Coordinating a three-stage supply chain with competing manufacturers

It is common for multiple manufacturers to compete in one common market. This paper considers a three-stage supply chain consisting of two competing manufacturers, one distributor, and one retailer. The two manufacturers’ products are substitutable with each other, and both manufacturers sell their products through the common distributor and the common retailer. In this supply chain, three contract mechanisms are discussed. The first one is wholesale-price (WP) contracts. The second one is pairwise revenue-sharing (PRS) contracts indicating that the revenues are shared by all pairs of adjacent entities. The third one is spanning revenue-sharing (SRS) contract indicating that the retailer simultaneously shares his revenues with all supply chain members. First, we discuss the effects of competition between manufacturers on both decentralized and centralized supply chains under the WP contracts. Second, we discuss the coordination mechanisms. The PRS and SRS contracts are used to coordinate the entire supply chain. We present the drawbacks of the PRS contracts in coordinating this competing supply chain and suggest using the SRS contract instead. After an SRS contract is adopted, it is evaluated using the WP contracts as a benchmark. The conditions necessary for an SRS contract to achieve a win–win outcome are then presented. Finally, some numerical examples are provided.     

Equilibrium contract selection strategy in chain-to-chain competition with demand uncertainty

This paper investigates the equilibrium contract selection problem for the dominant suppliers in two competing supply chains with stochastic and price-sensitive demand. The two suppliers, acting as the Stackelberg leaders, produce substitutable products and distribute them through each exclusive retailer, and can provide either a consignment contract or a wholesale-price contract. The equilibrium behaviours of the suppliers and retailers are investigated in three different scenarios: (1) the consignment contract scenario; (2) the wholesale-price contract scenario; and (3) the hybrid contract scenario. We prove that the equilibrium contracting strategy is of the threshold type: when the cost-share rates of the two retailers are above certain thresholds, both suppliers select consignment contracts; when the cost-share rates of the two retailers are lower than certain thresholds, both suppliers select wholesale-price contracts; when one retailer’s cost-share rate is above a certain threshold and the other is lower than a certain threshold, the supplier with large retailer’s cost-share rate selects the consignment contract and the other supplier with small retailer’s cost-share rate selects the wholesale-price contract. Furthermore, these thresholds depend on price sensitivities.     

Optimizing product service system by franchise fee contracts under information asymmetry

This paper studies the problem of how to effectively provide product service system (PSS) in a service-oriented manufacturing supply chain under asymmetric private demand information. The PSS in the supply chain is operated heterogeneously and complementarily, in which the manufacturer provides the product while the retailer who possesses private demand information is responsible for adding the necessary value-added service on the basic product. We address the issue of how different contracts affect the decisions and profitability of the supply chain members. Three types of contracts are developed to help supply chain partners to make decisions and enhance the supply chain’s efficiency. The first is the franchise fee (FF) contract, under which the manufacturer provides a two-part tariff contract (wholesale price and franchise fee) to influence the retailer’s decision and to detect her private demand information. The second is the franchise fee with service requirement (FFS) contract, under which the manufacturer specifies the service level required in addition to the two-part tariff contract terms. The third is the franchise fee with centralized service requirement (FFCS) contract, which is similar to the FFS contract but that the service level specified by the manufacturer is the system optimal solution. Our analytical results show that all three contracts enable the manufacturer to detect the retailer’s private demand information, with the FFCS contract achieving the greatest channel profit. Finally, numerical examples are presented, and sensitivity analysis of service level and profit are conducted to compare the performance of the three contracts under different settings. The paper provides managerial guidelines for the manufacturer in contract offering under different conditions.     

