After-sales services and aftermarket support: a systematic review,

theory and future research directions

Christopher M. Durugbo
College of Graduate Studies, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain
Department of Innovation and Technology Management, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain

After-sales and aftermarkets are significant revenue streams for industrial companies. After-sales services are activities during warranty
periods that include field technical assistance, spare parts distribution, customer care, and accessories sale. Aftermarket support involve
secondary market transactions for additional products (e.g. accessories and add-ons) and product recovery processes. An awareness of the
potentials of both concepts is evident by the extensive body of production and operations management (POM) publications that investigate
the perspectives of both academia and practitioners. Yet, there is an absence of a systematic review to analyse research studies on after-sales
and aftermarkets in a POM context. This article reviews the POM literature on after-sales services and aftermarket support. The review
identifies and critically appraises 249 peer-reviewed articles published between 1970 and 2018. It examines the research clusters,
investigated industry sectors, research methodologies, theories and contributions of studies. Using insights from the review process, the
article also proposes theoretical foundations, sets a research agenda, and identifies optimization problems for future after-sales and
aftermarket studies.

Keywords: After-sales services; Aftermarket support; Product recovery; Secondary market

1. Introduction
Since the 1990s, firms have increasingly highlighted the revenue streams in aftermarkets through support for goods,
technologies and equipment that have been designed, built and sold to business clients and end-users. Aftermarket (or after-
sales (Brock 2009, Rahman and Chattopadhyay 2015)) activities are used to replace or repair product parts or make
accessories available to promote safety, security, comfort and pleasure for end users in continuous trends that have seen
after-sales services “contribute to about 25% of all revenue and 40–50% of all profits for manufacturing companies”
(Holmström et al. 2011, 187). Estimates also indicate that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and consumers in
developed countries like the United States spend as much as $1 trillion annually on assets they already own (Cohen et al.
2006a). It is for this reason that the Wall Street’s analyses of firms’ aftermarket prowess have shown direct correlation
between stock prices and the quality of firms’ after-sales activities. Although production and operations management
(POM) studies are increasingly researching the previously overlooked area of aftermarket support (Theodore Farris II et
al. 2005), there is a lack of a literature review to systematically analyse research. This review attempts to address this gap.

1.1 Aim of article

The aim of this article is to systematically review the previous POM work on after-sales services and aftermarket support.
The review examines the research clusters, investigated industry sectors, research methodologies, theories and
contributions of after-sales and aftermarkets literature in a POM context. From the aim and background of the review, the
main research question posed is as follows:
What are the research clusters, data, methodologies, theories and contributions of after-sales and aftermarket literature in
a POM context?
With insights from the review process, the article proposes theoretical foundations, sets a research agenda, and identifies
optimization problems that challenges researchers to strategically advance the field. Due to the strategic importance of
after-sales services and aftermarket support for industrial firms, the review has relevance for practitioners in terms of
production planning to realise activities such as replacing product parts and in regards to on-going appraisals that use
critical metrics of services and support to realise value added operations. Practically, the review has potentials to improve
POM practices that confront questions such as: How can an industrial firm best work with its supply chain partners to
provide services? What POM policies should be used by firms to deliver optimal and critical support for products? And
how can contracts in after-sales and aftermarkets be used to improve the satisfaction and experiences of customers?
1.2 After-sales services and aftermarket support: an overview
Fundamentally, after-sales is the “period of time during which the seller or manufacturer guarantees to the buyer assistance,
maintenance, or repairs of what has been purchased” (Díaz and Márquez 2014, 3). Here, the goal is to fulfil warranty i.e. a
temporary contractual obligation of the OEM to provide support for an equipment. The purpose of after-sales services is
therefore to support options for extended warranty that assures product/asset reliability and minimized servicing costs – in
addition to the base warranty that rectifies product defects or failures (Johnstone et al. 2008a, Díaz and Márquez 2014,
Rahman and Chattopadhyay 2015). The main after-sales activities, as shown by Figure 1, are the provision of field technical
assistance, spare parts distribution, customer care and accessories sale (Saccani et al. 2007, Schulze et al. 2012). By
contrast, aftermarkets or ‘secondary markets’ are “markets for complementary products (or what are often labelled
‘secondary products or services’) that are often purchased subsequent to the purchase of another, related product (termed
the ‘primary product or service’)” (Gundlach 2007, 18). These markets create outlets for supplying additional products or
services that support and enhance the use of relatively long-lasting piece of equipment that has already been acquired
(OECD 2017) or change the equipment after the original purchase (Mahmoud-Jouini et al. 2007). Some examples of
complementary products in aftermarkets are add-ons in the form of (i) multimedia units, parking aids, new mufflers, repair
parts and services for automobiles; (ii) razors and razor blades for shavers; (iii) ink cartridges for printers and photocopiers;
and (iv) paraphernalia items (e.g. hats and jackets) with brand logos.

Figure 1: Aftermarket support (highlighting after-sales services as a subset of considerations in the business ecosystems of aftermarkets).

Moving downstream towards aftermarkets induces support for three main configurations. The first configuration is for a
network of resources involving material, people and infrastructure that provides after-sales services (Holmström et al.
2011) to support a product system (.e. the primary product (or the product base) originally supplied by an OEM) together
with complementary products sold in aftermarkets (Gundlach 2007). Product bases may be durable goods i.e. manufactured
goods lasting three or more years such as refrigerators and televisions, or capital goods i.e. complex technical systems with
high lifecycle costs such as airplanes and trains. For instance, product bases of shavers (durable goods) may be supported
by complementary products such as shaving cream, shaving sticks, razors, aftershave and even branded paraphernalia that
are sold in the aftermarket. Ultimately, a corporate and marketing strategy case is made that product system components
generally complement one another with potential ‘proprietary’ implications due to embedded intellectual property. The
second configuration supports a secondary market which is a distribution channel for unsold products and other products
that cannot be sold as new (Tibben-Lembke 2004). Thus, secondary market transactions avail various dispositions for
brokers to be supplied with and trade products that are returned, store damages and demo units, end-of-season, not selling,
end-of-life (EOL), marketing returns and shipping damage. Take-back programs backed by legislation in growing numbers
of countries prompt a third aftermarket configuration to support primary and secondary products once they have reached
their EOL (Toffel 2004). Examples of such legislation are the Directive on End-of Life Vehicle 2000/53/EC, Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive of the European Union, and the United States National Computer Recycling
Act. By specifically targeting hazardous waste associated with primary systems, these legislations encourage OEMs,
brokers and other vendors (or suppliers) to provide product recovery processes for product disassembling, refurbishments,
remanufacturing, and recycling; rather than sending EOL products directly to landfills and incinerators. This has
aftermarket support implications for location decisions on returns and/or distribution centres, the nature of product recovery
support at production plants, and the range of activities to test and refurbish returns and exchanges (Brock 2009). Thus,
decisions within the purview of aftermarket support involve trade-offs for greater order cycle time awareness and recovery
technologies in aftermarkets to reduce environmental uncertainty and deliver revenue and profit enhancement in a
sustainable manner (Hammant et al. 1999, Toffel 2004, Theodore Farris II et al. 2005, Holmström et al. 2011, Díaz and
Márquez 2014). From these considerations, a definition for aftermarket support, is derived as follows:

An aftermarket support is a network of resources (material, people and infrastructure) for after-sales services, secondary
market transactions and product recovery processes.

This definition expatiates on various business-to-business (B2B) and business-to customer (B2C) interactions and
relationships in the aftermarket. It attempts to conceptualize the business ecosystems of aftermarkets which include
customers, OEMs, suppliers and competitors (Wagner et al. 2018) and encompasses different aftermarket areas highlighted
in the literature such as the aftersales market (Kranenburg and Van Houtum 2008), returns (Akturk et al. 2018), spares
(Snyder 1993), and field service (Saccani et al. 2007, Schulze et al. 2012). Regardless of the focus, solid after-sales services
and aftermarket support must confront product quality and logistics issues, open new channels to entice customers, leverage
new technology, and develop new support approaches (Brock 2009, Pearson 2015).
In an attempt to open up new areas for research, this article systematically reviews literature on after-sales and aftermarkets
in a POM context. The article argues that much can be gained in research and practice by theorizing and shedding light on
aftermarket support factors and dependencies.

1.3 Structure of article

The remainder of this review article is structured as follows. Section 2 introduces the review methodology while Section 3
presents the review findings with regards to research clusters, sectors, methodologies, theories and contributions of after-
sales and aftermarket literature in a POM context. Section 4 proposes theoretical foundations, summarises the practical
relevance of the review findings and discusses a set of potential future questions and challenges for after-sales and
aftermarket research.

2. Methodology
A systematic review methodology (Jesson et al. 2011, Gough et al. 2012) was adopted to identify and sift through relevant
POM studies (evaluation) and to appraise and amalgamate findings from the studies critically into a coherent statement
(synthesis), as summarised by Figure 2. Although, a narrative review has been previously conducted on the implications
of aftermarket support (Theodore Farris II et al. 2005), this article attempts to present an up-to-date systematic review of
the field. Reviews related to the area of research covered in this article have focused on aspects such as reverse logistics
and closed-loop supply chains (Govindan et al. 2015) and remanufacturing (Subramoniam et al. 2009). With this in mind,
the review treats ‘after-sales’ and ‘aftermarket’ as both key terms for the review and as a differentiator to provide new
insights from common themed publications.

Figure 2: Overview of process for the systematic literature review.

The research question guides the search strategy and review protocol shown by Table 1, in accordance with the systematic
review methodology. The search and screening for review sources was conducted using one main inclusion criteria –
empirical and theoretical peer-reviewed journal articles. Consequently, conference proceeding papers, master’s theses,
doctoral dissertations, textbooks, and unpublished working papers were omitted. The focus on journal articles is
deliberately intended to limit the scope of the review. It is also common practice for high-quality POM reviews (e.g.
Govindan et al. (2015)) to focus on peer-to-peer reviewed scientific articles for academic rigour and quality. The electronic
databases provided by Clarivate Analytics and EBSCO were then accessed to identify, screen and accumulate review
articles for the review. The databases were Web of Science (WoS) (formerly Web of Knowledge)
(http://www.webofknowledge.com) and EBSCOhost (http://www.ebscohost.com) respectively, and the choice stemmed
from their high relevance and scientific collection of content.

