Towards better coordination of the supply chain

This paper analytically examines the improvement of supply chain coordination (SCC) through more effective information exchange and consistent forecasting. It shows the negative impact that independent actions taken by members of a conventional supply chain typically have on order release volatility and forecast error volatility. Such increases in variation are argued to pose tremendous planning and utilization problems. This paper demonstrates when and to what extent such fluctuations can be controlled through collaboration within the supply chain. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.