A literature review on operational decisions applied to collaborative supply chains

PLoS One. 2020 Mar 13;15(3):e0230152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230152. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Throughout the last decades, collaborative schemes, under an amalgam of different acronyms (ECR, CPFR, VMR, etc.), have been developed to mitigate the problematic Bullwhip effect. Essentially, companies work together by either sharing information, making joint decisions, or sharing benefits to reach potential synergies. This work aims at reviewing these works through a systematic literature review process to investigate the different collaborative models from an operational perspective. A total of 92 articles have been classified into 3 categories: Information Exchange; Vendor Managed Replenishment; and Synchronized Supply Chain. For each category, we have identified the type of research, supply chain structures, forecasting models, demand characteristics, replenishment policies and assumptions employed in the considered articles. This article identifies the main results achieved and the gaps and opportunities to be developed as further research.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Commerce / trends*
  • Forecasting
  • Humans

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Government (MINECO/FEDER, UE) under the project with reference DPI2015-64133-R and by the Vicerrectorado de Investigaci\’on y Pol\’itica Cient\’ifica from UCLM through the research group fund program (PREDILAB; DOCM 24/01/2019 [2019/536]) and by the European Regional Development Fund. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.