Table 1: Systematic literature review protocol

Review element Description Focus in the review
Purpose Aim of the literature review The purpose of the review is:
 To review the previous POM work on after-sales services and aftermarket support.
Search strategy Course of action or plan to The search strategy for the review involves:
inform the search process for  Using keywords to search specified databases informed by screening and exclusion
the review criteria
Search strings Combination of keywords The search strings for the review are:
used to conduct the search  “after-sales" OR “after sales" OR “aftersales"
for literature  “after-market" OR “after market" OR “aftermarket"
Databases Independent online database The databases used in the review are:
with citation data and  Web of Science
indexes of scholarly writings  EBSCOhost
Screening and Conditions for selecting and The screening criteria for the review are as follows:
inclusion criteria including review sources  Empirical and theoretical peer-reviewed journal articles
 Production and operations management (POM) studies
 Research on “aftermarket” and “after-sales” concepts and challenges
Exclusion criteria Conditions for omitting The exclusion criteria for the review are as follows:
publications during the  Duplicates
review process  Conference proceeding papers, master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, textbooks, and
unpublished working papers
 Articles that use the term “aftermarket” and “after-sales” beyond the scope of POM

The review then progressed with a literature search process using ‘after-sales’ and ‘aftermarket’ as keywords to sift through
topics and titles on EBSCOhost and WoS. Other variations of the terms i.e. ‘after sales’, ‘after market’, ‘aftersales’ and
‘after-market’ were used as keywords during the search process. The eligibility criteria set to articles on ‘aftermarket’ and
‘after-sales’ contributes to the scope of the review and is in recognition that no single term is universally used to cover the
range of concerns associated with the after-sales and aftermarket topic (Szwejczewski et al. 2015). For instance, different
terminologies have been used in the literature to reflect POM support for aftermarkets (Léo and Philippe 2001, Johnstone
et al. 2008b, 2008a, Durugbo 2013, 2014). Examples include ‘product-service systems’ (Mont 2002, Tukker 2004),
‘servitization’ (Vandermerwe and Rada 1988, Baines et al. 2009), ‘total care (or functional) products’ (Alonso-Rasgado et
al. 2004), ‘functional sales’ (Sundin and Bras 2005), and ‘winning in the aftermarket’ (Cohen et al. 2006b). Similarly, after-
sales is referred to as ‘customer support’, ‘product support’, ‘technical support’, ‘supplementary service’, or simply
‘service’ (Anderson and Narus 1995, Kurata and Nam 2010).
The returned search results were then screened to determine publications with a focus on POM studies within EBSCOhost
and WoS. During this process, the following contexts for aftermarkets were identified and omitted: aftermarkets in
liberalization for economies i.e. after market liberalization (Boeckler and Berndt 2013, Ciarreta et al. 2016), aftermarkets
of initial public offerings (IPOs) (Gleason et al. 2008, Jog and Wang 2009), aftermarkets of work forces that convene to
clear the unfilled capacities within labour markets (Mumcu and Saglam 2009), aftermarkets as states that require
surveillance to mitigate risks or minimize impacts of drug events (Field 2008), and aftermarkets of media versus original
television programming (Waterman and Grant 1991). Journal titles and abstracts were subsequently screened and duplicates
were removed; generating 249 unique journal articles, as shown by Table 2.

Table 2: Peer-reviewed journal sources of review articles.

Journal Name Number of articles
International Journal of Production Research 15
European Journal of Operational Research 13
Industrial Marketing Management 13
Production Planning & Control 12
International Journal of Production Economics 12
Management Science 9
International Journal of Operations & Production Management 7
Service Industries Journal 5
Total Quality Management and Business Excellence 5
 Industrial Management & Data Systems 4
International Journal of Services Technology and Management 4
Journal of Service Management 4
Managing Service Quality 4
Production and Operations Management 4
Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review 4
California Management Review 3
Expert Systems with Applications 3
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management 3
Journal of Product Innovation Management 3
Journal of the Operational Research Society 3
Other publications 119
Total 249

Table 2 shows that the most significant publication outlets were International Journal of Production Research, European
Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Production Planning & Control,
Industrial Marketing Management, and Management Science. Some of the 119 other journals (with one or two articles in
the review) not listed in the table include Computers and Industrial Engineering, Harvard Business Review, Journal of
Manufacturing Technology Management, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Service Science, Sloan
Management Review, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Operations Management
Research and Supply Chain Management. The electronic copies of the uniquely identified articles were then accessed and
retrieved via the web portals of publication companies and outlets that contain the identified journals e.g. Elsevier Science
Direct (http://www.sciencedirect.com), Emerald Insight (http://www.emeraldinsight.com), IEEE Xplore
(http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org), INDERSCIENCE Online (https://www.inderscienceonline.com), INFORMS
PubsOnline (http://www.informs.org), Springer Link (http://www.springerlink.com), Taylor & Francis Online
(http://www.tandfonline.com), and Wiley Online Library (https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com).
The accumulated body of literature which includes journal articles published from 1970 to 2018 was then extensively
reviewed. The articles were read through and the body of literature was subsequently analysed in line with the research
question. Articles were initially clustered according to their research focus followed by a comparative analysis of research
data, methodologies, theories and contributions. Potential areas for future research are then identified. The keywords of
potential future research areas were subjected to the same search strategy used in the review to determine their relevance
and appropriateness. The next section reports on the research findings.

3. Findings

3.1 Clusters of research studies

An initial analysis of the literature suggests research clusters for capabilities, channels, and conceptualizations, as
summarised by Table 3. The capabilities and competences cluster (C1) involves 44% (109 out of 249) of the reviewed
articles and concerns with studies that investigate resource competences for aftermarket platforms. The C 1 cluster
investigates disparate operational (core and enabling) capabilities for designing and delivering solutions. In the channel,
chain and customer cluster (C2), the focus of researchers is on the multichannel processes and distribution channels used
in aftermarket platforms to provide after-sales services and maintain aftermarket relationship. C2 covers 37% (92 out of
249) of the reviewed articles. In this cluster, research studies analyse channel structures in centralized, distributed and
hybrid configurations. The background to work in this cluster considers arrangements such as e-procurement, m-commerce,
e-channels, reverse auctions, ship-to-store (STS) and buy-online and pick-up-in-store (BOPS), make-to-order (MTO) mode
and make-to-stock (MTS) modes. There is also interest in garnering nuanced understanding of channel choices with the
intention of supporting multichannel segmentation and aftermarket hybridization. The conceptualization cluster (C3) covers
19% (48 out of 249) of the reviewed articles and aims to shed light on aftermarket segments, roles and processes. C 3 studies
examine best and clear practices and trends in after-sales services. This necessitates understanding service gains as a
function of total cost and the inherent technical and socio-economic barriers that OEMs have to overcome in aftermarkets.

Table 3: Overview of research clusters

Research cluster Overview Sub clusters Examples of research challenges
Capability cluster Investigations of disparate  Supply chain capabilities Aftersales productivity, assembly systems, asset base
operational and corporate  Technological management, component design, customization, decision
competences for delivering capabilities support systems, enterprise resource planning systems,
aftermarket support  Process support information retrieval systems, product-in-use data and big data,
use of intelligence technologies, manufacturing capacity,
  Process competences product recovery systems, professional capacity, reverse
logistics, sampling inspection, signal reliability, uncertainty
assessments, life-cycle cost analysis, selection of pricing
metrics, revenue sharing, service capacity development, and
smart products design and development
Channel cluster Analysis of multichannel  Channel configuration Collaborative relationship, communities of practice, feedback
processes and distribution  Channel preference and loops in distribution network, fraud control, incentives to
channels used by vendor to antecedents encourage competition, multichannel segmentation and
provide after-sales services  Procurement life-cycles aftermarket hybridization, network expansion, socio-economic
and other network channels  Power and service changes, price competition, refusal to deal, service and recovery
used to maintain aftermarket competition networks associated with inventory management, staffing,
relationships supplier selection, tacit collusion, and transportation design for
vendors
Conceptualization Models and frameworks of  Strategic choices Company orientations, competitive advantage, differentiation
cluster aftermarket schemes, roles  Deployment concepts and segmentation, industrial service profiles, integrated
and processes  Best practices and solutions, and service innovation
industry trends

3.2 Industry sectors

The analysis showed variations in the industry sectors investigated in the reviewed articles, as shown by Figure 3. The most
investigated single sourced sector was the automotive industry with reported work in 24.9% (62 out of 249) of the reviewed
articles. Quantitative and qualitative data these articles were gathered from car dealerships (e.g. (Borchardt et al. 2018)),
car manufacturers (e.g. (Snyder 1993, Shabani et al. 2017)), auto-parts (e.g. (Fu et al. 2004, Trappey et al. 2010)) and
motorcycle companies e.g. (de Toni and Tonchia 2004, Prabakaran and Babu 2012). Major brand name OEMs investigated
include Aprilia, Adam Opel, ATK BMW Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, Renault, SAIPA Co, Saturn by GM, Toyota, and
Volkswagen (Walle 1994, Ehinlanwo and Zairi 1996a, 1996b, Cohen et al. 2000, Chen and Huang 2004, de Toni and
Tonchia 2004, Meinzer et al. 2016, Shabani et al. 2017, Gencer and Akkucuk 2018). Manufacturing / industrial and
electrical / electronic sectors were also favoured sources of data as reported by 14.9% (37 out of 249) and 8.8% (22 out of
249) of articles, respectively. Other single sourced domains were energy and power (3.2%), aerospace and defence (3.2%),
telecommunications (2.0%), printing and office equipment (1.6%), retail (1.6%), home appliances (1.2%), metal and
mining (1.2%), heavy machinery (0.8%), construction (0.8%), hoteling (0.4%), medical equipment (0.4%), and elevators
(0.4%), as summarized by Figure 3. In 10.4% (26 out of 249) of the reviewed articles, data was obtained from multiple
industries. For instance Saccani, Songini and Gaiardelli (2006) analysed the role of after-sales services in 48 companies
within the automotive, household appliance, IT and consumer electronics industries. Similarly, Wagner, Jönke and
Hadjiconstantinou (2018) investigated aftermarket relationships from multiple stakeholder perspectives in 29 firms within
construction, military equipment, public transport, beverages, real estate, printing, elevation construction, home appliances,
aerospace, automotive, mechanical engineering, machine tool and textiles.

Figure 3: Breakdown of reviewed articles according to investigated industry sectors.

3.3 Research methodologies and theories
In terms of methodology, the analysis showed a distribution of 12% (30 articles) and 88% (219 articles) between conceptual
and empirical pieces of work, respectively. Conceptual studies developed abstract ideas and models, while empirical studies
provided expositions with proofs based on experiences or experiments. Empirical studies are decomposed further, as shown
by Figure 4, into mathematical models and formalizations with 30% (75 out of 249), qualitative case interviews with 22%
(55 out of 249), questionnaire surveys with 16% (39 out of 249), multi-methodologies with 10% (25 out of 249), and other
methods with 10% (25 out of 249) of the reviewed articles.

