The aim of this chapter is to review the relevant literature so as to lay a foundation for the subsequent research design and research work. To place the study into the context of the existing knowledge, two research fields of the literature are surveyed.
In Section 2.2, the study investigates the literature focusing on the collaboration of logistics in supply chain management. In the first place, the study provides a brief discussion of the conventional logistics collaboration that is vertical in nature,and illustrates the key concepts/approaches for logistics collaboration in the vertical supply chain context. Secondly, the existing literature regarding LHC is thoroughly reviewed and discussed. This contributes to the identification of the research gaps in the current body of knowledge in this area and helps to inform the formulation of the research questions in this study.
In Section 2.3, the research questions are developed based on the gaps identified in the current literature regarding LHC and the methodological needs to conduct the study.
In Section 2.4, the study examines how the agent-based simulation (ABS) approach has been used for modelling supply chain problems, in order to obtain useful insights with regards to how the ABS model could be designed in this study,and to specify the conditions and limitations of using this approach to model the supply chain issues.
Finally, Section 2.5 concludes the chapter.