A study on information sharing in different types of supply chains

Information sharing has been recognized as an effective way to reduce the total costs in supply chains. This paper maintains that there are two kinds of wastes as far as information sharing is concerned: much information that could improve the performance of supply chains has not been shared; few members of supply chains know how to utilize the shared information. In this paper, supply chains are classified into three fundamental types. The shared information in different types of supply chains differs widely because of different integration degrees. Eight types of information that makes supply chains more efficient and five hurdles that information sharing faces are analyzed. A model by which the information that can be shared and the information that cannot be shared in different types of supply chains is established. Furthermore, a method to utilize the shared information in a certain type of supply chain is developed.