Contract type and decision right of sales promotion in supply chain management with a capital constrained retailer

From the practices of Chinese consumer electronics market, we find there are two key issues in supply chain management: The first issue is the contract type of either wholesale price contracts or consignment contracts with revenue sharing, and the second issue is the decision right of sales promotion (such as advertising, on-site shopping assistance, rebates, and post-sales service) owned by either manufacturers or retailers. We model a supply chain with one manufacturer and one retailer who has limited capital and faces deterministic demand depending on retail price and sales promotion. The two issues interact with each other. We show that only the combination (called as chain business mode) of a consignment contract with the manufacturer’s right of sales promotion or a wholesale price contract with the retailer’s right of sales promotion is better for both members. Moreover, the latter chain business mode is realized only when the retailer has more power in the chain and has enough capital, otherwise the former one is realized. But which one is preferred by customers? We find that the former is preferred by customers who mainly enjoy low price, while the latter is preferred by those who enjoy high sales promotion level.     

随机需求下两条供应链的货架展示量竞争与链内协调研究

针对两条分别由单生产商单零售商组成的替代产品供应链,假定两种产品的随机总需求依赖于总货架展示量、而每种产品的市场份额与其货架展示量成正比,利用均衡分析方法研究两条供应链在货架展示量与订货量方面的竞争均衡,分别建立了对应两条供应链均为分散式供应链、均为集中式供应链、一条为分散式供应链一条为集中式供应链的EPEC、MPEC和Nash均衡模型。随后分析了供应链竞争下的链内协调合同设计问题,给出了同时协调零售商的货架展示量和订货决策的回购加线性补贴合同和收益共享加线性补贴合同。最后的算例表明,协调是供应链竞争下的占优策略,但两条供应链均协调时的利润反而低于均不协调时的利润,即存在囚徒困境现象。     

考虑信息泄露的零售商需求预测信息共享研究

针对信息泄露导致零售商信息共享意愿降低的问题,基于竞争型制造商创新的视角,构建了考虑信息泄露的零售商需求预测信息共享模型,求解了供应链各主体的均衡决策,分析了信息泄露对零售商信息共享的影响。研究发现:虽然需求预测信息泄露能够增加两个竞争型制造商的创新投入,但会削弱博弈主导制造商的领导者优势。上游竞争型供应链中的信息泄露会削弱下游零售商的事前利润,零售商的信息共享价值降低。本文克服了Shamir关于供应链需求信息泄露局限于零售商的不足,并进一步考虑了制造商之间的竞争和创新。     

供应链中的生产能力投资风险分配

在供应链中,每个管理者都会面临各种各样的供应和需求不确定性.这些不确定性会造成生产能力的过剩或不足,从而导致很大的利益损失,但是未必每个公司都会面临生产能力投资风险.针对一个单生产商单零售商系统,本文分析了三种不同的合同设计（推进式批发价合同,拉动式批发价合同和期权合同）对生产商和零售商的利润和生产能力投资风险的影响,推进式批发价合同和拉动式批发价均不能协调供应链,故我们找到其帕累托集;而对于期权合同,它能够协调整个供应链并且整合推进式和拉动式两种批发价合同使得生产商和零售商共同承担生产能力投资风险.在分析的过程中,我们将结果与已有的结果进行了比较,指出了其异同之处.     

零售商占优下的两部定价合同与通道费

本文考虑由单个占优的零售商和单个供应商组成的二级供应链模型.在价格相依的随机需求下,研究分散系统下的批发价格合同与两部定价合同.在一定的条件下得到两种合同中供应链成员的最优决策和利润以及供应链系统的利润.分析表明,当零售商占优时两部定价合同比批发价格合同更有效.这在一定程度上说明当前零售业中收取通道费的合理性.     

