ABSTRACT
Collaboration will typically have a value that can be expressed as the total profit that the collaboration generates or the total cost it incurs. There exist two main types of collaborations within logistics and distribution. The first is vertical, which typically arises in supply chains and entails collaboration between different levels of the chain, typically involving actors that have distinct and nonoverlapping roles within the chain. The second type of collaboration is horizontal, where providers of the same service share resources, such as the network infrastructure, and jointly plan the routes and schedules for the services they offer. Both vertical and horizontal collaborations are relevant to freight logistics, although the latter is more so given that the actors within the collaboration perform fairly similar roles of carrying goods from their origins to destinations. The chapter presents some of the key concepts used in cooperative game theory, with a particular focus on the application of these concepts to collaborative logistics.
