Research On Method Of Diagnosis On Trust Relationship In Supply Chain Partners

Supply chain cooperation management is a focus in management science. In general, there are several aspects of this research area, i.e. foundation theory, partner selection, investigation on cooperation status, partnership sustaining. By investigating cooperation status, we can find existing problems in supply chain and further research directions. Some invistgations on manufacturing firms indicate that there are no partnerships in supply chain though managers have the will to carry on cooperation. In order to build up coordinated partnership, it must be accpected that cooperation is the effective technique to obtain profits and trust is the core of cooperation. While, investigations on lots of partnerships in supply chain of China indicate that there exists trust crisis among cooperative firms. Trust crisis is a bias for the development of supply chain partnership in China. In order to avoid trust crisis, it is essential to diagnose trust state among cooperative firms in supply chain.Because USA, European countries, Japan, etc. are all those that have good trust mechanism in the society, coordination of trust relationships doesn't gain focus of local researchers. There are no theories and methods about trust inspection in supply chain partnership till now. At the same time, China has been classified as the area that lacks trust in the society by researchers. Hence, it is a significant problem to carry on trust diagnosis to avoid trust crisis in China. This research makes a detailed study on trust diagnosis in supply chain based on theories from management science, computer science, and system science. Main contents of the research are as follows.1. The problem of supply chain partnership diagnosis is proposed. Real-life probems to inspect trust state of supply chain operation for Chinese firms are firstly analyzed. On the foundation of reviewing relevant references of supply chain partnership management, we finally find that there are no mature methodologies for trust inspection. Hence, three research directions of trust diagnosis in supply chain partnership are proposed.2. Basic theories and methods of trust evaluation are proposed. Trust is the foundation of cooperation among supply chain partners, and degree of trust is one of the key contents and base in trust inspection. Trust derives from ethnics. There are lots of subjective contents to be considered in trust evaluation. This research analyzes meanings of trust degree, features in trust evaluation, trust evaluation processes, methods, and models. As a result, a new method of trust evaluation with the consideration of subjective knowledge and wills is proposed.3. Basic theory and method of trust diagnosis among supply chain partners are proposed. On the foundation of trust evaluation, a new method of trust diagnosis among supply chain partners is proposed. Trust is the main management object in the method, including contractual trust, competency trust, and goodwill trust. There are two main trust evaluation means, i.e. diagnosis by trust degree normally and hiddenly. It can provide support for improving trusted partnership by diagnosing trust state among cooperative firms and giving an alert if there is indeed trust crisis.4. Framework of trust coordination after trust diagnosis is proposed. On the foundation of trust diagnosis, the framework of trust coordination of supply chain partnership is proposed. The framework is a bridge between trust inspection and techiniques of trust coordination. The bridge is based on trust diagnosis among cooperative firms. Different results of diagnosis are used as judgement on employing different strategies. Communication among cooperative firms is the supporting layer for coordination. Hence, trust coordination by specific techniques to improve trust relationship is possible to carry out by the bridge.5. In the situation of a computer company, trust diagnosis methods are applied.The building-up of trust diagnosis on trust partnership in supply chain establishs foundations for using specific techniques of trust coordination to improve trust among cooperative firms.