The current competitive situation in the milk value chain requires increased inter-company cooperation among the players to ensure their sustainable success. The concept of Efficient Consumer Response is considered a suitable approach to supply chain management in the consumer goods industry in this context.

Thomas Obersojer outlines the development lines of supply chain management as well as the concept of Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). Based on industry-wide written surveys in the German-speaking dairy sector and three case studies, he examines which ECR tools are promising for different types of dairies and which approaches have already been implemented in practice. Building on these findings, the author develops a modular model and derives recommendations for the practical implementation of ECR tools.