Advances in information technology, particularly in the e-business arena, are enabling firms to rethink their supply chain strategies and explore new avenues for inter-organizational cooperation. However, an incomplete understanding of the value of information sharing and physical flow coordination hinder these efforts. This research attempts to help fill these gaps by surveying prior research in the area, categorized in terms of information sharing and flow coordination. We conclude by highlighting gaps in the current body of knowledge and identifying promising areas for future research.

This research, based on our observations of an industrial vendor-manufacturer relationship, investigates the impact of information sharing and physical flow coordination in a make-to-order supply chain. We mathematically model and develop simulation-based rolling schedule procedures for analyzing the manufacturer's ordering policies, transportation activities, and the vendor's manufacturing and order fulfillment processes under five alternative integration strategies. Our objective is to measure the value of information sharing and system coordination across the strategies, identify whether the source of the benefits come from information sharing or coordination, study the allocation of system benefits among channel members, and analyze the impact of environmental factors on system cost performance. The experimental results indicate a 47.58% cost reduction moving from a traditional supply chain to a fully integrated system. While information sharing reduces costs, the main economic benefit comes from coordinated decision-making. The savings associated with system integration are not equally allocated among channel members, and vary by strategy. The procedures developed in the research provide economic insight that fosters the sharing of technological and strategic efforts. #

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model of supply chain and supply chain decision‐making complexity that provides an understanding of the drivers of supply chain complexity and strategies to manage supply chain and supply chain decision‐making complexity and outcomes.Design/methodology/approachGrounded theory methodology is employed to build a theory of supply chain and supply chain decision‐making complexity and develop propositions related to antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of supply chain complexity. In addition, extensive literature review and informal interactions with a number of supply chain professionals have been used to validate the theory.FindingsIn addition to identifying the antecedents of supply chain complexity, the authors explore strategic, human cognitive ability, and tactical moderators for managing supply chain complexity.Research limitations/implicationsThe comprehensive framework presented in the paper builds a theory of supply chain and supply chain decision‐making complexity that is grounded in empirical data. The research also incorporates disparate findings, constructs from multi‐disciplinary research on supply chain complexity and provides future research directions.Practical implicationsThe research helps practitioners better understand the sources and outcomes of supply chain complexity and how to manage it. Various strategies to moderate the impact of supply chain complexity are presented.Originality/valueAn integrated, comprehensive theory of supply chain complexity is proposed along with definitions of supply chain complexity and supply chain decision‐making complexity. The proposed model is rooted in actual practice and supported by the existing literature.

There is growing interest from industry and academic disciplines regarding coordination in supply chains, particularly addressing coordination mechanisms available to eliminate sub‐optimization within supply chains. However, there is a disconnect between what is known in academic research about coordination mechanisms and what mechanisms practitioners apply and consider useful. This research fills a gap in the literature by conducting an in‐depth qualitative study of supply chain coordination mechanisms, primarily price, non‐price, and flow coordination mechanisms. Results suggest that: (1) managers prefer flow coordination mechanisms over price and non‐price coordination mechanisms; (2) supply chain orientation and learning orientation are important for the implementation of flow coordination mechanisms; and (3) technology, capital, and volume are not pre‐requisites for flow coordination mechanisms.