Consignment contracts with retail competition

Consignment contracts have been widely employed in many industries. Under such contracts, items are sold at a retailer’s but the supplier retains the full ownership of the inventory until purchased by consumers; the supplier collects payment from the retailer based on actual units sold. We investigate how competition among retailers influences the supply chain decisions and profits under different consignment arrangements, namely a consignment price contract and a consignment contract with revenue share. First, we investigate how these two consignment contracts and a price only contract compare from the perspective of each supply chain partner. We find that the retailers benefit more from a consignment price contract than from a consignment contract with revenue share or a price only contract, regardless of the level of retailer differentiation. The supplier’s most beneficial contact, however, critically depends upon the level of retailer differentiation: a consignment contract with revenue share is preferable for the supplier if retailer differentiation is strong; otherwise a consignment price contract is preferable. Second, we study how retailer differentiation affects the profits of all supply chain partners. We find that less retailer differentiation improves the supplier’s profit for both types of consignment contract. Moreover, less retailer differentiation improves profits of the retailers in a consignment price contract, but not necessarily in a consignment contract with revenue share.     

两周期零售商竞争下的闭环供应链的定价和协调策略研究

研究了两生命周期零售商竞争环境下的闭环供应链的定价和生产策略:第一个生命周期中,只有一个制造商和一个零售商,制造商利用原材料生产新制造产品;第二个周期中,制造商生产新制造产品的同时利用自己回收的废旧产品生产再制造产品,并且出现了竞争零售商。分别建立了两周期零售商竞争环境下的分散决策模型和集中决策模型,得到了最优定价和生产策略。结果表明:零售商竞争会降低产品的零售价,增加产品的销售量。制造商利用收益共享契约制定合适的批发价和收益共享比率能协调整个闭环供应链,与零售商实现共赢。最后给出了一个算例验证了上述结论。     

基于流程创新的供应链激励合同研究

针对由一个零售商两个制造商组成的竞争供应链,建立了零售商处于领导地位的Stackelberg博弈模型。分析了收益分享合同和成本分担合同下流程创新效率和竞争强度对流程创新水平和供应链成员利润的影响,并探讨了最优激励合同类型。研究发现,流程创新效率的降低会使得制造商流程创新水平和供应链成员利润降低;竞争强度的增大会使得制造商流程创新水平和供应链成员利润增加。此外,在流程创新效率较高和竞争强度较低时零售商提供收益分享合同有利,在流程创新效率较低和竞争强度较高时零售商提供成本分担合同有利。     

Revenue-sharing versus wholesale price mechanisms under different channel power structures

We consider a supply chain channel with two manufacturers and one retailer. Each manufacturer can choose either a wholesale price contract or a revenue-sharing contract with the retailer. We discuss and compare the results of two different types of contracts under different channel power structures, to check whether it is beneficial for manufacturers to use revenue-sharing contracts under different scenarios. Then we consider a supply chain channel with one manufacturer and two retailers. Each retailer can choose either a wholesale price contract or a revenue-sharing contract with the manufacturer. We analyze the likely outcomes under different scenarios to discover whether it is beneficial to use revenue-sharing contracts.     

First- and second-price sealed-bid auctions applied to push and pull supply contracts

We investigate a newsvendor-type retailer sourcing problem under demand uncertainty who has the option to source from multiple suppliers. The suppliers’ manufacturing costs are private information. A widely used mechanism to find the least costly supplier under asymmetric information is to use a sealed-bid reverse auction. We compare the combinations of different simple auction formats (first- and second-price) and risk sharing supply contracts (push and pull) under full contract compliance, both for risk-neutral and risk-averse retailer and suppliers. We show the superiority of a first-price push auction for a risk-neutral retailer. However, only the pull contracts lead to supply chain coordination. If the retailer is sufficiently risk-averse, the pull is preferred over the push contract. If suppliers are risk-averse, the first-price push auction remains the choice for the retailer. Numerical examples illustrate the allocation of benefits between the retailer and the (winning) supplier for different number of bidders, demand uncertainty, cost uncertainty, and degree of risk-aversion.     

