Internet-facilitated coordination for global supply chain partners: A multi-agent simulation model

Coordination between business partners is an essential part of supply chain management in today's global and dynamic business environment. More and more organizations are evaluating the possibility of using Internet to facilitate coordination to make their collaborations with business partners more efficient and effective. Therefore, knowing how Internet technologies can improve coordination is a relevant research question. Among proliferating ideas of using Internet, this dissertation studies the impact of Internet enabled computer mediated communication systems (I-CMCS) on supply chain coordination.; The relationship between the adoption of I-CMCS and coordination performance has not been explored in sufficient depth in the literature and moreover, no broadly applicable, definitive relationships have been identified. The impact of I-CMCS on a coordination system typically needs to be studied on a case-by case basis. To examine the research question further, this dissertation selected a company from the plastic tooling industry to study. The selected case, CMT International Inc., is an overseas plastic mold maker and its management is facing the investment decision of adopting Internet communication tools (E-mail, teleconferencing and so on). This dissertation proposed the use of a multi-agent simulation methodology to help decision makers at CMT make more informed decisions in their Internet technology adoption.; To provide theoretical support for the simulation methodology, a research model is also proposed. Four factors are considered in the research model. They are technology factor (inputs), contextual factor (uncontrollable variables), coordination process (process design), and performance (outputs). This research model defines the dependent and independent variables and provides some fundamental assumptions for the simulation study. Then, the author built a multi-agent simulation model using CMT's project management processes. The author also performed a three-stage verification processing using CMT's operational data to verify the simulation model.; Simulation results are analyzed using both t-tests and ANOVAs. The basic findings from the experiment include three parts. First, the use of Internet technology can provide significant time saving benefits under CMT's project management process. However, the use of Internet technology does not necessarily reduce the coordination cost for CMT or its customers. Second, reengineering of coordination process does have a potential positive effect on the time dimension of CMT's coordination performance. Finally, the utilization level of the adopted technology is critical in realizing the potential time saving benefits brought upon by Internet technology.