Figure 4: Breakdown of reviewed articles according to research methodologies.

Underpinning the application of these methodologies are widely used management theories, as shown by Table 4. The table
describes the main construct of each theory and gives instances of how the theories are used in after-sales and aftermarket
literature. No single theory dominates the literature, although the transaction cost theory has had the most use in examining
aftermarket contract costs, (Anderson and Dekker 2005), entry mode choices (Morschett 2006, Morschett et al. 2008),
remanufacturing strategy (Subramoniam et al. 2010), product recovery motivations (Toffel 2004) and consumer purchasing
intention (Xu et al. 2017). Also, Subramoniam, Huisingh and Chinnam (2010) presented the foundations of a
remanufacturing theory, and Klostermann and Günnel (2012) proposed a theory for bonuses by dynamic turnover,
disclosure of sales figures and training, and for discounts according to order quantity, price-sensitivity and differentiation
of discounts for slow mover and fast mover articles.

Table 4: Reported use of management theories in reviewed articles

Theory Definition and constructs Examples of after-sales and aftermarket studies
Actor network theory Proposes heterogeneous networks  Shedding light on social and technological artefacts that
(Latour n.d., Callon 1999) consisting of social and technological determine after-sales service internetworking changes
nodes (Zackariasson and Wilson 2004)
Consumer choice theory Benefits and utility maximization are the  Assessing consumer choice for adopting secondary market
(Thaler 1980) basis of potential consumer behaviour products (de Luca et al. 2015)
Contingency theory Effective actions are reliant on contexts  Studying contexts for after-sales complex environments (Boone et
(Chandler 1962, Mintzberg and situations al. 2016)
1979)  Analysing contexts for after-sales environment–strategy
configurations (Gebauer 2008)
Contract theory (Bolton and Posits on the formulation of formal and  Examining how the nature of system use motivates contract
Dewatripont 2004) informal contracts by parties with varying selection (Guajardo et al. 2012)
interests and in the presence of information
asymmetry
Cultural dimensions theory Measures differences in culture according  Exploring cultural differences in entry mode choice and after-
(Hofstede 1980) to individualism/collectivism, power sales contexts (Morschett et al. 2008)
distance, uncertainty avoidance and
masculinity/femininity
Decision theory (Chernoff Advances logic of decision making under  Using case-based decision theory to model service sensitive
and Moses 1959, Simon uncertainty demand and capacity (Jahnke et al. 2005)
1960)  Using Bayesian decision theory to analyse after-sales cost as part
of a general loss function (Chen et al. 2007)
DeLone and Mclean model Proposes information quality, systems  Investigating ERP success and continued used (Häkkinen and
(DeLone and McLean 1992) quality, user satisfaction, use, individual Hilmola 2008a, 2008b)
impact, and organizational impact as
dimensions for information success
Dynamic capabilities theory Dynamism of firm level capabilities  Analysing capabilities for forming and utilizing service networks
(Teece et al. 1997) induces disparities in competitiveness (Gebauer et al. 2013)
 Studying disparities in voluntary product recovery motivations
(Toffel 2004)
Expectancy-disconfirmation Expresses satisfaction as a function of  Evaluating customer delight strategy in after-sales (Ludwig et al.
theory (Oliver 1980) expectation and expectancy 2017)
disconfirmation.
Innovation diffusion theory Measures individual perception of  Examining intention to adopt e-channels (Choudhury and
(Rogers 1983) innovation using constructs of relative Karahanna 2008)
advantage, ease of use / complexity,  Studies behavioural determinants that motivate technology
visibility, compatibility, results diffusion (de Luca et al. 2015)
demonstrability, image and voluntariness  Examining determinants for technology adoption (Gudergan
of use 2010)
Internationalization theory Firms tend to transition from being  Scrutinizing after-sales service as a strategic tool in international
(Andersen 1993) primarily domestically oriented to markets (Asugman et al. 1997)
internationally oriented  Investigating internationalization motives of entry mode choice
(Morschett 2006, Morschett et al. 2008)
Inventory theory (Maister Proposes that centralization and control of  Analysing the implications of inventory on spare parts adoption
1976) inventories leads to improved performance (Kauremaa and Holmström 2017)
and reduced costs  Assessing inventory implications for forecasting spare parts sales
(Snyder 1993)
Market signal theory (Kelley Proposes how consumers apply warranties  Studying consumer purchasing intention (Xu et al. 2017)
1988, Blischke and Murthy as signals of product reliability
1996)
Organization theory (Aldrich Organizations possess environmental  Analysing return policies and reverse logistics capabilities (Autry
1979) characteristics such as uncertainty, 2005)
directness, change, dynamism,  Investigating environment–strategy configurations (Gebauer
homogeneity, complexity, and munificence 2008)
 Studying spare parts adoption and motivation in organizations
(Kauremaa and Holmström 2017)
Population ecology theory Proposes that population change in  Assessing change processes and strategies for aftermarket
(Hannan and Freeman 1977) organizations are due organizational remanufacturing (Subramoniam et al. 2010)
selection and replacement process
Reliability theory (Rausand Systems tend to function or fail and this  Investigating and proposes improvements to predictions for
and Høyland 1994) behaviour exists in the context of product reliability (Guajardo et al. 2012)
environmental and operational conditions
Resource based view Heterogeneity of firm level capabilities  Identifying firm level capabilities of entry mode choice
(Wernerfelt 1984) induces disparities in competitiveness (Morschett 2006)
 Examining the role of available resources in voluntary product
recovery motivations (Toffel 2004)
 Studying the role of firm level capabilities in aftermarket
remanufacturing strategy (Subramoniam et al. 2010)
Resource dependence theory Organizational behaviour must be  Integrating organizational power and control as aftermarket
(Pfeffer and Salancik 1978) understood in the context of that behaviour remanufacturing strategic factor (Subramoniam et al. 2010)
with regards to distribution of power and
control within/outside the organization
Segmentation theory (Smith Views heterogeneous market as constituted  Proposing new industrial market segmentation scheme (Dibb and
1956) of smaller homogeneous markets that Simkin 1994)
responds to differing preferences and
customer requirements
Situated learning theory Posits that learning in organizations arises  Evaluating situated learning in service work entrainment (Lervik
(Lave and Wenger 1991) in the contexts and conditions of practical et al. 2010)
engagement, and time is an important
dimension of activity and context of
learning.
Social identity theory (Tajfel Proposes that social groups give their  Examining social identity effects in brand advocacy behaviour
and John Turner 2004) members orientations for self-reference (Schepers and Nijssen 2018)
and establish the members’ place in society
Social network theory Analyses individual and organizational  Adopting a network view of aftermarket relationships (Wagner et
(Granovetter 1973, 1985, interactions within the context of larger al. 2018)
Carrington et al. 2005) relational structures
Structuration theory Posits social structure and human agency  Examining structuration in after-sales service internetworking
(Giddens 1984) as a mutually constitutive duality that is changes (Zackariasson and Wilson 2004)
generated by social behaviour
Technology acceptance Validates users’ adoption and usage of  Studying technology use as behavioural determinants (de Luca et
model (Davis 1989, technology based on perceived usefulness, al. 2015)
Venkatesh and Davis 2000) perceived ease of use and subjective norm.  Examining determinants for technology adoption (Gudergan
2010)
Theory of consumption Pattern of consumption in product and  Investigating consuming process in the context of after-sales
systems (Mittal et al. 1999) service subsystem are underpinned by influence on brand loyalty (Hünecke and Gunkel 2012)
consuming processes that occur in multiple
episodes over time
 Theory of planned behaviour Predicts intention to use based on attitude  Studying behavioural determinants to use technology from
(TPB) and Theory of towards behaviour, subjective norms and secondary markets (de Luca et al. 2015)
reasoned action (TRA) perceived behavioural control. TPB is an  Examining determinants for technology adoption (Gudergan
(Fishbein and Ajzen 1975, extension of TRA proposed in Fishbein 2010)
Ajzen 1991) and Ajzen (1975)
Transaction-cost theory Governance structures are determined by  Scrutinizing costs of contracting (Anderson and Dekker 2005)
(Coase 1937, Williamson relative costs for managing transactions  Evaluating determinants of entry mode choice (Morschett 2006,
1985) Morschett et al. 2008)
 Examining strategic flows in aftermarket remanufacturing
(Subramoniam et al. 2010)
 Studying interactions underlying voluntary product recovery
(Toffel 2004)
 Assessing transaction contexts for consumer purchasing intention
(Xu et al. 2017)
Utility theory (Fishburn Describes the preferences of customers  Modelling preferences for consumer purchasing intention (Xu et
1970) toward products or services al. 2017)
 Using random utility theory to study technology use and
behavioural determinants (de Luca et al. 2015)
 Using expected utility theory to analyse service sensitive demand
and capacity (Jahnke et al. 2005)
 Using multi-attribute utility theory to examine the utility of
maintenance service (Kuo and Wang 2012)
Unified service theory Posits that managerial challenges peculiar  Examining the features of service environment (Maull et al.
(Sampson and Froehle 2009) to services originate from interwoven 2014)
inputs from service processes and
customers
Value-belief-norm theory Internal normative beliefs and values  Examining motivations to adopt technology from secondary
(Stern et al. 1994) motivate pro-environmental behaviour markets (de Luca et al. 2015)

