Designing CPFR collaborations: insights from seven case studies

Purpose – To comprehend the rationale behind managerial choices that lead companies to implement different types of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) collaborations. Design/methodology/approach – Seven case studies of supply networks whose central firms operate in different sectors have been analysed. Findings – Identifies six types of CPFR collaborations, the choice of which can be explained by considering some important contingent factors, such as the CPFR goals, characteristics of the products and markets in which they are sold, supply network's physical and relational structure, and CPFR development stage. Research limitations/implications – Further research developed in other contexts is necessary to refine the domain of applicability of the research findings. The opportunity to use the relationships found in this research as a managerial tool calls for the testing of research findings within larger samples of firms, representative of a broader range of industries. Practical implications – Suggests managers how to select the most appropriate action to be taken to implement CPFR, through the analysis of the context in which CPFR should be implemented. Originality/value – This paper fulfils the need to clarify the reasons why companies decide to implement different types of CPFR collaborations. Moreover, it contributes to the definition of measures for the CPFR concept, and to the advance of substantive research on CPFR. In literature, few authors devote their attention to rigorously defining CPFR variables or proposing relationships among variables and measures.