Collaborative planning in heterarchic supply networks

Supply chain management (SCM) is widely viewed as key to building a sustainable competitive edge. However, research indicates that supply chain integration is still the most difficult challenge facing manufacturers today. While most research on supply chain integration has been on large-firm, strategic supply chains, less research exists on decentralized or heterarchic supply chains with multiple power centres. Against this backdrop it has been suggested that collaborative planning is a key enabler of supply chain integration. Despite collaborative planning’s integration promise, there is a dearth of research on its mechanisms and antecedents, especially from a human point of view. To address this void in research this study develops a framework of collaborative planning mechanisms and antecedents grounded in SCM, organization studies, and applied psychology literature. To tackle the complexity of the phenomenon under study adequately, this research, while primarily quantitative in focus, integrates different theoretical stances (cognitive network and enactment theory) and methodologies (functionalist and social constructionist). Collaborative planning is explored and tested in two heterarchic supply networks, both incorporating the Swiss forestry and timber industry. Qualitative interview and survey data was collected from a sample of active participants in each supply network. Findings from statistical analyses and cause mapping largely support quantitative assumptions and qualitatively reveal new insights into collaborative planning. The following key conceptual and empirical findings emerged: Firstly, while process integration in strategic networks is based on hierarchy, in heterarchic supply networks process integration must emerge through lateral coordination of local processes. Secondly, the effectiveness of collaborative planning in achieving this process integration largely depends on actors’ ability to integrate robust plans with situated actions. The key ingredients of this kind of integrated planning are as follows: continuous and early exchange of knowledge; joint definition of robust goals; and adjustment of situated planning. Thirdly, mutual perspective taking and the enactment of shared meaning are found to facilitate collaborative planning and supply network integration. Fourthly, this study sheds some light on an inherent tension of networks, that is, the paradoxical relationship between interdependence and organizational autonomy. Findings show interdependence among network actors to facilitate collaborative planning only for those with low or medium autonomy but not for actors with high autonomy. Finally, this research highlights the importance of systems thinking as a means of coping with network dynamics. These findings and the extended framework provide some new insights into collaborative planning and heterarchic supply networks. It is hoped that the implications of this thesis could provide some helpful orientation to practitioners navigating the complex landscape of heterarchic supply networks. Theoretical implications clearly show the need for further scholarly contributions to the rapidly growing field of SCM especially from a social science perspective