Mathematical formalisations studies apply quantitative methods such as characteristic-space models, game theory,
economic models, comparative analysis, integer, nonlinear and dynamic programming, Monte Carlo method, Markov
chains, machine learning, finite state machines, fuzzy sets, analytic hierarchy process, data envelope analysis, and
clustering algorithms. Although, the majority of these studies apply numerical examples to build and/or validate their
models, there are some exceptions in which primary or secondary data is applied. For instance, Ahn and Sohn (2009)
analysed customer pattern search using clustering and association rules on evaluation questionnaires from 376
manufacturing customers; Altekin, Ayll and Şahin (2017) analysed a mixed integer linear program on network design with
44000 stock keeping units; and Kargari and Sepehri (2012) used clustering algorithms on 40,750 records from 815 stores
to suggest improvements to the spare-parts distribution and transportation system of a case company.
Case interviews involve in-depth explorations via semi-structured interviewing techniques with key informants at
companies. Interview data is collected from managers and other staff responsible for managing aftermarket support in
single and multiple case studies of companies using literature-based theoretical frameworks, the grounded theory approach,
or widely used conceptual frameworks such as the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) organizational
excellence award and the DeLone McLean model. In one case study (Zackariasson and Wilson 2004), the investigation
was longitudinal in nature and involved on-site, in-depth interview into after-market practices at a capital goods company.
Questionnaire surveys are field- or market-based surveys to examine the role of aftermarket antecedents, behaviour and
consequences, and in some cases, to establish benchmarks for industry. Collected survey data is mainly cross-sectional and
subjected to some form of statistical analysis such as structural equation modelling and regression analysis. The widely
used SERVQUAL instrument was reported in studies of service quality (van Birgelen et al. 2002, Craig and Roy 2004,
Prabakaran and Babu 2012, Murali et al. 2016b) and some stduies made used of global survey databases such as the CD-
ROM Business Directory (by Generator BV), the FAME CD-ROM Business Directory (by Bureau van Dyke) and the
International Manufacturing Strategy Survey. One longitudinal survey study involving OEMs of the printing industry was
also reported (Wetzels et al. 1999).
Multi-methodologies were combinations of interviews, surveys, tool implementation, social network research, direct
observation, literature and exploratory analysis, archival data, practitioner engagement, factor analysis and so on. Other
methodologies used for sourcing data include action research (Trappey et al. 2011, Byrne et al. 2013, Owida et al. 2016);
experimentation (LaMotte et al. 2000, Priluck and Lala 2009, Lee et al. 2012, Yelverton et al. 2015); regression models
on market-level and transaction data-sets (Deshpande et al. 2003, Mwegerano et al. 2012, Xu et al. 2017, Akturk et al.
2018); secondary data, media and archival analysis (Armistead and Clark 1991, Klonowski 2008, Durugbo and Erkoyuncu
2016, Kozlovskiy and Aydarov 2017); simulation model of citizen data-set (de Luca et al. 2015, de Luca and Di Pace
2018); task analysis and process mapping (Ludwig and Goomas 2009, Purba et al. 2018); ethnography (Lundin and
Eriksson 2018), and Delphi, ideation and blueprinting workshops (Karni and Arciszewski 1997, Sousa et al. 2016, Tavakoli
et al. 2016). Table 5 gives an overview the methodologies.
Table 5: Overview of methodologies in reviewed articles
Methodology Overview References
Mathematical Using quantitative (Fortuin 1980, Chakrabarti and Morgan 1981, Neswadba and Nitsch 1988, Reyniers and Tapiero 1995,
formalisations methods to model Tabucanon et al. 1995, Blair and Herndon 1996, Cohen and Whang 1997, Chen and Ross 1998, Chen et
studies and study al. 1998, 2007, 2017, Jahnke et al. 2005, Mantrala et al. 2006, Karakayali et al. 2007, Kim et al. 2007,
aftermarket concepts 2010, Vardar et al. 2007, Xia and Gilbert 2007, Kim and Park 2008, Kranenburg and Van Houtum
2008, Tang et al. 2008, Ahn and Sohn 2009, Kurata and Nam 2010, 2013, Bijvank et al. 2010, Angelus
2011, Mirzahosseinian and Piplani 2011, Sasikumar and Haq 2011, Iravani et al. 2012, Jin and Tian
2012, Jin and Wang 2012, Kargari and Sepehri 2012, Kuo and Wang 2012, Basten et al. 2012,
Alptekinoğlu et al. 2013, Inderfurth and Kleber 2013, Pan et al. 2013, Ülkü et al. 2013, Li et al. 2014,
2019, Thormann 2014, Tong et al. 2014, 2017, Elhafsi and Hamouda 2015, González-Prida et al. 2015,
Guo et al. 2015, Ashayeri et al. 2015, Bakshi et al. 2015, Öner et al. 2015, Pinçe et al. 2015, Knofius et
al. 2016, Rezapour et al. 2016a, 2016b, 2017, Sun et al. 2016, Zhu et al. 2016, Dan et al. 2017, Altekin
et al. 2017, Jin et al. 2017, Ko et al. 2017, Kumar et al. 2017, Lan et al. 2017, Liang et al. 2017, Onar et
al. 2017, Peng and Zhu 2017, Prak et al. 2017, Shabani et al. 2017, Steeneck and Sarin 2017, Dombi et
al. 2018, Erguido et al. 2018, Gencer and Akkucuk 2018, He et al. 2018, Kong et al. 2018, Westerweel
et al. 2018, Yazdekhasti et al. 2018)
Case interviews Applying (Lawrence 1984, Marshall 1989, Cohen and Lee 1990, Kolay 1993, Snyder 1993, Anderson and Narus
interviewing 1995, Harland 1995, Hammant et al. 1999, Wilson 1999, Wilson et al. 1999, Cohen et al. 2000, Phelan
techniques to et al. 2000, Anell and Wilson 2001, Molenaar et al. 2002, Suomala et al. 2002, 2004, Oliva and
explore management Kallenberg 2003, Fu et al. 2004, Johansson and Olhager 2004, 2006, Tibben-Lembke 2004,
imperatives and Zackariasson and Wilson 2004, Saccani et al. 2006, 2007, Gaiardelli et al. 2007, Bruce et al. 2007,
challenges Cavalieri et al. 2007, 2008, Kusumastuti et al. 2008, Wagner and Lindemann 2008, Johnstone et al.
2009, Legnani et al. 2009, Persson and Saccani 2009, Tsai 2009, Lervik et al. 2010, Löfberg et al. 2010,
Lightfoot and Gebauer 2011, Leek and Christodoulides 2012, Wagner et al. 2012, Durugbo and Riedel
2013, Erkoyuncu et al. 2013, Gebauer et al. 2013, Paiola et al. 2013, Baptista 2013, Pleşea et al. 2013,
Maull et al. 2014, Alvarez et al. 2015, Rodrigues et al. 2015, Szwejczewski et al. 2015, Murali et al.
2016a, Boone et al. 2016, Wang and Kimble 2016, Demiray et al. 2017, Kauremaa and Holmström
2017, Andersson and Jonsson 2018, Mandják et al. 2018, Borchardt et al. 2018)
Questionnaire Employing field- or (Kasper and Lemmink 1989, Lewis and Naim 1995, Asugman et al. 1997, Wetzels et al. 1999, Léo and
surveys market-based Philippe 2001, van Birgelen et al. 2002, Hart et al. 2003, Chen and Huang 2004, Craig and Roy 2004,
surveys in cross- de Toni and Tonchia 2004, Anderson and Dekker 2005, Autry 2005, Morschett 2006, Gebauer 2008,
sectional and Morschett et al. 2008, Rigopoulou et al. 2008, Choudhury and Karahanna 2008, Kim and Hyun 2011,
longitudinal Hünecke and Gunkel 2012, Prabakaran and Babu 2012, Eid and El-Gohary 2013, Belvedere et al. 2013,
examinations of Szász and Demeter 2014, Confente and Russo 2015, Gupta et al. 2016, Lorentz et al. 2016, Meinzer et
aftermarket al. 2016, Murali et al. 2016b, Sands et al. 2016, Wickramasinghe and Mathusinghe 2016, Ludwig et al.
antecedents, 2017, Moghaddam et al. 2017, Belvedere and Grando 2017, Rao and Sivakumar 2017, Syahrial et al.
behaviour and 2017, Guajardo and Cohen 2018, Madzík 2018, Omar et al. 2018, Schepers and Nijssen 2018)
consequences
Multi- Combining (Dibb and Simkin 1994, Lapierre and Hénault 1996, Ehinlanwo and Zairi 1996a, 1996b, Cohen et al.
methodologies approaches, i.e. 1997, Goffin and New 2001, Daugherty et al. 2003, 2005, Holmqvist and Pessi 2006, Lau et al. 2006,
quantitative and Corti and Mills 2007, Häkkinen and Hilmola 2008a, 2008b, Johnstone et al. 2008a, Subramoniam et al.
qualitative methods, 2010, Trappey et al. 2010, Gebauer et al. 2010, Pakdil et al. 2012, Randall et al. 2012, Taifi and
to study aftermarket Passiante 2012, González 2015, De Keyser et al. 2015, Gencer and Akkucuk 2017, Coreynen et al.
factors 2018, Wagner et al. 2018)
Other Making use of (Armistead and Clark 1991, Karni and Arciszewski 1997, LaMotte et al. 2000, Deshpande et al. 2003,
methodologies innovative Klonowski 2008, Ludwig and Goomas 2009, Priluck and Lala 2009, Trappey et al. 2011, Mwegerano et
approaches to al. 2012, Lee et al. 2012, Byrne et al. 2013, de Luca et al. 2015, Yelverton et al. 2015, Durugbo and
analyse aftermarket Erkoyuncu 2016, Owida et al. 2016, Sousa et al. 2016, Tavakoli et al. 2016, Kozlovskiy and Aydarov
practices and data 2017, Xu et al. 2017, Akturk et al. 2018, de Luca and Di Pace 2018, Lundin and Eriksson 2018, Purba
et al. 2018).

3.4 Contributions of research studies

Based on a synthesis of the literature, the review identifies four main ways in which the C 1-C3 clusters contribute to
industrial research. These research contributions are: (i.) optimal design, support and chain policies; (ii.) performance-
based contracts, measures and benchmarks; (iii.) support configuration and integration strategies; and (iv.) behavioural
determinants and consequences. These different contributions are now presented.

3.4.1 Optimal design, support and chain policies

Insights from the literature show a theorizing of aftermarket support in service–recovery chains that are fundamentally
unique and that these chains interface with production–distribution chains (Cohen et al. 2006b, Altekin et al. 2017), as
shown by Figure 5. OEMs, brokers and other vendors in these service–recovery chains use their resource capabilities and
competences to anchor their production network in manufacturing (Li et al. 2014) for durable goods or capital. In addition,
major vendors with substantial aftermarket power in complementary goods markets, use multichannel strategies designed
to lock-in global customers; contrasting with fierce competition that exists in foremarkets.

Figure 5: Close-loop interfaces and flows between service–recovery and production–distribution chains (dotted arrows are flows for aftermarket
support).

