Exploring the impacts of supply information sharing: Findings from a supply chain *simulation model

Fierce business competition forces enterprises to pay more attention to the coordination with their suppliers and customers. Information sharing is a prerequisite for coordinated supply chain operations. A wide range of literature emphasizes the importance of information sharing to supply chain performance. According to the direction of information flow between supply chain members, information sharing can be classified into two categories: demand-side information sharing and supply-side information sharing. Previous literature already made a wide variety of insightful explorations into demand-side information sharing in supply chain, such as demand, forecasting, inventory, and order information sharing. However, research efforts have rarely been made into supply-side information sharing. Therefore, this dissertation explores the impacts of supply-side information sharing.;A model of simulation with mixed-integer programming was created to simulate ordering, production planning, and supplying activities with and without supply information sharing in a three-level capacitated supply chain consisting of multiple suppliers, one manufacturer and multiple retailers. The simulation results indicate that supply information sharing can significantly reduce total cost and enhance service level of the whole supply chain and its members. It can also lessen order variance of downstream members in the supply chain. In addition, the impacts of supply information sharing on the supply chain performance are heavily influenced by demand patterns, capacity tightness, forecast accuracy, product substitution, and the availability of raw materials.;This dissertation contributes to extending the content and scope of supply chain information sharing research. Managerially speaking, the findings of this dissertation provide important reference for supply chain managers to implement supply information sharing in order to improve decision-making process, reduce uncertainties, and increase visibility in supply chain operations.;Keywords. Information Sharing; Supply Chain; Simulation.