Supply Chain Quality Management Based on Information Asymmetry

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Supply Chain Quality Management Based on Information Asymmetry Jianhua Zhao1, Yue Hu2, Yi Wang3 College of Economic and Management, China Three Gorges University, Yichang Hubei Province, China 443002 butterfly_zjh@aliyun.com; 630223799@qq.com; 491487581@qq.com Abstract With the continuous economical development, the market competition of corporations tends to be that of supply chain. The quality management of supply chain is quite important for effective supply chain. This essay explores issues in supply chain quality management by 4MEX model and presents cases to study ‘Quality Bullwhip Effect’ which is caused by the information asymmetry in supply chain. Keywords Supply Chain Quality Management; Information Asymmetry; Quality Bullwhip Effect; 4MEX

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials, and components into finished products that are delivered to customers. The quality management of supply chain is the significant component of supply chain management that attracts great attention. In recent years, there are numbers of product quality problems in markets. Therefore, corporations need to continuously enhance the quality management of supply chain to meet the demands of customers and markets by providing high quality products and services. Study Review Supply chain quality management originates from supply chain management and quality management. Kuei ad Madu clearly defined SCQM by the equation SCQM=SX+Q+M. SC refers to a production manufacturing and commercial network, while Q refers to timely providing customers satisfactory productions, and M refers to boosting product’s quality to acquire trust. Robinson and Malhotra indicated that SCQM is to integrate partners’ business in supply chain by analyzing, evaluating and improving the services and processes to achieve ultimate customer satisfaction. Foster believed that SCQM is a way to enhance performance by using suppliers and consumers to establish relationship between upstream and downstream. Domestic researchers have also studied the concept of supply chain quality management. Shucheng Ma and Xiaoqing Tang indicated that SCQM is a management of emergence, information and realization of production quality, in order to achieve quality control and quality assurance in the supply chain. Qi Wu and Tongbang Xu pointed out that SCQM is the management of every link in supply chain quality which includes not only product quality but also the management of cooperative enterprises. The supply chain quality management is the significant factor to influence corporation performance and it needs cooperation of every link between the upstream and downstream in supply chain. The quality problem in one link will lead to quality risk just like Bullwhip Effect reaches the consumer terminal. Researchers have explored the influences of Bullwhip Effect to the amount of SCQM recently. Ma, Li and He presented that price and dealer data forecast may decrease the influence of Bullwhip Effect on supply chain quality management. Li Chen believed capacity limitation would weaken the Bullwhip Effect. As mentioned before, the present research on the conception of SCQM has not reached a consensus, the majority of researchers tend to draw on or copy traditional quality management factor according to their demands. The impact of the information asymmetry on SCQM needs further research. The Bullwhip Effect refers to changes in consumer demands at the end of the supply chain that lead to upstream supply volatility; most scholars generally pay attention to analyze the end of the supply chain, focusing on the quantity change caused by the Bullwhip International Journal of Sociology Study, Vol. 3 No. 1‐June 2015 1 2328‐1685/15/01 001‐05, © 2015 DEStech Publications, Inc. doi: 10.14355/ijss.2015.03.001


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