Motivated by opportunities to optimize service–recovery capabilities and chains, researchers propose optimality policies
for aftermarket support. Contributions to optimal designs for service–recovery and production–distribution interfaces,
reflect an understanding of the key role played by inventory management in the aftermarket and a multi-level value creation
logic that leverages reverse logistics to help create the emerging ‘circular economy’ (Xu et al. 2017). Improved process
competence for aftermarket support is advocated in customization (Suomala et al. 2002, 2004, Graessler 2003), conceptual
and behavioural analysis based on component design (van Fleet 1996, Karni and Arciszewski 1997, Yelverton et al. 2015,
Omar et al. 2018, Westerweel et al. 2018) and warranty service decisions, packages and period (Fisk 1970, Reyniers and
Tapiero 1995, Hollis 1999, Kim and Park 2008, Tong et al. 2014, Pinçe et al. 2015, Rezapour et al. 2016b, 2016a, 2017,
Dan et al. 2017, Yazdekhasti et al. 2018, He et al. 2018).
Motivated by close-loop and omnichannel design implications, aftermarket studies have also emphasized process support
through the use of Decision Support Systems (DSSs), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, information retrieval
systems, product-in-use data and big data applications (Fortuin 1980, Snyder 1993, Hammant et al. 1999, Holmqvist and
Pessi 2006, Häkkinen and Hilmola 2008a, 2008b, Ludwig and Goomas 2009, Trappey et al. 2011, Werrmann 2013, Boone
et al. 2016, Andersson and Jonsson 2018). Researchers have also model elements of contract completeness in relation to
contract terms on after-sales service (Anderson and Dekker 2005, González-Prida et al. 2015, Owida et al. 2016, Chen et
al. 2017, Liang et al. 2017, Erguido et al. 2018). Here the interests of researchers have varied from vendor selection and
life-cycle cost analysis to uncertainty assessments and revenue sharing schemes. Studies also suggest improvements to
selection of pricing metrics targeted at aftermarket contracts (Mantrala et al. 2006, Karakayali et al. 2007, Sun et al. 2016,
Lan et al. 2017, Kong et al. 2018).
C1 and C2 contributions to after-sales and aftermarket policies involve optimized solutions for resources and networks
decision problems at close-loop service–recovery and production–distribution chain interfaces, shown by Figure 5.
Examples of resource and network optimization problems include the implementation problem (Dibb and Simkin 1994),
communication problem (Molenaar et al. 2002), contract design problem (Lan et al. 2017), level of repair analysis problem
(Basten et al. 2012), vehicle routing problem (Tabucanon et al. 1995), capacity and location problem (Vardar et al. 2007),
all-time requirement (Fortuin 1980), repair kit problem (Bijvank et al. 2010, Prak et al. 2017) and the multiechelon
inventory problem with secondary market sales (Angelus 2011). Inventory control policies, in particular, dominate this
research contribution with interests in optimization for pooling, allocation, rationalization, replenishment, stocking,
reordering and VMI (vendor managed inventory) or consignment stock policies (Karni and Arciszewski 1997, Cohen et al.
1997, 2006a, Deshpande et al. 2003, Jahnke et al. 2005, Kim et al. 2007, Cavalieri et al. 2008, Persson and Saccani 2009,
Mirzahosseinian and Piplani 2011, Iravani et al. 2012, Jin and Tian 2012, Jin and Wang 2012, Basten et al. 2012,
Alptekinoğlu et al. 2013, Baptista 2013, Thormann 2014, Ashayeri et al. 2015, Elhafsi and Hamouda 2015, Pinçe et al.
2015, Bakshi et al. 2015, Boone et al. 2016, Westerweel et al. 2018). Significantly, literature shows a proficiency by
scholars in delivering optimally determined policies for aftermarket distribution, warranty, service, upgrades, pricing,
repair and maintenance, communication, acquisition, environmental, antitrust and protective privacy, competition,
customer satisfaction, process control, recovery and returns (Blair and Herndon 1996, Ehinlanwo and Zairi 1996a, 1996b,
Chen et al. 1998, Léo and Philippe 2001, Autry 2005, Vardar et al. 2007, Bruce et al. 2007, Kranenburg and Van Houtum
2008, Kusumastuti et al. 2008, Subramoniam et al. 2009, 2010, Trappey et al. 2010, Guajardo et al. 2012, Kargari and
Sepehri 2012, Inderfurth and Kleber 2013, Kurata and Nam 2013, Ülkü et al. 2013, Laussel and Resende 2014, Tong et al.
2014, Cabral 2014, González-Prida et al. 2015, Öner et al. 2015, Gupta et al. 2016, Murali et al. 2016b, Sun et al. 2016,
Altekin et al. 2017, Farrell 2017, Peng and Zhu 2017, Akturk et al. 2018, Guajardo and Cohen 2018, He et al. 2018, Kong
et al. 2018, Yazdekhasti et al. 2018, Erguido et al. 2018).

3.4.2 Performance-based contracts, measures and benchmarks

Measures of performance for aftermarket support, as shown in Table 6, are the next area of contribution. Literature
demonstrate this contribution in industry and market sector case studies that position vendors as market qualifiers or order
winners and can be divided into: (i) frameworks for performance management systems; and (ii) learning cycles of
benchmarking. Measures of performance stem largely from advances in the C1 and C3 clusters and detail elements of the
performance-based contractual relationships within the aftermarket of capital goods covering areas such as procuring repair
and maintenance services (Kim et al. 2007, 2010) and returns (Autry 2005). Researchers are aware of the increasing
transitions from resource-based contracting (RBC) or time and material contracting (T&MC) to performance-based
contracting (PBC) – also known as ‘performance based logistics’ (PBL) in the defence industry and as ‘power by the hour’
(PBH) in the aviation industry (Jin and Tian 2012, Jin and Wang 2012, Bakshi et al. 2015, Öner et al. 2015, Jin et al. 2017).
The premise of RBC/ T&MC is that OEMs (or vendors) are compensated as services are provided while PBC/ PBL/ PBH
compensates OEMs with respect to the availability (performance) of product systems. This insight motivates research
contributions that evaluate PBC in terms of signal reliability and inventory/stocking policies (Kim et al. 2007, 2010,
Mirzahosseinian and Piplani 2011, Guajardo et al. 2012, Jin and Tian 2012, Jin and Wang 2012, Randall et al. 2012, Bakshi
et al. 2015, Öner et al. 2015, Jin et al. 2017).

Table 6: Sources of performance measures in after-sales services and aftermarket support literature
Source Overview Approaches Key references
Performance Frameworks for continuous i. Top down categorizations (Cavalieri et al. 2007, Gaiardelli et al.
management improvement in aftermarket according to aftermarket activities 2007, Legnani et al. 2009)
systems effectiveness and efficiency ii. Bottom up elements identified as (Cohen and Lee 1990, Gebauer 2008)
priorities
Learning Procedures to improve iii. Mixed method approach to gather (Lewis and Naim 1995, Ehinlanwo and
cycles of competitiveness by learning and data from industry Zairi 1996b, 1996a, Cohen et al. 1997,
benchmarking integrating lessons from best- Wagner et al. 2012)
practices in aftermarket supply iv. Mathematical simulations that (Hollis 1999, Karakayali et al. 2007,
chains model first-best scenario Bakshi et al. 2015)

Research studies report performance management systems (PMSs) as multilevel and multidimensional frameworks that
encapsulate effectiveness and efficiency, short term and long term, tangibles and intangibles, operational and strategic
decision making factors. These PMSs define key performance indicators (KPIs) and include periodically gathered objective
and subjective evaluations that continuously monitor, track and embed KPIs (Ludwig and Goomas 2009, Onar et al. 2017,
Guajardo and Cohen 2018, Wagner et al. 2018). Top-down PMSs have been reported with regards to the business level
(financial, market and cost), process level (customer satisfaction, flexibility and productivity), activity and organizational
unit level (reliability, responsiveness, internal lead time, waste, costs, and asset utilization), and development and
innovation level (investments in innovation, intangibles and infrastructure); with outcomes from the latter levels feeding
to other levels (Gaiardelli et al. 2007). Additional levels of granularity for this PMS have been reported in terms of internal
and external processes (Cavalieri et al. 2007) and passive, collaborative and turn-key assistance processes (Legnani et al.
2009). Moghaddam et al. (2017) report a different top-down PMS that contain effectiveness indicators according to
beneficiaries (company owners, staff, customers, creditors, society, raw material suppliers and the government). The well-
established SERVQUAL dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles have also been tested
in an after-sales context (Murali et al. 2016b, Gencer and Akkucuk 2017). Alternate bottom up models of PMSs propose
performance drivers and categories such as overall profitability and cost, direct service profitability, financial success,
share of service revenue, customer relationship, customer loyalty and satisfaction, customer retention, repurchase,
recommendation, perceived service value, service quality, brand loyalty and image, order-cycle time, turn-around and
response time, service level, product uptime, availability, disruptions or failure rates, handling and delay time, order fill,
and completion rate (Cohen and Lee 1990, Hammant et al. 1999, Molenaar et al. 2002, Gebauer 2008, Tang et al. 2008,
Jin and Wang 2012, Boone et al. 2016, Onar et al. 2017, Guajardo and Cohen 2018).
Reviewed articles idealize learning cycles of benchmarking as multi-step and multi-task procedures that increase
competitiveness by identifying elements of a ‘world class’ company (Lewis and Naim 1995, Cohen et al. 1997) and
integrating best-practice solutions or re-engineering day-to-day operations (Ehinlanwo and Zairi 1996b, 1996a, Wagner et
al. 2012, Shabani et al. 2017). Benchmarks are also formulated in mathematical models as first-best scenario and optimal
solution for comparison of aftermarket scenarios (Hollis 1999, Jahnke et al. 2005, Karakayali et al. 2007, Bakshi et al.
2015, Lan et al. 2017). The premise for learning cycles of benchmarking is that data from current best practices can serve
as a stimulus for setting goals to improve underperforming companies and for future aftermarket trends. Thus, industry
learning leads to potential structural micro- and macro-level changes for an aftermarket sector. Although different outlines
for the benchmarking process are reported in the reviewed articles, the learning cycle usually involves assessments of a
‘case setting’ i.e. a company aiming to improve its performance; and a ‘benchmark setting’ i.e. the aftermarket environment
associated with the case setting. A multi-methodological approach is used to establish current aftermarket strategy and
performance in both settings. Cross-sectional surveys, field visits and interviews, internal evaluation of company records
and databases are the main methods reported in aftermarket benchmarking studies of automotive (Ehinlanwo and Zairi
1996b, 1996a, Klostermann and Günnel 2012) computer (Cohen et al. 1997) and logistics (Lewis and Naim 1995)
industries. The main output from applying these methods in the benchmarking process are measures of performance and
other reports on best performance, best practice, industry trends, policy guidelines and trade-off analysis. These outputs
and customer feedbacks are used in aftermarket support to continuously monitor and evaluate the performance of vendors
(Cohen et al. 2006b, Priluck and Lala 2009).

