考虑公平偏好的供应链最优信用期和定价策略研究

论文将公平偏好引入商业信用供应链的运作中,研究公平偏好如何影响供应链的商业信用和定价策略。论文在三种情况下,即仅供应商关注公平,仅零售商关注公平和双方均关注公平,运用Stackelberg博弈分析了供应商的最优商业信用期及零售商的最优零售价格。研究发现,当零售商具有公平偏好时,零售价格与其公平偏好程度无关;零售商的公平偏好程度越大,供应商提供的商业信用期限越长。当仅供应商具有公平偏好时,供应商的公平偏好程度越大,零售商的零售价格越大,供应商提供的商业信用期限越短;当双方都具有公平偏好时,零售商的零售价格关于双方偏好均为增函数;供应商的商业信用期限为自身偏好系数的增函数,为零售商偏好系数的减函数。供应链成员的效用为自身偏好系数的增函数,对方偏好系数的减函数;双方具有公平偏好时,供应链利润小于无公平偏好时的供应链利润。     

Channel coordination under two-level trade credits and demand uncertainty

This study considers a decentralized supply chain where a retailer has an opportunity to order a product from a supplier prior to the sales season to satisfy uncertain demand. The retailer provides trade credit to end customers and makes credit period and order quantity decisions to maximize profits. The end demand is both random and credit period-dependent. On the basis of the newsvendor model, this paper focuses on channel coordination when a retailer provides trade credit to end customers. When the supplier also provides trade credit to the retailer, we show that the traditional trade credit contract cannot coordinate the channel. Four composite contracts based on trade credit (trade credit cost sharing with buy back or quantity flexibility; modified trade credit with buy back or quantity flexibility) are provided to induce the retailer to make decisions while optimizing the channel profit. This paper shows that the retailer provides a longer credit period to its customers and orders a larger quantity from the supplier under the composite contracts. With these contracts, the profit sharing between both parties depends on the wholesale price (Pareto improvement) for the fixed retail price and the purchasing cost.     

Credit financing in a two-warehouse environment for deteriorating items with price-sensitive demand and fully backlogged shortages

In the current global market, organizations use many promotional tools in order to increase their sales. One such tool is permissible delay in payments, i.e., the buyer does not have to pay for the goods purchased immediately rather can defer the payment for a prescribed period given by the supplier. This phenomenon motivates the retailer/buyer to order a large inventory lot so as to take full benefit of credit period. But the well decorated showroom (OW) with modern facilities has a limited storage capacity. Thus the retailer has to hire a rented warehouse to store the excess units. In this scenario, retailer usually adopts two types of dispatch policy: FIFO & LIFO, depending upon the situation, e.g., nature of items/deteriorating items, location of warehouse. Further in order to survive in the market, the retailer dynamically adjusts the prices of the goods to boost the demand and enhance the revenues.In the light of these facts, this paper develops an inventory model for deteriorating items with price-sensitive demand under permissible delay in payment in a two warehouse environment. Shortages are allowed and fully backlogged. The objective of this study is to find the optimal inventory and pricing policies so as to maximize the total average profit. Further, the different trade credit scenario has been exhibited with the help of a numerical example. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis has also been carried out to advocate the implication of FIFO and LIFO dispatch policy.     

信用期下时滞变质品供应链库存和定价的Stackelberg均衡策略

在允许缺货和考虑资金机会成本情况下,根据时滞变质品的基本库存模型,分别构建了信用期下供应商为领导者(SL)和零售商为领导者(RL)的Stackelberg博弈模型。通过分析SL和RL下的Stackelberg博弈模型唯一均衡解,得到两个模型中均衡解的解析表达式。最后,根据数值算例分析得出:(1)在SL供应链中信用期并不总使整个供应链协调,然而在RL供应链中信用期的协调效果较好;(2)延长信用期或增加零售价格均能刺激零售商多订货;(3)在两个模型中,零售价格均随变质时刻递增,且整条供应链达到Pareto改进;(4)SL中供应商变动信用期与RL中零售商变动价格相比,SL供应链收益更高;而当信用期和价格固定,其他参数变动时,RL供应链收益更大。     

