Information Integration Patterns and Measurement of Level of Integration for Port Service Supply Chains

With the customer demands of service quality and quick response, ports should deliver services and compete as chains instead of as isolated nodes. Four possible information integration patterns for Port Service Supply Chains are given, i.e., the Straight-chain, the Cross-level, the Net-shaped, and the Integrated Management Pattern. Based on the analysis of the factors influencing the level of information integration and with the four indexes of Width of Integration towards suppliers, Width of Integration towards customers, Strength of Integration towards suppliers, and Strength of Integration towards customers, an evaluation model to measure the level of integration for PSSCs is set up. The information integration degree of the four information integration patterns is calculated and compared, and finally, the pattern most suitable for PSSCs under the current environment are selected and some conclusions are drawn.