The impact of information sharing in a multiple-echelon supply chain

This paper attempts to quantify the impact of information sharing on inventory and expected cost in a multiple-echelon supply chain under a general end demand process. Three levels of information sharing in a three-echelon supply chain are given and the optimal inventory policy under each level is derived. We show that both the inventory level and expected cost of the distributor and the manufacturer decrease with an increase in the level of information sharing.