Information Sharing in Procurement Contracting with Multiple Suppliers and Input Interdependencies
研究制造商在采购互补组件时，如何决定向供应商共享专有信息，发现组件相互依赖导致制造商可能选择性共享信息，即向一个供应商披露需求或成本信息，而对另一个互补供应商隐瞒。
This paper analyzes a procurement situation where a manufacturer decides on sharing proprietary information with suppliers of complementary components when these components are commonly used for several products. I find that the interdependencies have profound impact on the manufacturer's information sharing strategy. The manufacturer may engage in selective information sharing, making demand or cost information accessible to one supplier but concurrently withholding the same information from a second, complementary input supplier. Information sharing to the second supplier is intermediate whereas concealment is two-tailed. Selective information sharing arises because in light of component interdependencies the disclosure strategy causes two competing forces – lowering one component's costs versus increasing the other's costs.