The Effect of a Third‐Party Facilitator on Supply Chain Collaboration: Evidence From a Dutch Supply Chain Network
研究第三方促进者如何通过降低信息共享和协调障碍来提升供应链协作，并发现其能降低物流成本、改善环境绩效，尤其对大企业效果更显著。
ABSTRACT Collaboration among supply chain actors leads to improved market access and reduced logistics costs. However, in practice, collaboration initiatives are challenging to implement due to barriers such as sharing sensitive information, coordination complexity, and lack of operational visibility. The impact of such barriers may be mitigated by a third‐party facilitator—an organization that facilitates coordination among actors and safeguards sensitive information. We assess the impact of such a facilitator on supply chain collaboration. We further investigate whether the facilitator can induce a positive second‐order effect on environmental impact and logistics costs through improved collaboration. We tested our hypotheses using survey interviews in member organizations of Connekt, a logistics facilitator. Our results suggest that the facilitator increases the number of collaborations, leading to a reduction in supply chain costs and a positive environmental impact. Lastly, we demonstrate that larger firms further improve collaborations, in the presence of the facilitator.