Collaborative Supply Chain

Muckstadt, J.A., Murray, D.H., Rappold, J.A., Collins, D.E. (2001). Guidelines for collaborative supply chain system design and operation. Information Systems Frontiers, 5(4), 427-453. 

The core tenet in developing flexible supply chains is the practice of collaboration. Supply chain collaboration is the confluence of all parties in the supply chain acting in unison towards common objectives. Collaborative partners share information, knowledge, risk, and profits (Men-tzer et al., 2000) based on a foundation of trust and commitment to one another. Ultimately, as organizations move beyond mere operational-level exchanges toward collaboration, supply chains become more competitive (McLaren, Head, Yuan, 2002). Supply chain collaboration does not happen on its own, Mentzer et al. (2000) found that certain conditions or enablers must be in place for partners to forge a collaborative union and share in the benefits ofthe effort. Specifically, the authors found that collaborative relationship required partners in supply chains to ... 

The results of this research introduced supply-chain-wide views on collaboration. Supply chains are trying to come to terms with the threats and opportunities posed by these new collaborative intermediaries. The preferences for collaborative tools expressed in this study are applied at three... 

Thompson proposes a practical taxonomy of collaborative endeavours [17]. For him, Virtual Business Networks (or VBN) are companies coming together to cooperate to achieve some shared business goal by forming networks enabled by various forms of web-based technology. VBNs appear in many guises and names such as Collaborative Networks, Virtual Clusters, Virtual Enterprise Networks, Collaborative Supply Chains, Networked Enterprises and Star Alliances. 

Thompson s classification yet suggests eight different kinds of VBN Collaborative Supply Chain (CSC), Collaborative Supplier Network (CSN), Collaborative Product Development Network (CPDN), Enhanced Trade Association (ETA), Incubation and Acceleration Network (IAN), Subcontracting and Partnership Exchange (SPX), Technology-Led Ecosystem (TLE), and Virtual Enterprise Network (VEN). 

Ireland R., Bmce R., 2000, CPFR Only the Beginning of Collaboration, Supply Chain Management Review, 4(4), pp. 80-88. 

Simatupang, T. M., Sridharan, R. (2002). The collaborative supply chain. International Journal Logistics Management, The, 75(1), 15-30. 

The second initiative to satisfy the consumer is based on what is known as efficient consumer response (ECR). This aims to provide the retail consumer with the best quality service through collaborative supply chain operations. It relies on both the retailer s (viz. Sainsbury s) and the supplier s (e.g. Unilever) supply chain. Thus, the sharing of information between the systems of different partners within that chain is essential. ECR has been a philosophy put into practice within the retail market in Europe since the mid-1990s and Sainsbury s has embraced it. ECR... 

Electronic global network Internet enabling technology has made it possible to link up with both suppliers and customers who did not already share ERP and SCM systems. The e-supply chain will become an acceptable process in both manufacturing and service industries, and ICT managers will be able to take advantage of the collaborative supply chain. 

With web-based technologies now accelerating it is becoming imperative to rethink the selection and implementation of the external metrics. This shift is not only in the measurement criteria but also in the mind-set of business practices. Collaboration requires a capacity to work in association, sometimes, with an enemy and does not achieve its business success at the competitor s expense. Table 18.3, adapted from Basu (2001), summarizes some specific areas where performance criteria have shifted along with changes from the enterprise-centric business to a collaborative supply chain. 

The impact of new measures on the collaborative supply chain is contributed less by the new metrics and significantly more by the way they are managed. For example, one new metric is the direct feedback from customers via automatic reply cards in the Internet or CRM systems. However, this new data does not add any value unless appropriate actions are taken with a significant paradigm shift from measurement to management . A six-step cycle is recommended in order to implement and sustain the benefits of a performance management system with new measures. 

When the actual performance value is on or above target then the value is shown as green. If the actual is below the target but within a given tolerance then the colour becomes amber. It is depicted in red when the value is below the tolerance limit of the target. Another area of application is to assess the performance at the tactical operation level. Usually the top level indicators (also known as vital flow ) are designed in such a way that they can be cascaded to component measures and the root causes can be analysed. Basu (2002) emphasized the impact of new measures on the collaborative supply chain. The Internet-enabled supply chain or e-supply chain has extended the linear flow of... 

Forger, G, The Problem with Collaboration, Supply Chain Management Review, November/December 2001, pp. 90-91. 

Ireland, R. and Bmce, R. 2000. CPFR only the beginning of collaboration. Supply Chain Management Review (Online). Available http //www.surgency. com/news/news/publications.htm (Accessed 23 June 2010). 

Such common governance is more in keeping with the obligational view. The implications for competitive strategy of this growth of collaborative supply chains are considerable - in particular the need to develop those skills that enable a company to re-engineer established buyer-supplier relationships and to manage them successfully on a day-to-day basis. 

Cao, M., Zhang, Q. (2011). Supply chain collaboration supply chain collaboration Impact on collaborative advantage and firm performance. Journal of Operations Management, 29(3), 163-180. 

In spite of TCE s usefulness, many scholars notice its limitation. TCE is restricted to the efficiency rationale for supply chain collaboration. Supply chain collaboration may form for other reasons such as knowledge creation. In addition, organizational contexts (e.g. culture, power, dependence, and trust) that may affect collaborative efforts are assumed away (Barringer and Harrison 2000 Duffy and Fearne 2004). In reality, few supply chain collaborations are purely based on the consideration of transaction costs (Faulkner 1995). 

Sabath, R. E., Fontanella, J. (2002). The unfulfilled promise of supply chain collaboration. Supply Chain Management Review, 6(4), 24—29. 

Bowersox, D. J., Gloss, D. J., Stank, T. P. (2003). How to master cross-enterprise collaboration. Supply Chain Management Review, 7(4), 18-27. 

Soylu, A., Oru9, C., Tiirkay, M., Fujita, K., Asakura, T. (2006). Synergy analysis of collaborative supply chain management in energy systems using multi-period MILP. European Journal of Operational Research, 174, 387 03. 

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