存货质押融资模式下的供应链协调

针对供应商、零售商和银行组成的供应链金融系统,研究了存货质押融资模式下的供应链协调。零售商作为中小企业,资金有限,需要向银行申请贷款,然而零售商信用较低难以获得融资。供应商作为供应链的核心企业,采用含有回购价格和回购比例的回购契约为零售商提供担保,使得零售商融资得以实现。分析了不确定需求下供应链金融系统,供应链以及零售商的最优决策,给出了融资情况下供应链协调的条件,指出了在供应链协调情况下批发价格和回购策略对供应链收益分配的影响,说明了回购的作用:一方面使零售商易于获得银行融资,另一方面使供应链协调得以实现,指出了质押率、贷款利率和零售商自有资金等参数对最优决策的影响。数值算例验证了理论分析结果。     

Temporary price increase during replenishment lead time

Pricing and inventory management make up together revenue management, which is a significant effort to boost revenues out of available resources. Firms use various forms of dynamic pricing, including personalized pricing, markdowns, promotions, coupons, discounts, and clearance sales, to respond to market fluctuations and demand uncertainty. In this paper, we study a temporary price increase policy, a form of dynamic pricing, for a non-perishable product, a practice used by several giant retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Apple. We develop a continuous review inventory model that allows for joint replenishment and pricing decisions, where the lead time is not zero. A replenishment decision controls supply, while a pricing decision controls demand. A manager exercises a temporary price increase to slow demand and avoid a stock-out situation while waiting for a shipment, which may not necessarily increase revenues, but decrease stock-out costs. The problem is to solve for the optimal replenishment and the pricing policy parameters that maximize the long-run expected profit. That is, when and how much to order and when to raise the price. In this paper, the inventory level and time trigger a price increase. We solve many numerical examples and perform extensive sensitivity analyses. Our results show that compared to a model that focuses on fixed pricing, our model brings an additional increase in profit of about 13%.     

Joint pricing and production decisions for new products with learning curve effects under upstream and downstream trade credits

Today's leading companies generate a substantial portion of their sales from new products. For example, Apple Inc. generates almost 60% of its sales revenue from products launched in the past four years. Hence, the importance of new products cannot be overestimated. Pricing strategy is particularly important during the introductory stage of a new product, when the learning curve effect is most pronounced. Although the learning curve effect reduces production cost significantly during the introduction period of a new product, most researchers have assumed that the production cost remains constant throughout a product's lifecycle. In our opinion, failing to consider this learning curve phenomenon may lead to biased solutions. Furthermore, suppliers often offer manufacturers a short-term interest-free loan (i.e., trade credit) to stimulate sales, while manufacturers adjust price to influence consumer purchasing decisions. However, most researchers have not considered the combined effects of pricing strategy on demand, learning curve effect on production cost, and trade credit influence on lot size. Therefore, we propose an inventory model to determine optimal lot-sizing and pricing strategies with both upstream and downstream trade credit, manufacturer's production cost which follows a learning curve effect, and production quantity influenced by both selling price and trade credit. Then we derive the conditions of the optimal solution. Numerical examples and sensitivity analysis are performed to examine results and provide managerial insights. These results show that the learning curve effect significantly lowers selling price, while tremendously increasing both profit and demand.     

An integrated inventory model for a deteriorating item with allowable shortages and credit linked wholesale price

This study proposes a single manufacturer, single retailer integrated inventory model that includes deterioration and shortages in the retailer’s inventory. The manufacturer’s production process is assumed to be imperfect as it produces a certain percentage of defective items. The retailer performs a 100  % screening process immediately on receiving a lot from the manufacturer and returns the detected defective items to the manufacturer in the next delivery. The manufacturer disposes the defective items and incurs a disposal cost. To increase sales, (s)he offers a trade credit to the retailer. The retailer’s wholesale price varies linearly with the credit period. The objective is to determine the optimal replenishment cycle time, the time of running out of stock, the length of the credit period and the number of lots from the manufacturer to the retailer so as to maximize the total profit of the integrated system. A solution algorithm is designed and illustrated through numerical examples. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to study the influence of the model-parameters on the optimal solution.     

Integrated inventory models considering the two-level trade credit policy and a price-negotiation scheme

This paper develops the integrated inventory models with permissible delay in payment, in which customers’ demand is sensitive to the buyer’s price. The models consider the two-level trade credit policy in the vendor–buyer and buyer–customer relationships in supply chain management. A simple recursive solution procedure is proposed for the integrated models to determine the buyer’s optimal pricing and production/order strategy. Although the total profit from the buyer and vendor increases together, the buyer’s share lessens. To compensate the buyer’s loss due to the cooperative relationship, a negotiation system is presented in order to allocate the profit increase to the vendor and buyer to determine the pricing and production/order strategy. A numerical example and sensitivity analysis are provided to illustrate the proposed model. The results indicate that the total profit from the buyer and vendor together can increase, although a price discount is given to the buyer in the proposed models.     

