Scholars' Mine Scholars' Mine Bridging the gap between supply chain and consumer experience Bridging the gap between supply chain and consumer experience

Many researchers agree that supply chain management is at the root of addressing customer values and increasing customer satisfaction. However, in reality the route to accomplishing these goals is not so clearly defined. The studies herein attempt to shed some insight on a special perspective to bridge the gap between supply chain and customer experience. The ideas behind these studies explore the notion that customer experience can be impacted by a vast spectrum of factors from suppliers to even the specific mobile commerce (m-commerce) tools they use. To gain insight into the supplier dimension of the supply chain, a survey was conducted to examine quality professionals’ familiarity with quality management tools, their organizations’ quality assurance programs, as well as training for their suppliers. For the m-commerce aspect, a between-subject experiment was delivered to explore the relationship between physical mobility and consumer behaviour and experiences. The results of these studies show that quality training offered to suppliers enable significant quality increase, significant time saving benefits, and significant financial benefits in the organizations that use these suppliers. Also, the quality increase and time saving in supply chain are usually positively correlated to better customer experience. They also show that walking, or mobility, while shopping increases the time spent on a specific shopping task, which in turn, influences the customer experience. ABSTRACT An integral part of supply chain management is the area of quality management. Quality management ultimately impacts the supply chain from several angles. Quality management impacts the overall function of the supply chain through reducing costs, as well as by improving the product or service being produced so that marketing efforts can more successful. This study explored the understanding and insights of quality management topics in industrial professionals who are working within the supply chain in industrial organizations. Questions regarding familiarity with quality management tools, their organizations’ quality assurance programs, as well as suppliers’ quality measures were explored. Overall, it is seen that the quality management tools and assurance programs are progressing; however, quality management professionals who participated in this study are unaware of suppliers’ quality procedures and the implementation of many useful quality tools that may improve the overall supply chain. ABSTRACT Given the growth in use and capabilities of mobile devices, the mobile commerce (m-commerce) market is also continuing to grow and become more sophisticated. The majority of consumers in the United States (US), more than 90%, between the ages of 18 and 34 own a smartphone. These numbers are even higher in the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada. Studies have been conducted exploring the results of m-commerce and the use of mobile devices, however, most past studies on the topic are done in a stationary setting. This is an exploratory study seeking to examine how m-commerce is impacted by the use of mobile devices in a stationary, or walking, setting. Treadmill desks were used to replicate mobile shopping while using mobile devices and then compared the results with the same task completed on mobile devices in a stationary manner. Results indicate that shopping while walking increases the time it takes to compete the shopping task but not the price spent for the product in question.