Information Sharing
The Impact of Information Sharing Strategies in Multi-level Supply Chain
Xiongwei Zhou, Feicheng Ma, Ling Zhang, Xueying Wang
School of Information Management Wuhan University Wuhan, P.R.China E-mail:daweycs@126.com.fchma@whu.edu.cn
Abstract- Information sharing is a major strategy to counteract the bullwhip effect. Previous research suggested that applying different ISS(information sharing strategy) to the supply chain may improve the supply chain performance under a simplified two-level supply chain model. In this paper, we present a simulation study that investigates the effectiveness of information sharing under different information sharing strategy scenarios within a complex multi-level supply chain model. In our research, a computer model is developed to simulate the complex multi-level supply chain model. The simulation data and results analysis show both distributors and suppliers gain significantly from information sharing no matter under different information sharing strategy except retailers and different information sharing strategy has great influence on supply chain performance. Keywords- information sharing; information sharing strategy; bullwhip effect; multi-level supply chain model; simulation
I.
INTRODUCTION
Supply chain collaboration has a major impact on an organization's ability to meet customer needs and reduce costs, especially under demand uncertainty. It has become a research focus. While a key step in supply chain collaboration is to share information among the supply chain partners. And information sharing is also viewed as a major strategy to counteract the bullwhip effect [1,2,3,4]. So evaluating the effectiveness or the value of information sharing becomes hot issue[5,6].Previous research indicated the effectiveness of information sharing on supply chain[7]. Other research suggested that applying different ISS to the supply chain under different demand patterns may improve the supply chain performance[8,9,13,14]. But
Xiongwei Zhou, Feicheng Ma, Ling Zhang, Xueying Wang
School of Information Management Wuhan University Wuhan, P.R.China E-mail:daweycs@126.com.fchma@whu.edu.cn
Abstract- Information sharing is a major strategy to counteract the bullwhip effect. Previous research suggested that applying different ISS(information sharing strategy) to the supply chain may improve the supply chain performance under a simplified two-level supply chain model. In this paper, we present a simulation study that investigates the effectiveness of information sharing under different information sharing strategy scenarios within a complex multi-level supply chain model. In our research, a computer model is developed to simulate the complex multi-level supply chain model. The simulation data and results analysis show both distributors and suppliers gain significantly from information sharing no matter under different information sharing strategy except retailers and different information sharing strategy has great influence on supply chain performance. Keywords- information sharing; information sharing strategy; bullwhip effect; multi-level supply chain model; simulation
I.
INTRODUCTION
Supply chain collaboration has a major impact on an organization's ability to meet customer needs and reduce costs, especially under demand uncertainty. It has become a research focus. While a key step in supply chain collaboration is to share information among the supply chain partners. And information sharing is also viewed as a major strategy to counteract the bullwhip effect [1,2,3,4]. So evaluating the effectiveness or the value of information sharing becomes hot issue[5,6].Previous research indicated the effectiveness of information sharing on supply chain[7]. Other research suggested that applying different ISS to the supply chain under different demand patterns may improve the supply chain performance[8,9,13,14]. But