随机需求下供应链商业信用契约协调

研究一个供应商和一个零售商构成的两级供应链面对随机需求时的商业信用契约协调问题。通过分析商业信用对供应商与零售商各自目标利润及供应链的总利润的影响,建立了商业信用契约协调模型,推导了最优信用期和最优订货量,指出通过信用策略可以使双方实现对利润的合理分配与协调。最后通过数值算例说明了所得结论。     

Dynamic decision-making for an inventory system with time-varying demand

This article considers the problem of dynamic decision-making for time-varying demand products under trade credit. The article adopts a price, warranty length and time-dependent demand function to model the finite time horizon inventory. The objective of this study is to determine the optimal periodic selling price, warranty length and ordering quantity so that the total profit is maximized. We discuss the optimization properties and develop solution procedures based on dynamic programming techniques for solving the problem described. The numerical analyses show that dynamic decision-making is superior to fixed decision-making and an appropriate warranty policy can benefit the company. This study also discusses the effects of interest earned, interest charged and credit period on company's decisions and profits.     

Ordering policy and coordination of a supply chain with two-period demand uncertainty

We develop a two-period game model of a one-manufacturer and one-retailer supply chain to investigate the optimal decisions of the players, where stock-out and holding costs are incorporated into the model. The demand at each period is stochastic and price sharply drops in mid-life. We assume the retailer has a single order opportunity, and decides how much inventory to keep in the middle of selling season. We show that both the price-protection mid-life and end-of-life returns (PME) scheme and the only mid-life and end-of-life returns (ME) scheme may achieve channel coordination and access a ‘win-win’ situation under some conditions. The larger the lowest expected profit of the retailer, the lower the possibility of ‘win-win’ situation will be. Combined with the analysis of feasible regions for coordination policies, we find that PME scheme is not always better than ME scheme from the perspective of implementable mechanism. Finally, we find that adopting the dispose-down-to (DDT) policy can bring a larger improvement of the expected channel profit in the centralized setting, and it is interesting that by using DDT policy, double marginalization occurs only at Period 1, and however, does not plague the retailer in Period 2.     

Analysis of a fuzzy economic order quantity model for deteriorating items under retailer partial trade credit financing in a supply chain

This paper investigates the economic order quantity (EOQ) — based inventory model for a retailer under two levels of trade credit to reflect the supply chain management situation in the fuzzy sense. It is assumed that the retailer maintains a powerful position and can obtain the full trade credit offered by the supplier yet the retailer just offers a partial trade credit to customers. The demand rate, holding cost, ordering cost, purchasing cost and selling price are taken as fuzzy numbers. Under these conditions, the retailer can obtain the most benefits. Study also investigates the retailer’s inventory policy for deteriorating items in a supply chain management situation as a cost minimization problem in the fuzzy sense. The annual total variable cost for the retailer in fuzzy sense is defuzzified using Graded Mean Integration Representation method. Then the present study shows that the defuzzified annual total variable cost for the retailer is convex, that is, a unique solution exists. Mathematical theorems and algorithms are developed to efficiently determine the optimal inventory policy for the retailer. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theorems and the algorithms. Finally, the results in this paper generalize some already published results in the crisp sense.     

碳交易规制下信息不对称供应链的减排和低碳推广博弈研究

论文在碳交易规制下,研究单一制造商和双零售商组成的供应链减排与低碳推广决策以及零售商对制造商的成本信息分享问题,分析了零售商对制造商分享成本信息的条件,及不同情形下的制造商减排和零售商低碳推广策略。研究发现:零售商的最优低碳推广水平只与自身相关参数有关,零售商只有在自身低碳推广效率足够高时才会与制造商分享信息;制造商最优减排量随消费者低碳意识、碳交易价格、零售商低碳推广效率及其不确定性增大而提高,随零售商之间竞争程度提高而降低;无论零售商是否对制造商分享成本信息,供应链成员的最优利润随零售商之间竞争程度提高而增加,随消费者低碳意识、碳交易价格提高而提高;零售商低碳推广效率的不确定性越大则制造商的最优利润越低,零售商的最优利润越高;仅一家零售商分享成本信息时,制造商无法通过转移支付使另一家零售商与其分享信息。     

