A framework for an integrated management of After Sales Service

In the western mature economies, the evolution of cultural and sociological models, as well as the continuous breakthrough of the technological edges, are driving final consumers to give more evidence to the real capability of a product to provide a solution to their tailored and changeable needs during its life-cycle, than to the real emotion of purchasing and owning it. In such a context, After Sales (AS) service has been acquiring a strategic role within an industrial company's business as a first source of differentiation and profit generation in a short and long term perspective. Despite the increasing importance of industrial services, literature dealing with AS service is in some way in an early stage and still presents a highly fragmented picture. A systematic approach relating to AS strategy, service chain and processes configuration, marketing, strategy, organisation and design issues is still lacking. Within the illustrated scenario, the main objective of the paper is to sketch out the main dimensions of a framework which should provide industrial management with a set of leverages in order to guarantee a proper consistency and integration of the strategic and tactical decisions assumed within the AS area with the overall company's business strategy.