Developing Trust and Relationships in the Supply Chain Using Social Media

Abstract

There are millions of users of Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in and other social media. Because of that access to large number of users, marketing has made extensive use of social media to get closer to the customer. Unfortunately, the supply chain has made only limited use of social media. However, social media can play an important role in the supply chain, gathering information and knowledge from disparate sources, and increasing available information, visibility of that information and velocity of that information in the supply chain. Those resulting changes in information characteristics can facilitate “sharing” information, knowledge and plans. As a result, social media in the supply chain can enable greater development of supply chain relationships and trust.