Dynamic inventory system with pricing adjustment for price-comparison shoppers

With numerous price-comparison websites and applications, consumers today are frequently conducting price-comparison shopping. As a result, retailers face an increasing challenge in predicting consumer demand and determining the optimal product price and inventory level accordingly. To address this issue, this paper proposes an inventory model with joint decisions of price and inventory to optimize the retailer's long-run average profit under price-comparison consumer shopping. We first formulate the demand arrival process for a retailer under price-comparison shopping to be affected by not only its own price but also its competitors'. Based on this demand arrival process, we then formulate the retailer's long-run average profit and derive properties of its optimal solution. Our model focuses on capturing the impact of price-comparison consumers on a retailer's optimal price and inventory decisions. In particular, we allow competitors' prices to affect the retailer's demand via two key factors: the manufacturer's suggested price and the variability of the outside lowest price. According to our results, when the suggested price increases, the retailer should lower its price to obtain more price-comparison customers from competitors, whereas when the variability of outside lowest price increases, the retailer should raise its price to increase per unit profit from nonprice-comparison customers.     

Effect of declining selling price: profit analysis for a single period inventory model with stochastic demand and lead time

In this paper, considering the empirical trend for sales and price of fashion apparels as prototype, optimal ordering policy for a single period stochastic inventory model is investigated. The impact of the presence of random lead time and declining selling price on the profitability of the retailer is explored. Existence of unique optimal solutions for net profit functions is proved. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the method of identifying profitable levels of inventory holding and penalty costs. Percentage profit per unit investment in inventory is obtained in order to assist managers in taking business decisions, specifically to the extent of whether or not to take up a particular business under known constraints. It is demonstrated that the optimal inventory policy in the absence of price decline and lead time differs considerably from that when lead time and price decline are simultaneously considered.     

服务水平约束下动态定价与库存管理

本文研究服务水平约束下的动态定价与库存管理问题。企业在有限期内销售某种产品,产品的需求为随机需求,且期望需求依赖于产品价格。在每一期期初,企业需要在满足服务水平约束的条件下同时决定订货量和产品价格。本文首先构建了动态定价和订购联合决策的随机动态规划模型,并证明了最优解的存在性。进一步,通过对最优解的结构进行刻画,将原问题的求解转化为若干子问题的求解,降低了问题求解的难度。通过对最优解的分析发现,当期初库存增大时,产品最优价格降低。通过分析目标服务水平对利润的影响,证明了服务水平与利润之间存在权衡,实现高的服务水平需要承受利润损失。数值模拟表明,相对于传统的静态定价策略,采用动态定价策略可以降低追求服务水平所带来的利润损失,验证了动态定价策略的有效性。     

Advance selling to strategic consumers

Advance selling of goods and services is a form of separating purchase from consumption. It is often employed when consumers are uncertain about their consumption utilities until a short time period before consumption. A book to be released, a concert to attend, or a cruise to take are some examples. Invariably, in consumers’ mind inventory availability (of copies, seats, or rooms) is a concern. In this paper we study a retailer’s inventory and pricing decisions in an advance selling scenario that involves consumers who are strategic. Some consumers not only consider advance and spot prices, but also the uncertainty in future availability of the product (during the spot period) and in their consumption utility from it. We characterize the optimal inventory management and pricing policies, and discuss several interesting aspects of the solution. For example, it can be optimal for the retailer to limit advance sales even if there is more demand for it, and it can be optimal for the retailer to limit its inventory even though there is more capacity to keep it, but not both.     

二层信用策略下部分延期付款的库存模型

当前二层信用期相关文献考虑的都是零售商提供给其顾客相同的信用期,但现实中零售商往往会根据物品的种类不同提供给顾客不同的信用期.为研究此问题,建立了优化供货周期使零售商平均相关成本最小的库存模型,证明了最优供货周期的存在性,并给出实例加以说明.     

一种电子商务环境下耐用品的动态定价模型与策略

针对电子商务环境下消费者对价格歧视的抗拒问题,以及耐用品生命周期长、产品需求依赖于时间、价格等特点,提出了一种动态定价模型与策略。该模型通过构造转移概率矩阵,推导出在线消费者浏览到耐用品的不同价格状态下的概率,接着根据消费者多阶段效用函数分析消费者的购买决策行为,进而给出零售商利润达到最大化时的最优定价策略集合。为了验证模型与策略的有效性,通过数值模拟实验,分析模型主要参数变化对最优定价策略的影响。研究发现当效用折扣因子越高,零售商应该降低促销频率和高价格并且提高低价格,从而诱导高端消费者在高价格购买产品。折扣效用因子大小还决定了网上零售商是否要隐藏自己的促销概率。