3.4.3 Segment configuration and integration strategies

Segment strategies, as summarized by Table 7, centre on how aftermarket support is configured and integrated.
Contributions from these strategies provide multi-year, performance-based, postproduction support (Randall et al. 2012)
that is influenced by customer-catching and competitive-status criteria (Armistead and Clark 1991). Advances in the C1-
C3 research clusters are mainly attributed to these strategies as well as strategic initiatives, processes, relationships and
formalizations that model the transition by companies towards greater involvement in the aftermarket (Hammant et al.
1999, Oliva and Kallenberg 2003, Autry 2005, Gebauer et al. 2010, Alvarez et al. 2015).

Table 7: Sources of support strategies in after-sales services and aftermarket support literature
Source Overview Approaches Key references
Segment Profiles and theories of i. Strategic profiles according to value propositions, (Armistead and Clark 1991, Lele 1997,
configuration aftermarket segments and solution-oriented roles and asset deployment options Tibben-Lembke 2004, Cohen et al.
differentiation ii. Strategic factors that influence network 2006a, Saccani et al. 2007, Gebauer
configurations 2008)
Resource Integrating material, iii. Integration of service capabilities into customer (Cohen et al. 2006a, Cavalieri et al.
integration people and infrastructure solutions 2007, Legnani et al. 2009, Lightfoot
in aftermarket strategy iv. Alignment of service strategy with corporate strategy and Gebauer 2011, Paiola et al. 2013)

Literature reports segment configurations in strategy profiles and theories that define aftermarket segments. For instance,
Lele (1997) distinguishes between basic service, product design-related, and support system-related strategies; Armistead
and Clark (1991) propose consultant, specialist, agent and trader roles; and Gebauer (2008) differentiates between support
provided by after-sales service providers, customer support providers, outsourcing partners and research partners.
Similarly, Saccani, Songini and Gaiardelli (2006) identify product-, service-, volume-oriented companies in an overall
after-sales support strategy; Cohen, Agrawal and Agrawal (2006a) offer service-asset-deployment options based on supply
chain geography (geographical hierarchy) and product design architecture (product hierarchy); and Saccani, Johansson and
Perona (2007) define vertical integration, centralization, and decoupling of activities. In addition, Tibben-Lembke (2004)
highlights secondary market brokers (jobbers /job-out liquidators, closeout liquidators, surplus dealers, barter companies,
salvage dealers, insurance claim liquidators, and diverters) that dispose of new products in secondary markets and products
that cannot be sold as new. Terms of trade in independent aftermarkets are also configured in theory-based proposals for
discounts and bonuses (Klostermann and Günnel 2012). Overall, segment configurations are influenced by: (i) after-sales
factors of customer needs and willingness to pay, available and affordable technology, equipment design, in-house control
versus volume, and the effect of product life cycle (Armistead and Clark 1991, Lele 1997); (ii) secondary market factors
of online sales options, and policies for refurbishing and testing, selling directly to consumer vs. wholesale, using auctions
or fixed-price sales and even single item vs. pallet vs. truckload bulk sales (Tibben-Lembke 2004); (iii) product recovery
factors of reduced production costs, enhanced brand image, fulfilled customer demands, protected aftermarkets, pre-empted
regulations, maintained stakeholder cooperation, established recovery structures (e.g. distribution and returns centres), and
determined recovery value (Toffel 2004, Subramoniam et al. 2009, 2010).
Expositions on factors for resource integration (or alignment) also contribute to aftermarkets support strategies. Here,
studies report on service capabilities that design, sell and deliver service and integration capabilities that incorporate
services into customer-specific solutions (Wagner et al. 2012, Paiola et al. 2013). Potential capabilities for integration that
were reported include strategic communities and rewards systems (Taifi and Passiante 2012), enterprise resource planning
(ERP) and distribution resource planning (DRP) systems (Cohen et al. 2006a), optimal pricing (Mantrala et al. 2006), e-
Procurement system (Fu et al. 2004), product-in-use data (Andersson and Jonsson 2018), new product development (Hart
et al. 2003, Bruce et al. 2007, Szwejczewski et al. 2015), intellectual property protection (Pan et al. 2013); value and
operative marketing (de Luca et al. 2015, Rao and Sivakumar 2017), and business model innovation (Wang and Kimble
2016). An awareness of the implication of these capabilities underscores integration in dual-channel supply chains (Dan et
al. 2017); alignment between support strategy and service innovation (Lightfoot and Gebauer 2011), capability
developments (Paiola et al. 2013), product features (Legnani et al. 2009); and the technical and geographical alignment
and restructuring of production processes (Marshall 1989, Cavalieri et al. 2007, Alghisi and Saccani 2015). These studies
produce pattern-matching results for selling or orchestrating solutions containing commodity, conventional, essential, and
vital products. Strategic guidelines and conceptual models (Colen and Lambrecht 2013, Moghaddam et al. 2017) enable
integration of support strategies with overall corporate strategy by identifying aftermarket conditions, anticipating future
developments, and aligning the vendor’s aftermarket segment strategy to identified conditions and anticipated future
development.

3.4.4 Behavioural determinants and consequences

Field and market surveys for a range of constructs provide insights into determinants and consequences, as shown by Figure
6, shedding light on variables linked to the behaviour of customers and vendors. Advances in POM research provide
constructs that can be used in enhancing multichannel buying processes, service contact modes and product recovery
programs (van Birgelen et al. 2002, Sands et al. 2016, Akturk et al. 2018). In the literature, a distinction is made between
traditional face-to-face and technology-based after-sales service contact modes with further recognition of multimodal
electronic channels (e-channels) for aftermarket support e.g. STS, BOPS, MTO, and MTS modes. These multi- and cross-
channel focus on omnichannel experiences is customer-oriented and is reflected in studies that theories on the link between
service quality and e-channel capabilities and adoption intentions (Daugherty et al. 2005, Choudhury and Karahanna 2008,
Häkkinen and Hilmola 2008a, 2008b, Eid and El-Gohary 2013, Belvedere and Grando 2017). Focus on recovery processes,
also enable researchers posit on omnichannels in support platforms, process formalization, policy liberalization, trust and
relationship commitment as determinants for product returns, and recovery process performance (Daugherty et al. 2003,
Autry 2005, Akturk et al. 2018).

Figure 6: Behavioural constructs of aftermarket support in reviewed article

Behavioural constructs exist at individual and organizational levels. At the organizational level, aftermarket strategies are
linked to external environmental factors in a virtuous circle where improved support stimulates external value creation. An
awareness of the complex, dynamic links of environment, support strategy and internationalization with aftermarket
services and recovery processes is a key contribution of this area for industrial research (Asugman et al. 1997, Chen and
Huang 2004, Lau et al. 2006, Morschett 2006, Gebauer 2008, Morschett et al. 2008). Internationalization according to
studies in C1 is influenced by entry mode choice, international experience and brand value. Studies in the context of
macroeconomic shocks (Lorentz et al. 2016) and the moderating role of national cultural characteristics (van Birgelen et
al. 2002) establish links between after-sales service and business performance/ stability. A study on brand management
also theorizes on how value added resellers (VAR) can impact OEM brand performance and value through OEM-VAR
relationship, brand support, and value relationship commitment (Gupta et al. 2016). Overall, the suggestion is that
diagnostic models created from knowledge on environment-strategy-brand-internationalization links can in turn inform
decisions to form strategic alliances that improve the provision of distribution, service and recovery centres.
Much of the literature that contributes to knowledge on aftermarket behavioural constructs lies at the individual level and,
more specifically, the customer or consumer level. The importance of customer satisfaction and orientation is none more
so reflected in suggestions that after-sales service department rebrand themselves as ‘customer relations’(Craig and Roy
2004). It therefore comes as no surprise that customer satisfaction, as a consequence of perceived and expected quality and
levels of after-sales, is by far the most investigated construct with further insights into second-order effects of word-of-
mouth (WOM), repurchase intention, customer retention, and customer, service, and brand loyalty (Kasper and Lemmink
1989, Lapierre and Hénault 1996, de Toni and Tonchia 2004, Rigopoulou et al. 2008, Kim and Hyun 2011, Mwegerano et
al. 2012, Prabakaran and Babu 2012, Hünecke and Gunkel 2012, Confente and Russo 2015, González 2015, Murali et al.
2016b, Meinzer et al. 2016, Rao and Sivakumar 2017, Gencer and Akkucuk 2017, Ludwig et al. 2017, Schepers and Nijssen
2018). Serviceability of products is another construct posited as a determinant of customer satisfaction (Syahrial et al.
2017) while information transfer and support capabilities are identified as determinants of after-sales servicing levels and
quality (Lapierre and Hénault 1996). Although the individual level of behavioural construct was dominated by customer-
orientation, a study of after-sales employees shows that empowerment of employees is associated with reduced role stress
and increased job satisfaction (Wetzels et al. 1999).

4. Discussion
This section aims to accomplish three objectives. The first is a discussion of the theoretical foundations and implications
due to the conducted review. The second is a discussion of the practical relevance and implications of the review findings
and the third is an analysis of potential areas for future research.

4.1 Theoretical foundations and implications

This review contributes to POM research by offering a theoretical model for aftermarket support, shown by Figure 7. The
model deepens knowledge by abridging the background and findings of the review into a holistic view of aftermarket
support factors and their dependencies. The model also captures the industrial factors that underpin research contributions
of aftermarket research i.e. segment strategies that inform optimality policies leading to aftermarket behaviour which is
accessed for improvements to aftermarket performance. Influenced by aftermarket theories that are built from key elements
of the aftermarket (Chen et al. 1998), the model proposes foundations for support capabilities, systems segmentation and
performance cycles theories.

4.1.1 Support capabilities theory

According to the resource based view (RBV) (Wernerfelt 1984) and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT) (Teece et al. 1997),
disparities in competitiveness are due to firm level capability dynamism and heterogeneity respectively. However,
evidence from the review (Theodore Farris II et al. 2005, Cohen et al. 2006b, Johnstone et al. 2008a, 2009, Durugbo and
Erkoyuncu 2016, Wagner et al. 2018) asserts competitive orientations of production capabilities towards support in the
aftermarket. Further evidence for a support-oriented focus is provided in expositions on movements towards the
involvement of VAR and brokers in value relationship commitments for supporting the EOL and the recovery stage of
product systems (e.g. Toffel (2004), Tibben-Lembke (2004) and Gupta, Väätänen and Khaneja (2016)).
 Figure 7: A multi-level model of aftermarket support.

