Proposing a Four-dimensional Portfolio Model for Service Supply Management in the Mobile Operation Industry Using a Hybrid Approach: Fuzzy Delphi Technique, Factor Analysis and Qualitative Cluster Analysis of Services

The majority of supply management models are limited to physical products and few are designed for service items. Therefore, this paper is aimed to propose dimensions, components and indicators of a multidimensional portfolio model for service supply management in the mobile operator industry.

Combining the three high-cited models in the literature background, and adding a new dimension through in-depth interviews with the experts, a four-dimensional multilevel relational reflective model has been proposed for service supply management in the mobile operator industry. This model has been built up using the Fuzzy Delphi method and its goodness of fit has been confirmed through factor analysis.

The final model has been applied in MCCI company and 50 services procured by the company has been classified into 16 groups. Then, for each group, based on the the literature background, along with using the focused group technique, the pertinent supply strategic actions have been proposed.

The model extracted from this study consists of four dimensions: the strategic importance of service, the risk of supply market, the extent of buyer captivity and the pace of innovation in technology, which totally contains 11 components and 33 indicators. All the services provided by the mobile operators can be classified in 16 clusters related to four main dimensions.