An innovative framework for enhancing inter-firm collaboration in forest based supply chain

Abstract

The importance of collaboration among the agents involved in supply chain management (SCM) and in particular in forestry, is well perceived. Nevertheless examples of implementation of successful collaboration in forest based SC are still rare due in part to lack of knowledge and guidance that motivate agents to collaborate. This fact, suggests the need of new methodology approaches that may effectively plan and implement collaboration in practice. Existing frameworks fail to provide tools to identify opportunities within the supply chain and how to proceed to implement collaborative strategies. This study proposes an innovative framework to design inter-firm collaboration in forest based SCs (FSCC) by encompassing the steps to define the appropriated collaborative strategy and the needed techniques to put in practice. The study further discusses how to identify opportunities where collaboration might be formed, among companies of the same supply chain or companies of different SC that develop the same activity. This study has been built on a thorough literature review and also on the results of two workshops with agents of different FSCs in Portugal. Preliminary results of the application of the proposed framework to a vertical collaboration between a Portuguese pulp mill and its suppliers are also reported.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandra F. Marques (Supervisor) & Miguel Sottomayor (Co-Supervisor)