在現今的社會中，隨著資訊科技的發展，公司之間的商業行為也越來越複雜，而在多變的環境中，如何改善整體供應鏈的效能，是一項嚴肅且關鍵的課題。在本研究中，我們試圖從轉置成本、信任機制與資訊分享等因素來探討這個問題。
首先，我們提出一個有關轉置成本、信任機制與資訊分享對供應鏈效能的關係模式。為驗證這個模式的正確性，我們模擬了一個供應鏈的環境，並利用這樣的關係模式建構出一個廠商決策的機制。我們觀察了不同訂單需求狀況對此模式的影響，以及其關係變動的情況；此外，我們也觀察了不同資訊分享障礙程度、不同轉置成本與信任機制傾向的影響；最後，我們也探討了不同商品價格與不同技術穩定度對整個供應鏈結果的影響。

With rapid development of information technology, the company can find and communicate with new partners easily, which makes the relation more complex and unstable. How to improve the performance of the supply chain is an important issue. In this study, we try to discuss the problem from the three factors including switching cost, trust and information sharing.
First, we propose a conceptual model of switching cost, trust, information sharing and supply chain performance. The performance indexes include the average fulfillment rate, average stock cost, and average cycle time. Second, in order to verify the model, we construct a simulation environment of supply chain and construct a decision mechanism based on the conceptual model. Final, we observe the effect and variation of the different order demand environment, the different information sharing threshold, different propensity of switching cost and trust, and different product price and different producing technology.

論文提要 I
致謝 II
中文摘要 III
英文摘要 IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS V
LIST OF FIGURES VIII
LIST OF TABLES IX

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 RESEARCH MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVES 1
1.2 THESIS ORGANIZATION 2
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3
2.1 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 3
2.2 INFORMATION SHARING 4
2.2.1 The levels of information sharing 4
2.2.2 The information sharing and firm performance 5
2.3 SWITCHING COST 5
2.3.1 Types and variables of switching cost 6
2.3.2 The switching costs and information sharing 8
2.3.3 The switching costs and firm performance 8
2.4 TRANSACTION COST THEORY 9
2.5 TRUST 11
2.5.1 Types and antecedents of trust 11
2.5.2 Trust and information sharing 14
2.5.3 The trust and firm performance 14
2.6 SIMULATION 15
2.7 THE MULTI-AGENT SYSTEM 16
2.8 SWARM SIMULATION PLATFORM 17
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK 19
3.1 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK 19
3.2 RESEARCH METHOD 20
3.2.1 Simulation model 20
3.2.2 Decision mechanisms 23
(1) Switching cost 23
(2) Trust 26
(3) Information sharing 30
3.2.3 Evaluation criteria 33
(1) In-time order fulfillment rate (iofr) 33
(2) Average inventory cost (aic) 33
(3) Average order cycle time rate (aoctr) 34
3.2.4 Summary 34
(1) Decision mechanisms 34
(2) Evaluation criteria 35
CHAPTER 4 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN 36
4.1 EXPERIMENTAL SETTINGS 36
4.2 EXPERIMENTS 39
4.2.1 Experiment A 39
4.2.2 Experiment B 40
4.2.3 Experiment C 41
4.2.4 Experiment D 42
CHAPTER 5 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 44
5.1 EXPERIMENT A 44
5.1.1 Comparison with A-1, A-2, A-3, and A-4 44
5.1.2 The relation of A-1, A-2, A-3, and A-4 47
5.1.3 Summary 53
5.2 EXPERIMENT B 54
5.2.1 Comparison with B-1-1, B-1-2, B-1-3, and B-1-4 54
5.2.2 Comparison with Experiment B-2 57
5.2.3 Summary 58
5.3 EXPERIMENT C-1 59
5.3.1 Comparison with C-1-1, C-1-2, C-1-3, and C-1-4 59
5.3.2 Comparison between Experiments C-1 and C-2 62
5.3.3 Summary 64
5.4 EXPERIMENT C-3 64
5.4.1 Comparison with C-3-1, C-3-2, C-3-3 and C-3-4 65
5.4.2 Comparison between Experiments C-2 and C-3 68
5.4.3 Comparison between Experiments C-1 and C-3 69
5.4.4 Summary 71
5.5 EXPERIMENT D 72
5.5.1 Comparison with D-1, D-2, D-3, and D-4 72
5.5.2 Summary 76
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK 78
6.1 CONCLUSIONS 78
6.2 RESEARCH LIMITATION 80
6.3 FUTURE WORK 81
REFERENCES 82
APPENDICES 86
APPENDIX A. THE COMPARISON BETWEEN INFORMATION SHARING LEVEL UPGRADING AND DOWNGRADING 86
Experiment A 86
Experiment B-1 87
Experiment C-1 87
Experiment C-3 88
Experiment D 89
APPENDIX B. THE RATIO OF SWITCHING COST OVER TRUST 91
Experiment A 91
Experiment C-1 92
Experiment C-3 92
Experiment D 93

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