Information Sharing in Logistics Firms: An Exploratory Study of the Vietnamese Logistics Sector

Information sharing among partners in a supply chain is commonly considered as a key factor to enhance supply chain performance. Most studies on logistics information sharing focused on mature markets, whereas developing countries such as Vietnam are lacking in the understanding of sharing practices. As the Vietnamese logistics sector plays a significant role in the national economy, given its market size and cost factor, this study examined what information logistics firms shared with their supply chain partners, sharing methods and influencing factors of the sharing practice. The findings indicate that most of the interviewed logistics firms mainly shared operational information (e.g. ordering information) through traditional communication channels such as emails and telephones and were lacking strategic information sharing or an integrated communication system with supply chain partners. The main factors influencing sharing practices include technical capability, security risks, organization rules and policies, and mutual trust, to name a few.