Towards a contingency theory of collaborative planning initiatives in supply networks

In recent years there has been increased interest in supply chain (SC) collaboration, as a process that promotes inter-company co-operation in different business areas. This paper focuses on collaborative planning initiatives adopted to support demand and supply planning in supply networks. Since companies implement several different forms of collaborative planning initiatives, this paper intends to examine the relevant contingency effects that lead firms to choose a precise collaborative planning initiative. Ten cases were analysed to investigate the research question. Results found indicate that specific contextual conditions – i.e. goals of the collaboration, demand elasticity, product diversity and supply network spatial complexity – can affect the level of the collaboration in collaborative planning initiatives. Three different levels of collaboration are identified (i.e. communication, limited collaboration and full collaboration) – depending on the level of integration (i.e. whether companies simply exchange data/information, or synchronise and jointly decide their plans) and multiplexity (i.e. the number of business areas involved in the collaboration). It emerges that, while the goals of the collaboration influence the level of integration between companies; the elasticity of demand can determine the level of multiplexity. Furthermore, the research found that product diversity (i.e. whether companies sell different products) and a high supply network spatial complexity could limit the level of multiplexity in the collaboration.