Therefore, the industrial imperatives of aftermarkets motivate a ‘support capabilities’ theory (SCT) – that is informed by
RBV and DCT. Like RBV and DCT, SCT posits on capabilities as inducing disparities in organizational competitiveness.
But unlike RBV and DCT, SCT is premised on supportability of firm level capabilities. Thus, SCT theorizes that
supportability of firm level capabilities in the aftermarket induces disparities in competitiveness. Supportability in this
context means the extent to which acquired (or developed) disparate operational and corporate capabilities are relevant for
meeting product system requirements and for enabling value creation and value chains. SCT reflects variability in practices
and competences needed to effectively identify customer expectations and to accrue knowledge from delivering aftermarket
for formulating ‘order winning’ strategies (Lewis and Naim 1995). SCT also offers a lens to discern aftermarket support
opportunities. This is particularly important since some industries such as the clothing and agricultural sectors may typically
require some level of after-sale support, while other industries such as the automobile, aerospace and defence sectors,
demand a high level of aftermarket support (Theodore Farris II et al. 2005). The variability in supportability accounts for
why scholars have argued that “being on par with your rivals in performance, price, and quality gets you into the game;
after-sales services can win you the game” (Cohen et al. 2006b, 103).

4.1.2 Systems segmentation theory

Segmentation is a construct with a long history in industrial research. It is the theorization (Smith 1956) of how a
heterogeneous domain can be decomposed into a set of homogenous subdomains. With insights from C1, the review
proposes a systems segmentation theory that augments conventional segmentation theory with a binary interpretation of
systems thinking. The first interpretation positions system thinking as ‘process thinking’ (Capra 1985). In other words,
thinking in systems shifts the focus from traditional scientific thinking in terms of structures to new paradigms where
processes are emphasized. While the after-sales concept concerns externalities and niceties after an initial sale by a supplier
(or vendor), the concept of an aftermarket has wider support and systems connotations with added stakeholder and life
cycle (or through life) implications. Thus, SST supports the initial definition put forward by the review for aftermarket
support that is segmented according to processes for after-sales services, secondary market transactions and product
recovery. It is also reflected in the segments of top-down PMSs proposed in the literature (e.g. Gaiardelli, Saccani and
Songini (2007) and Cavalieri, Gaiardelli and Ierace (2007)). The second interpretation of systems thinking elaborates on
complex socio-technical systems that exist to achieve a function within their environments (Vicente 1999). These systems
operate in teams, groups, organizations, societies, and cultures, and are influenced by social factors that casually relate to
the aims, knowledge, and activities of individuals and groups. Examples of segmentation for socio-technical systems in
the aftermarket literature include perspectives on industrial market segmentation, multichannel channel segmentation, and
services segmentation (Dibb and Simkin 1994, Pakdil et al. 2012, De Keyser et al. 2015, Sands et al. 2016, Guajardo and
Cohen 2018). These perspectives apply socio-economic and technical constructs on aftermarket capabilities, channels,
strategies and performances to create segments for industry practice, service product portfolio, channel usage for
information search and purchase, product value, and customer characteristics.
4.1.3 Performance cycle theory
Performance cycle theory (PCT) posits improvements to aftermarket support as constitute of ‘learning cycles’ of
benchmarking (Cohen et al. 1997) and ‘marketing loops’ of support delivery (Johnstone et al. 2008a). As earlier identified,
improvements due to periodic learning cycles of benchmarking by vendors (A-B-D-A in Figure 7) originate from best
practice modelling and integration. By contrast, continuous marketing loops between vendors and clients (A-B-D-C-A in
Figure 7) establish long and profitable B2B and B2C relationships to encourage new product sales to customers in the
future, and to demonstrate product performance (Theodore Farris II et al. 2005, Johnstone et al. 2008a, Donavan et al.
2015). This line of reasoning argues that relationship marketing during the provision of support can be instrumental in
generating significant ongoing revenue especially for durable and capital goods. Online and offline B2C engagement in
such marketing loops, in particular, fuel personalization and customization trends with continued accessory sales by
vendors. Popular television series such as Pimp My Ride and Grand Designs, for automotive and construction
customization enthusiasts respectively, are just some examples of growing personalization trends underpinned by
ecosystems of aftermarket customization.
Related theories on reliability (Rausand and Høyland 1994) and situated learning (Lave and Wenger 1991) posit system
failure and practical engagement in the context environmental and operational conditions. However, PCT is unique in its
proposal of virtuous or vicious cycles, shown by Figure 6, where improved or deteriorated performance impacts value
creation. For instance, PCT offer insights and explains how optimally determined return policies from ‘learning cycles’
continues to improve aftermarket profits in spite of fraudulent consumers’ negative effect on sales that may be concealed
from ‘marketing loops’ (Ülkü et al. 2013).

4.2 Practical relevance and implications

The review has some relevance for practice. For a start, the review puts forward a broad perspective of aftermarket support
that includes after-sales services, secondary market transactions and product recovery processes. The intertwined nature of
these processes, as illustrated by Figure 5, is such that POM practitioners (e.g. managers, strategist and policy makers)
need to be aware of opportunities for business ecosystems that address product quality and logistics issues, open new
channels to entice customers, leverage new technology, and develop new support approaches (Brock 2009, Pearson 2015).
Here. The focus may be on how supply chain partners and entities in the ecosystem can best work to provide services. Such
ecosystems also have macro level implications (e.g. for policy making of geographical regions) due to potential impacts
on value creation for stakeholders and close-loop for emerging circular economies. POM practitioner could therefore use
insights from the review to aid in communicating and planning fundamental aspects of aftermarket policies, contracts,
configurations and behavioural constructs.
The review also has specific implications for aftermarket philosophies and principles in terms of POM strategy to enhance
a focal firm’s aftermarket offering and platform, optimally and critically. In this context, the multi-level model of
aftermarket support shown by Figure 7 can serve as a reference point of high-level options for reengineering and improving
the aftermarket. For instance, aftermarket strategists may consider and contextualise variants of a performance cycle for
use in industrial cases and consultancies. With each strategy implementation, the aftermarket platform benefits from foci
on optimal design, on links associated with performance, and on opportunities for enhanced segment configuration and
integration.

4.3 Research directions and opportunities

Due to the scope of the review, there is a skew towards after-sales articles with 209 out of 249 (83%) of the reviewed
articles. Nonetheless, the literature used in the review offers an exposition to build theories with generalization potentials
across aftermarket support segments, as shown by the previous section. Table 8 provides a matrix showing extent of
research coverage and highlighting potential areas for future research to strengthen the aftermarket support discourse. The
matrix contrasts the rows that detail research contributions with the columns for research clusters. But more broadly, there
is a need for researchers to respond to the call for longitudinal techniques (Autry 2005) that thoroughly examine how
aftermarket strategies and policies are ingrained in daily routines over time. The challenge for increased studies of small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Eid and El-Gohary 2013) is also posed for further insights into the workings of SMEs
and their role in aftermarkets. Such insights are vital for global supply chains due to the significance of SMEs as economic
engines leading to worldwide economic development. Also, independently but equivalently, researchers have
recommended further investigatory studies into support mechanisms and platforms for secondary market transactions
(Tibben-Lembke 2004, Schulze et al. 2012, Donavan et al. 2015) and product recovery processes (Toffel 2004). The
suggestion here is for further insights into industrial research challenges for accessories, paraphernalia items, retail
markdowns, recovery technologies and so on.
In an attempt to strategically advance aftermarket support and set a research agenda for future investigations, other potential
areas for studies are now elaborated.

Table 8: Research coverage according to research clusters and research contribution

Research clusters*
C1 C2 C3
Operational Corporate Distribution Multichannel Practices Segment
competence competence networks processes and concepts
trends
Research Optimal Decision problems ● ○ ● ○ ○
contributions design and Optimality policies ● ○ ● ○
chain Value creation logic ● ● ● ● ○
policies Process support ● ● ● ● ● ●
Contract completeness ● ○ ○ ○ ○
Performance PMSs ● ○ ○ ○ ●
measures and Performance indicators ● ○ ○ ○ ●
benchmarks Benchmarks ● ○ ●
Best-practice solutions ● ○ ○
Support Network configuration ● ● ● ● ● ●
configuration factors
and Strategic profiles ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
integration Theories of strategies ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
strategies Resource integration ● ● ○ ○ ○ ○
factors
Strategic guidelines ● ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Behavioural Customer behaviour ● ● ● ● ●
determinants constructs
and Staff behaviour constructs ○ ○ ● ○ ○
consequences User behaviour constructs ○ ○ ○ ○
Vendor behaviour ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
constructs
*C1 capabilities, C2 channels, and C3 conceptualizations (● shows ample coverage by the research cluster; ○ shows limited coverage and an empty cell
shows little or no coverage)

4.3.1 From optimality to criticality segment policies

Current after-sales and aftermarket studies provide a range of solutions to industrial problems at close-loop service–
recovery and production–distribution chain interfaces. In line with SST and SCT, researchers have used insights from these
solutions to put forward optimality policies for a multi-level value creation logic that matches the supply of resources with
demand (Cohen et al. 2006b). Yet, delivering aftermarket support is often constrained by certain policies bound by
criticality – as opposed to optimality. For instance, in the military and defence sector, critical parts usually demand higher
service and underpin inventory investment allocation (Deshpande et al. 2003).
Criticality polices are also entrenched in the pragmatic responses of firms to government legislations that protect consumers
and curb abuse of dominance (Gundlach and Foer 2007, Hawker 2011, OECD 2017). Examples of such legislations include
the Article 102 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union on market power and dominance, The 1975
Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act (P.L. 93-637) in the United States which governs warranties on consumer products, 30 day
return period within the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in the UK, the Conditions and Warranties in Competition and Consumer
Act 2010 in Australia, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests 1993
which gives consumers the right to demand aftermarket support and information.
Thus, aftermarket segments policies can be refined as multi-objective functions for optimality and critical policies
constrained by government (de)regulation and other supportability constraints. Studies of criticality policies are therefore
needed to model critical capabilities and channels of aftermarket segments and to improve the applicability of optimality
policies. Possible areas for studies could concentrate on examining unique industrial problems of criticality; optimal design
with critical aftermarket constraints; and process support for critical aftermarket resources. Other areas could critique and
propose conceptualizations on how manufacturing and service firms pragmatically respond (internally and externally) to
government legislation and regulations such as embargos, subsidies, tariffs, and protectionist policies.

