Overview and classification of coordination contracts within forward and reverse supply chains

Among coordination mechanisms, contracts are valuable tools used in both theory and practice to coordinate various supply chains. The focus of this paper is to present an overview of contracts and a classification of coordination contracts and contracting literature in the form of classification schemes. The two criteria used for contract classification, as resulted from contracting literature, are transfer payment contractual incentives and inventory risk sharing. The overview classification of the existing literature has as criteria the level of detail used in designing the coordination models with applicability on the forward and reverse supply chains.Coordination contracts; forward supply chain; reverse supply chain

Reducing the impact of demand fluctuations through supply chain collaboration in the Finnish retail grocery sector

Paper delivered at the 21st Logistics Research Network annual conference 2016, 7th-9th September 2016, Hull. Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to explore how a collaborative approach to supply chain management can be used to enhance supply chain performance when demand is fluctuating and uncertain. Enablers and barriers of collaboration will be assessed to provide insights into optimal methods of collaborating between supply chain partners. Research Approach: The study is a qualitative two-echelon case study of a grocery retail supply chain, focussing on a retail grocery wholesaler in Finland and its tier 1 small retail customers. An a priori conceptual framework for collaboration implementation that also details its impact on supply chain performance during periods of fluctuating and uncertain demand is developed through insights from the literature. The validity of the framework is explored through interviews conducted with key respondents at both echelon levels, which were analysed to evaluate and refine this framework. Findings and Originality: The paper demonstrates that collaboration can be a useful and successful technique to reduce costs and improve performance across the supply chain, particularly when demand is volatile and uncertain. This paper also provides insight into one alternative for implementing supply chain integration across several echelons and improving performance in the whole supply chain as a result. Research Impact: The paper provides a list of enablers and barriers for supply chain collaboration, discusses the importance of several key factors, and offers suggestions and guidelines for further research to generalise the findings. Practical Impact: The paper provides insight into the challenges and benefits of increased collaboration for grocery retail supply chain actors. It will be especially useful for those firms in the retail sector and other industries where demand is characterized by demand uncertainty and volatility

OVAP: A strategy to implement partial information sharing among supply chain retailers

This paper analyses the impact on supply chain performance of adopting different strategies to implement partial information sharing among heterogeneous retailers. Supply chains are modelled using a multi-agent systems approach. We find that the strategy adopted to construct the partial information sharing structure (i.e., the retailers who share information) has a significant impact on supply chain performance. We propose a practical strategy, named Order VAriance Prioritization (OVAP), which gives priority to the retailers with higher order variance. OVAP outperforms the worst (i.e. naive) implementation method by 27.2% and 7.8% with respect to the levels of bullwhip and average inventory.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI201680750P

Editorial - Evolving Trends in Supply Chain Management: Complexity, New Technologies, and Innovative Methodological Approaches

Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI201680750

Information Sharing for improved Supply Chain Collaboration – Simulation Analysis

Collaboration among consumer good’s manufacturer and retailers is vital in order to elevate their performance. Such mutual cooperation’s, focusing beyond day to day business and transforming from a contract-based relationship to a value-based relationship is well received in the industries. Further coupling of information sharing with the collaboration is valued as an effective forward step. The advent of technologies naturally supports information sharing across the supply chain. Satisfying consumers demand is the main goal of any supply chain, so studying supply chain behaviour with demand as a shared information, makes it more beneficial. This thesis analyses demand information sharing in a two-stage supply chain. Three different collaboration scenarios (None, Partial and Full) are simulated using Discrete Event Simulation and their impact on supply chain costs analyzed. Arena software is used to simulate the inventory control scenarios. The test simulation results show that the total system costs decrease with the increase in the level of information sharing. There is 7% cost improvement when the information is partially shared and 43% improvement when the information is fully shared in comparison with the no information sharing scenario. The proposed work can assist decision makers in design and planning of information sharing scenarios between various supply chain partners to gain competitive advantage

Modeling Overstock

Two main problems have been emerging in supply chain management: the increasing pressure to reduce working capital and the growing variety of products. Most of the popular indicators have been developed based on a controlled environment. A new indicator is now proposed, based on the uncertainty of the demand, the flexibility of the supply chains, the evolution of the products lifecycle and the fulfillment of a required service level. The model to support the indicator will be developed within the real options approach.overstock, stock management, real options

Investigating the impact of networking capability on firm innovation performance:using the resource-action-performance framework

The author's final peer reviewed version can be found by following the URI link. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose The experience of successful firms has proven that one of the most important ways to promote co-learning and create successful networked innovations is the proper application of inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms. This study aims to use a resource-action-performance framework to open the black box on the relationship between networking capability and innovation performance. The research population embraces companies in the Iranian automotive industry. Design/methodology/approach Due to the latent nature of the variables studied, the required data are collected through a web-based cross-sectional survey. First, the content validity of the measurement tool is evaluated by experts. Then, a pre-test is conducted to assess the reliability of the measurement tool. All data are gathered by the Iranian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (IVMA) and Iranian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (IAPMA) samples. The power analysis method and G*Power software are used to determine the sample size. Moreover, SmartPLS 3 and IBM SPSS 25 software are used for data analysis of the conceptual model and relating hypotheses. Findings The results of this study indicated that the relationships between networking capability, inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms and inter-organizational learning result in a self-reinforcing loop, with a marked impact on firm innovation performance. Originality/value Since there is little understanding of the interdependencies of networking capability, inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms, co-learning and their effect on firm innovation performance, most previous research studies have focused on only one or two of the above-mentioned variables. Thus, their cumulative effect has not examined yet. Looking at inter-organizational relationships from a network perspective and knowledge-based view (KBV), and to consider the simultaneous effect of knowledge mechanisms and learning as intermediary actions alongside, to consider the performance effect of the capability-building process, are the main advantages of this research