Supply Chain Collaboration at JD.com

At the November 2019 Open Day conference, the vice-president of JD.com shared his understanding of the role that supplier collaboration played in an uncertain environment. Through 15 years of fast growth, JD.com had become the largest business-to-consumer platform in China with more than 30,000 suppliers. Using a boundless retail strategy, JD.com had to build a seamless channel from supplier to customer, which required a close look at how to collaborate with the suppliers through digital technology. However, working with people from different companies raised many challenges. Without a proper solution, the effectiveness of the supplier collaboration would suffer.

This case is suitable for courses in supply chain management, procurement management, and operations management. The case was developed for graduate- and executive-level programs. It is suitable for students with some working experience and managers as well as students in undergraduate- and graduate-level business administration programs. This case allows students to examine a business-to-consumer platform company’s supplier collaboration. As global competition and uncertainty in consumer needs increase, supply chain collaboration, a key enabler of competitive goals, has become a popular area in supply chain management research. E-commerce companies are shifting their focus of competition from platforms to supply chains. This competition tests a company’s supply chain capability as well as its capability to collaborate with other companies. Supply chain collaboration is one of the most important indicators of supply chain maturity. By showing how JD.com built its supply chain collaboration platform and management mechanism through artificial intelligence and big data, and the difficulties the company faced in the process, this case provides guidance for students to discuss key points and strategies for supply chain collaboration in the digital era. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to<ul><li>understand supply chain collaboration, its different aspects, and its significance;</li><li>learn about the latest supply chain collaboration practices adopted by enterprises based on digital and Internet technologies; and</li><li>understand the difficulties and obstacles suppliers and buyers encounter when adopting supplier collaboration.</li></ul>

• Supply chain collaboration
• Smart Supply Chain
• Supply Chain Management