A protocol for the tentative order commitment decision in a supply network

When a customer asks whether a firm can provide a certain quantity of a product by a specific date, that firm must decide whether it can commit to satisfy the request. (The commitment is tentative because later the customer will either cancel or convert the request to a firm order.) This tentative order commitment decision must be efficient and effective because it affects the level of customer service and the relationships among companies in a supply network. Few studies have investigated how this decision is made. My preliminary study of the state of current practice showed significant problems and suggests many companies could benefit from an improved decision making process (an improved protocol). The objective of the dissertation was to develop a new protocol for the tentative order commitment decision for firms in a supply network.; The first step was to develop requirements for such a protocol. Based on input from industry experts I outlined requirements in the form of a set of ordering policies that companies might employ, and a set of ways companies might respond when asked for a tentative commitment. Industry experts reviewed and validated these requirements.; In many ways the tentative order commitment decision resembles a distributed transaction in a computer system, for which protocols have been developed and proven in many applications. Therefore these protocols provided a useful basis for developing a new protocol for the tentative order commitment decision.; Experts reviewed the new protocol, validated its correctness and generally considered it likely to improve supply chain operations.