Innovations in Logistics: The Impact of Channel Coordination

Roy D. Shapiro is studying innovative systems and management approaches that integrate and coordinate material and information flows through the supply chain so as to reduce or eliminate the redundant activities that tend to characterize these channels. His research focuses on companies, worldwide, which have successfully integrated suppliers, producers, transporters, warehousers, distributors, and retailers into systems that can be managed as coherent units through which goods flow smoothly. Shapiro's research addresses (1) coordinating mechanisms (e.g., CPFR -- Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment) that tie different channel entities together, (2) how the attendant relationships are defined, forged, and managed, and (3) information flows among relationship partners and how the critical information is effectively generated, shared, and communicated.