Teaching the Mechanism of Horizontal and Vertical Supply Chain Coordination

Coordinating stakeholder’s actions in a supply chain provides an efficient approach to enhance supply chain performance and win today’s fierce competition in the market. Using quantitative examples is proved to be an efficient pedagogical methodology to motivate students learning and facilitate students’ in-depth knowledge in supply chain management education. This study provides six quantitative supply chain horizontal and vertical coordination examples, which aim to increase the profit of the whole supply chain. Each example describes the supply chain coordination model with the background of certain supply chain features. Numerical examples and sensitivity analysis are provided to illustrate the benefits of supply chain coordination visually. These examples serve as supplements of an introductory operations management/supply chain management course when the supply chain management fundamentals are taught. They offer a unique viewpoint and roadmap for instructors teaching operations management / supply chain management related courses.