Title: Partially centralised decisions and information synchronisation in supply chain

Authors: Anjali Saxena, K. Ganesh, Avneet Saxena, Tom Page

Addresses: Symbiosis Center for Distance Learning, Symbiosis International University, Pune – 411016, India. ' Global Business Services – Global Delivery, IBM India Private Limited, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai – 400051, India. ' Dow Chemicals International Pvt Ltd., Mumbai – 400079, India. ' Department of Design and Technology, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK

Abstract: The ideal solution for supply chain problems lies in fully centralised information sharing systems in real time. But in real life it is not possible to make a centralised decision making model due to various practical reasons. Motivated by this challenge and complexity of the problem we made this attempt to improve the performance of a demo supply chain model by adopting partially centralised information sharing and comparing it with a decentralised system. This paper is an attempt in the direction of making a meaningful simulation decision tool as a useful planning, decision and control tool.

Keywords: simulation; decision support systems; DSS; real time; information sharing; partially centralised decisions; planning; decision making; control tools; synchronisation; decentralised systems; heuristics; enterprise network management; data analysis; SCM; supply chain management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2009.032397

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.3, pp.246 - 267

Published online: 02 Apr 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article