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THE ECR E-COACH: A VIRTUAL COACHING ENVIRONMENT TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDINGAND IMPLEMENTATION OF EFFICIENT CONSUMER RESPONSE IN PRACTICEGaby NeumannOtto-von-Guericke University of MagdeburgP.O. Box 4120, D-39016 Magdeburg, GermanyE-mail: Gaby.Neumann@mb.uni-magdeburg.deStanislaw KrzyzaniakInstitute of Logistics and Warehousing (ILiM)6, ul. Estkowskiego, POL-12345 Poznan, PolandE-mail: Stanislaw.Krzyzaniak@ilim.poznan.plKEYWORDSE-coaching, supply chain management, ECR,intelligent tutoring, problem-based learning, pedagogicaldiagnosis, e-assessment.ABSTRACTEfficient Consumer Response (ECR) is a concept forsupply chain improvement using many methods relatedto supply chain management (SCM). To implement andrun this concept in practice well-trained personnel isneeded closely collaborating throughout the entire supplychain. The ECR e-coach realizes the idea of helping aperson not to learn and gain knowledge directly, but inactively creating and successfully passing individuallearning processes through guidance-on-demand (i.e.coaching) in a virtual environment (e-coaching). Thepaper presents the results of a project aiming to supportthe implementation of ECR strategies in Poland andGermany by providing an e-coach for understanding andimplementing ECR. It discusses didactics implicationsand design rationales taken into consideration, illustratese-coach content and functionality as implemented, andsummarizes lessons learned with regard to trans-national,interdisciplinary collaboration and technologicalchallenges to be mastered.INTRODUCTIONEfficient Consumer Response (ECR) is a concept forsupply chain improvement by collaboratively usingappropriate methods of supply chain management. Itfocuses on increasing the effectiveness of supply chainsand aims at better responding to consumers’ needs atreduced costs along the whole supply chain by closecooperation of all members of the supply chain. Preconditionfor successful ECR implementation is a highlevelinformation flow from the selling point throughoutthe entire supply chain by using common informationstandards. The business partners in the supply chain,from raw material suppliers to the retail business, usethese information for meaningful market analysis,purposeful planning of production processes, distributionand mutual accounts of all elements of the supply chain.With this, the ECR concept provides methods forovercoming existing practical and content-related lacksin sphere of up-to-date solutions for truly integratedcooperation in supply chains and satisfying the hugedemand for such knowledge in the companies (seeLewandowska 2005).ECR has been developed for the distribution part ofthe supply chain, especially within the Fast-MovingConsumer Goods (FMCG) sector. It offers a number ofcomponents, which can be implemented as one wholepackage or – what seems to be common practice –independently over a certain period of time. As in thecase of all supply chain related concepts, putting ECRinto practice is not a kind of the project to be run by asingle company. Instead, its successful implementationrequires close cooperation of all parties involved (i.e.manufacturer and distributor/retailer in general).Consequently, this causes a number of problems andchallenges to be faced and overcome, and calls for goodknowledge and understanding of all relevant ECRcomponents and prerequisites for their efficientapplication. But this is just one side of ECRimplementation issues. The other is that the ECR conceptor at least some of its key elements can be applied asmeasures helping to overcome some general problemsand shortages in a particular supply chain. If this shouldbe the case, guidelines for identifying basic causes andways of most efficient improvements are needed. So,there is no doubt that to facilitate all ECRimplementation and execution activities companies mustbe offered a comprehensive training support.From the didactics point of view this training supportshould be based upon a constructivist design, whichassumes that in principle knowledge cannot be impartedAnnual Proceedings of Vidzeme University College “ICTE in Regional Development”, 200661