Information Asymmetry in Supply Chain Coordination: State of the Art

Abstract

Supply chains consist of several actors from supplier, manufacturer, distributer, wholesaler and retailers connected to each other by financial, material and informational flows. Optimal performance of supply chains requires set of actions that coordinate the members’ decisions [1], [2]. In many cases, members are trying to optimize their own objectives which can lead to asymmetric information by keeping some strategic information private. Although, this information asymmetry is a challenge affecting the coordination of supply chain, but it is achievable if proper set of coordinating mechanism executed. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of supply chain coordination under asymmetric information and tries to analyze the trend in the context and address the evolution and gaps in existing literature.