In most global companies, Incoterms, shorthand for International Commerce Terms, are the legally binding terms by which parties involved in the shipment of goods will agree to own said goods. While traditionally used for international trade, many companies (including AB InBev) will use Incoterms to define relationships with domestic suppliers as well. AB InBev’s main motivation for this sponsored project is to gain an understanding of how logistics costs are affected by the International Commerce Term (Incoterm) they select for their shipments. The goal is to help AB InBev (ABI) design a tool that will aid in this analysis and decision-making process. The decision matrix was developed with help from ABI stakeholders and MIT researchers and designed to be ABI-specific. Through stakeholder discussions, multiple iterations, and tests of the tool, our team helped illuminate how ABI can better manage supplier relationships going forward.
