A framework for collaborative planning and state-of-the-art

Inter–organizational supply chain management incurs the challenge to align the activities of all members which contribute to the value creation of a product or service offered to customers. In general, a supply chain faces the problem of information asymmetry, members having their own objectives and constraints which may be in conflict with those of the other members. Still, activities have to be aligned in such a way that the supply chain as a whole stays or becomes competitive while each member wins by cooperating. A number of collaborative planning schemes have been put forward in the last two decades with different assumptions and different areas of application. This paper intends to provide a framework and an overview on the state–of–the–art of collaborative planning. The criteria of the framework will allow us to position existing concepts and to identify areas where more research is needed. The focus of the literature reviewed here will be on model–based decision support at the operational planning level.