Inter-organizational Cooperation with SAP Solutions - Design and Management of Supply Networks (Hardcover, 2nd ed. 2004)

VI Special thanks also go to the employees of the case study companies for their open and friendly support. These are Bernhard Panther and Armin ZeiB from Bosch, Thomas Adler and Jiirgen Herb from Goodyear, Stefan Arnold and Wolfgang Gopfert from Porsche, Bernhard Oymann and Thomas Peilert from Schenker, as well as Ute Leppert and Jorg Mieger from SupplyOn. From SAP, Martin Edelmann, Claus Grunewald, Christian Lienert, Frank Klingl, Klaus Kreplin, Dr. Andreas Otto, Karsten Schierholt, and Dr. Stefan Theis gave us extraordinary support by sharing their know-how. Special thanks also go to Uwe Neuner from IBM for providing his know-how in the area SAP Business Connector. Finally, we would like to thank Matthias Kamberg, Daniel Horstkotte, and Zoe Tsesmelidakis from the FrankfurtlMain University as well as Isabel Kuttner, Tina Werthmann, and Patrick Johnscher of the Freiberg University of Technology (TV Freiberg) for their continuous friendly support while this book was being written. Moreover, we would like to thank Jennifer Brundage from SAP for translating the manuscript. The authors Preface for the First Edition The formation of inter-organizational cooperation is increasingly used to improve the partners' competitive position in a global world economy. This tendency can also be observed in logistics. Several "layers" are involved in a supply chain: vendors, manufacturers, retail companies, logistics service providers, and finally the end customers. Supply chain management attempts to optimize the flows of goods and information between companies.