Cross-collaborative supply chains: serious gaming via a case study

Collaboration currently is crucial for stakeholders operating in the supply chain. Nevertheless effective and sustainable forms of inter- and intra-supply-chain collaboration are scarce in practice. Often this is caused by the false interpretation of conflicts of interest on sharing benefits or sensitive data about sales and orders. Serious gaming has shown its contributions to make stakeholders aware of such phenomena in different domains than the logistics domain. In this paper we show the development of a serious game based on extensive case study material on different logistic service suppliers (LSP) in Europe. After interviewing experts and collecting requirements we use a SCRUM agile setup to create a multiplayer serious game that has a game play with increasing complexity. The game starts with a “classical” single LSP level that offers order acceptance, truck -and resource planning and routing. In the final gaming level players experience the benefits of sharing orders and collaborative planning, but still with a competitive and realistic set-up. Players report this gradual gameplay show the positive effects and possibilities of collaborative planning.