, and USPS mail it to you)
(Required) Hagel III, J., and A. G. Armstrong, “The Race Belongs to the Swift,” in Net Gain, Harvard Business School Press, 1997, p. 7-15, 172-175.
Will Hand Out In Class During Week 8 (If you were not in class, e-mail me, and USPS mail it to you)
(Required) Carr, N., “Be What You Aren’t,” TheStandard.com, August 7, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17135,00.html
(Required) Carr, N., “Giant Steps,” The Standard.com, August 28, 2000.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17920,00.html
Weber, J., “Catching the Next Wave,” TheStandard.com, December 18, 2000
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,20848,00.html
Downes, L., “Deconstructing The Web,” TheStandard.com, August 7, 2000
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,17374,00.html
What Is Flexibility? Some Background
This reading defines flexibility by
taking some other authors' definitions and trying to reconcile them. Flexibility is
frequently referred to by MIS writers, but seldom defined. Flexibility is frequently used
by manufacturing researchers, but unfortunately has been defined in many different -- and
sometimes conflicting -- ways by OM writers.
(Required) Heim, G.R., “A
Summary of Flexibility Concepts”
SummaryOfFlexibilityConcepts.rtf
Flexibility and Networks
The Garud and Kotha paper provides a
metaphor for how one might view flexible production systems. Interestingly, this paper
brings up the issue of "sense and respond", 4 years before Bradley and Nolan. If
you're having trouble envisioning the future supply chain, this metaphor of
"mind/body"being related to future flexible manufacturing and supply chains may
help.
(Required) Garud, R., and S. Kotha, “Using the Brain as a Metaphor to Model Flexible Production Systems,” Academy of Management Review, 19, 4, 1994, p. 671-698.
Will Hand Out In Class During Week 8 (If you were not in class, e-mail me, and I'll e-mail it to you)
A Model of e-Service
Flexibility
Academics typically envision the concept
of flexibility as having multiple sub-dimensions. This summary aggregates together a large
amount of these dimensions of flexibility. Included is my attempt at developing a
model of flexibility dimensions in e-Retailing. Also included in this is a summary of
dimensions that are considered to define “flexibility” in manufacturing
operations.
(Required) Heim, G. R., “A Model of Flexibility Dimensions for E-Service Operations” (8 pages long)
Assignment
Hagel and
Armstrong (Net Gain, p. 12) stated, “Coming to a new understanding of where value can
be created will require perhaps the greatest cognitive leap for the organizer of the
virtual community.” Value is potentially created on the “sense” side by
using flexibility to sense customer needs and respond to them appropriately. Value is also
potentially retained through flexibility, by hedging against the strategic uncertainty
that some other organization will come up with a better “sense and respond”
process.
For this
week’s assignment, you (and your team members) will need to think about the points
within an e-Service-oriented organization where an organization needs to have
“flexibility” if it is to compete successfully in an e-Service environment.
Based on your understanding of service-product attributes, service-process technologies,
contemporary supply chain objectives, customer objectives, and general common sense, your
team should informally critique the models of flexibility dimensions discussed in the
readings (the Garud & Kotha and Heim articles), and create some new flexibility
concept(s) to more fully inform the discussion.
Then,
(1) identify
one or more (i.e., at least one) additional possible dimensions of flexibility that are
important for managers to identify in order to respond to strategic uncertainties and
contingencies that might appear in an e-Service business environment, and
(2) write a
definition for that dimension of flexibility.
Submit the
above during class.