4.3.2 Performance embeddedness in the aftermarket

Existing research emphasizes measures of performance (Kim et al. 2007) as significant talking points for after-sales
services. These measures underscore increasing transitions from RBC and T&MC to PBC using signal reliability and
inventory/stocking policies. Using PCT, current research can be critiqued for its shortcomings in elaborating on how
performance is embedded in aftermarket support and the maturity levels of performance cycles in production.
Embeddedness is a concept with roots in social network theory that links economic behaviour to social relations
(Granovetter 1985). Even though embedding capabilities and channels in aftermarkets is essentially an acquisition and
adoption challenge (e.g. ICT in after-sales (Belvedere and Grando 2017) and intelligence in product bases (Weber 2017)),
embedding performance in aftermarket support poses a unique challenge. To begin with, different aftermarket segments
require different PMSs, PBC and KPIs. For instance, in the spare parts distribution sub-segment of after-sales services,
“experience teaches that the best way to design a replacement part is to treat it as a first-time design” (van Fleet 1996, 74).
By contrast, returns during the recovery process requires standardization as suggested by studies of formalization processes
for reverse logistics (Autry 2005).
Thus, the embeddedness of performance in aftermarkets can be viewed as network optimization functions for optimal
performance levels with lowest cost to embedded social structures. Accordingly, future research is recommended for
formalizations, ontologies and support systems to model performance embeddedness in aftermarkets, particularly for
product recovery and secondary markets. Additional areas for research could involve investigating wider social network
concepts in the context of economic behaviour in aftermarkets. Examples of these concepts include: propinquity;
homophily; polarity; centrality; dyadic and triadic relations; and social capital, inertia and contagion.

4.3.3 Towards smart support screening and visibility

A topic that could offer new directions for aftermarket research involves advancing ‘smart support’ in the aftermarket
through investigating channels and capabilities for screening and visibilities. Aftermarket segments are viewed as
innovation ‘screening tools’ not only for fast tracking probes for new features but also as effective distribution channels
for innovation diffusion (Mahmoud-Jouini et al. 2007). Here, exchanges during and after the purchase of primary products
spark the beginning of innovation leading to novel product options or features for use in existing products or development
of new products.
Also of significance is real-time visibility that is needed for transparency and traceability in production (as stressed in
relation to inventory systems (Kauremaa and Holmström 2017) and equipment parts or components (Theodore Farris II et
al. 2005)) and other distribution and consumption processes. With technology continuously interposed to both positive and
negative after-effects, there is a need to review the pre-existing platforms and mechanisms for screening and visibility in
the aftermarket.
Thus, strategies to infuse technologies for smart support in the aftermarket can be viewed as global optimization functions
for simulations to demonstrate economic performance under an array of technological considerations e.g. security,
reliability, affordability, design issues, and security. This challenges C 1 to C3 researchers to investigate, model, test and
recommend smart support strategies for exploiting available analytics capabilities; and to forecast screening needs for the
future. Candidate analytics capabilities for these investigation include virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality,
artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things, radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, sensors, barcodes, Global Positioning
System (GPS) tags and chips, and Block chain technology.

4.3.4 Aftermarket legacy, withdrawal and disruptions

Current after-sales and aftermarket research mainly in the C1 cluster has offered insights into how capabilities can be
optimized for continued aftermarket support, in accordance with SCT. Yet, there are occasions when aftermarket support
is discontinued due to legacy concerns, disruptions or withdrawal of support.
Legacy in the aftermarket is a challenge has been noted in relation to past decisions (Cohen et al. 1997) and obsolete and
difficult-to-find parts (Theodore Farris II et al. 2005). Disruption are unanticipated occurrences due to internal or external
sources that inhibit or hinder support. For instance, the extant literature has observed potentially serious platform
disruptions due to volatility in currency value and cyber threats (Chen et al. 1998, Durugbo and Erkoyuncu 2016).
Aftermarket withdrawal may occur for economical or technological reasons such as underperforming aftersales or
discontinuing support for legacy systems. In both cases, resources are subsequently freed up for use in functional service
and recovery networks.
Thus, discontinuous is an aftermarket risk that can be scrutinized using stochastic programs that characterize uncertainty
and volatility due to discontinued support. In view of these different concerns, this review proposes further research to
examine contingency perspectives that evaluate and mitigate deviant, disruptive and disastrous aftermarket support events.
Here, research studies may characterize the forms, magnitude and propagation of disruption and detail the economic
consequences of disruptions. The review also recommends future research on the nature decisions to withdraw aftermarket
support, particularly due to legacy concerns. Sample questions include but are not limited to: “what are the thresholds that
bound withdrawal decisions?”; “what are the typical grace periods for withdrawing support and how is this managed?” and
“what are the factors that cause firms to relent in withdrawing support?” (E.g. the decision by Microsoft to relent and offer
continued support for Windows 7 through January 2023).
4.3.5 Aftermarket escalation and service professionalism
An analysis of the literature mainly in the C2 cluster shows advances in knowledge on multi- and cross-channel use by
service–recovery chains. In practice, issue escalation is a major challenge for after-sales process modelling as evident in
case studies of major technology brands (e.g. Dell (Byrne et al. 2013) and Nokia (Mwegerano et al. 2012)). However,
escalation effects are not limited to issues associated with customers; they extend to issues of pricing, cost, production, etc.
This makes it imperative that professional capabilities are built up through cost-effective OEM-VAR relationships and
rigorous procedures for recruitment/ induction and familiarization of competent service escalation managers. Though
limited consideration is given to service professionalism in the aftermarket literature, it represents a panacea for unravelling
de-escalation tactics and improved performance cycles proposed by PCT. It for this reason that further research is
recommended to shed further light on the nature of service professionalism particularly in the context of de-escalation
strategies. Thus, the state-of the-art can be improved by models of escalation problems for use in service professionalism
profiles. In this context, studies concerning the internationalization of competence (Rodrigues et al. 2015), information
seeking behaviour (Lundin and Eriksson 2018), situated learning (Lave and Wenger 1991) and distressing of roles (Wetzels
et al. 1999) are insightful and need to be consolidated with insights on other behavioural constructs that are vendor- and
market-oriented. These constructs include knowledge-based capabilities and skilling (e.g. reskilling and deskilling) in a
POM context. Others studies may concentrate on investigating and modelling escalation challenges for refunds, claim
backs, and cost recovery.

4.3.6 Duality of satisfaction and experience

Expanding on the focus of omnichannel experiences, this review proposes further research on customer experience in
aftermarket settings. Again, the extant literature has involved customer-oriented studies of service quality in the context of
e-channel capabilities and adoption intentions. This sheds light on how seamless experiences can be created for customer
satisfaction during after-sales (Akturk et al. 2018). However, customer satisfaction is limited in its customer orientation
because it considers expectations and performance in purely functional, product-driven terms; and this contrasts with the
experiential dimensions of consumption that matter to customers (Schmitt 2003). Thus, current research can be enhanced
by models of customer experience problems for improved network design. Here, aftermarket researchers may concentrate
on managing customer experiences by expanding on the experiential world of aftermarket customers and orchestrating
service–recovery chains for building experiential platforms, designing brand experiences, structuring customer interfaces,
and engaging in continuous innovation.

5. Conclusions
After-sales services and aftermarket support are production and operations management (POM) trends premised on a value
creation logic for improved customer satisfaction and optimized support processes. The after-sales concept concerns
customer-supplier transaction and relationships after an initial sale while the aftermarket concept expands on after-sales by
integrating secondary market transactions and product recovery. However, aftermarket support may not always be
profitable, if capabilities are stretched and diverted from core competencies or advances that could have been made for
innovation. This poses a quandary for practitioners and motivates POM-based studies to deliver the justification for
aftermarket platforms. Accordingly, industry uniquely highlights support in the aftermarket as being significant for
outsourced operational and systems integration processes by large private sector organizations and governments. Industrial
insights also demonstrates how aftermarkets are typically lucrative for vendors in providing outlets not only for the sale of
parts associated with after-sales but also for accessories and branded paraphernalia in secondary markets. With this in mind,
this review has been motivated by the question of: What are the research clusters, data, methodologies, theories and
contributions of after-sales and aftermarket literature in a POM context?
This article systematically reviews the after-sales services and aftermarket support literature for use in providing possible
directions for future industrial research. The review clusters studies according to investigations of core and corporate
capabilities, multichannel preferences and antecedents, and segment conceptualization of aftermarket support. It highlights
research contributions of studies according to: optimal design, support and chain policies; performance-based contracts,
measures and benchmarks; support configuration and integration strategies; and behavioural determinants and
consequences. Underpinning these contributions is a closed-loop design for service–recovery chains leading to proposals
for optimized solutions to decision problems and pattern-matching results to sell or orchestrate these solutions. The review
also underscores contract completeness, integrating best practices, and diagnostic models created from environment-
strategy-brand-internationalization links for improved provision of distribution, service and recovery centres.
The article summarizes the findings from the review in a multi-level theoretical model aftermarket support factors and their
dependencies. The article also uses insights from the review to propose three aftermarket support theories. First, the review
proposes a theory on support capabilities arguing that supportability of firm level capabilities in the aftermarket induces
disparities in competitiveness. The theory is based on the supportability offered by disparate capabilities and is informed
by resource based view and dynamic capabilities theory. Second, the review offers a theory of systems segmentation that
interprets aftermarket segments using system thing in two modes: aftermarket as a series of segmented processes and
aftermarket as a set segmented socio-technical systems. This article proposes a definition for aftermarket support according
to process segments for after-sales services, secondary market transactions and product recovery processes. The review
also identifies socio-technical systems for a variety of performance, market and customer segmentation strategies in the
extant literature. Third, the review uses insights for the literature to postulate on a performance cycle theory that is
consonant with reliability and situated learning theories. This theory emphasizes vendor-environment learning cycles that
creates benchmarks and vendor-customer marketing loops that promotes customization of solutions.
Given that after-sales services and aftermarket support offer important ongoing revenue streams for manufacturers, it is
worthwhile for further studies to longitudinally study the assimilation of aftermarket strategies and policies across industry
sectors. Along these lines, the review proposes six strategic areas for future research and identifies their corresponding
optimization problems. The first area concerns studies of criticality policies and the multi-objective problem for optimality
and critical policies constrained by government (de)regulation and other supportability constraints. The second area
involves investigations on how performance is embedded in aftermarkets in a network optimization problem for optimal
performance levels with lowest cost to embedded social structures. The third area entails exploring intelligence screening
and visibility for smart support as a global optimization problem. The fourth area urges scrutiny for stochastic programs to
address discontinuance problems especially in relation to legacy, withdrawal and disruptions. The fifth area relates to
escalation problems and the role of service professionalism profiles in de-escalation. The sixth area concerns modelling
customer experience problems for improved network design. In summary, the review expects that the necessities and
niceties of these areas will aid in formulating new or strengthening existing theories to integrate aftermarket segments and
in uncovering new and exciting industrial phenomena, opportunities and potentials.

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