Whirlpool and Lowe's Every Week,Whirlpool and Lowe's Have an On-Line Conference Call to Conference

Whirlpool and Lowe's
Every week,Whirlpool and Lowe's have an on-line conference call to discuss what appliances are selling in the stores,and what capacity Whirlpool has to make product.Often,the discussion revolves around a particular model that is selling at a higher than expected rate in Lowe's.This often results in Whirlpool quickly flexing its supply chain to make more of the high-selling product and delivering it to Lowe's customers.However,sometimes the answer is that Whirlpool and/or its suppliers do not have the capacity to make more of the product in question.It then becomes a question of demand shaping for Lowe's.What promotions,in-store displays,sales incentives,etc.can Lowe's implement to shift demand from the capacity-constrained model to one that the supply chain has more capacity to deliver? In this way,Lowe's,Whirlpool,and their suppliers manage supply and also demand.
-Refer to Whirlpool and Lowe's.Whirlpool contracts with another firm to manage its order fulfillment process with Lowe's.This contracted firm is referred to as a(n) :

A) third party logistics firm (3PL)
B) drop shipper
C) mediator
D) independent agent
E) interloper