考虑零售商公平关切的期权合约研究

当供应链中的企业都是完全理性时,一个合理设计的期权合约可使得供应链达到协调。本文考虑一个具有公平关切的零售商的供应链系统,分析期权合约下零售商的订货决策,以及使供应链达到协调的条件。研究发现,零售商的公平关切偏好对期权合约的协调作用有着显著的影响:尽管与完全理性的供应链系统相比,可协调供应链的期权合约的定价规则没有变化,但是随着零售商公平关切程度的提高,供应商可能获得的最大利润减小,协调性期权合约的可选择范围不断缩小,直至消失.算例分析进一步验证了以上结论,并说明了即使存在协调性期权合约,零售商可能会因为对不公平的厌恶而极大降低自身效用,出现负的效用值,导致该合约被拒绝。     

闭环供应链竞争的博弈分析与链内协调合同设计

假定生产商委托零售商回收废旧产品以进行再制造活动,研究两条分别由单生产商和单零售商组成的闭环供应链的竞争和链内协调。对应两条闭环供应链均为分散式供应链、均为集中式供应链、一条为分散式供应链另一条为集中式供应链,运用博弈论和均衡分析方法分别建立了三种情况下刻画闭环供应链竞争的带均衡约束的均衡模型、纳什均衡模型和带均衡约束的优化模型,进行了模型求解。基于合同理论,提出供应链竞争下协调链内零售商的零售价和回收价格决策的批发价加回收补贴合同。最后的算例验证了模型的合理性和协调合同的有效性。研究表明:产品零售价、需求量与产品替代效应正相关,废旧产品供给量、供应链利润与回收价格敏感性正相关;供应链协调是供应链竞争下的占优策略,有利于提高供应链的运作效率,但两条协调供应链之间的竞争将更激烈,存在囚徒困境现象。     

销售努力及双市场化期权下的三级供应链协调

本文针对需求随机且受到零售商销售努力影响的情况,研究了由制造商、分销商和零售商组成的三级供应链的协调问题。文章首先用双期权契约对三级供应链进行协调,即在制造商和分销商以及分销商和零售商之间都采用期权契约,发现在零售商独自承担努力成本的情况下仅通过双期权契约无法协调供应链。因此在双期权契约的基础上加入了努力成本共担契约,发现当期权价格满足某种线性关系以及零售商努力成本按特定比例分摊时,联合双期权契约和努力成本共担契约能顺利协调供应链。在此基础上,文章还引入了期权的市场化定价规则,研究了期权采用市场化定价规则对供应链协调产生的影响,研究表明,引入期权市场化定价规则增加了供应链协调需要满足的条件,降低了协调的可能性,且协调状态下的期权价格受到市场因素如利率、价格波动率等的影响。最后,文章给出了期权市场化定价规则下供应链协调的条件以及参数变化对协调的影响。     

突发事件下需求信息不对称时的供应链协调应对

协调供应链系统使其具有抗突发事件性的研究是供应链管理的核心议题之一。为了分析突发事件下需求信息不对称时的供应链协调问题,考虑由一个制造商和一个零售商组成的供应链,在随机市场需求下,首先分析了数量折扣契约对供应链的协调作用;然后探讨了突发事件导致市场需求发生变化且变化后的需求信息是不对称信息时数量折扣契约对供应链的协调作用,研究表明:基准的数量折扣契约对突发事件下的供应链不再发挥协调作用,为此,给出了供应链应对突发事件的最优应对策略,并调整了原来的数量折扣契约使其具有抗突发事件性。最后,应用一个算例对比加以说明。     

Preferences for contractual forms in supply chains

The supply chain contracting literature has focused on incentive contracts designed to align supply chain members’ individual interests. A key finding of this literature is that members’ preferences for contractual forms are often at odds: the upstream supplier prefers relatively complex contracts that can coordinate the supply chain; however, the downstream retailer prefers a wholesale price-only contract because it leaves more surplus (than does a coordinating contract), which the retailer can capture. This paper addresses the following question: Under what circumstances do suppliers and retailers prefer the same contractual form? We study supply chain members’ preferences for contractual forms under three different competitive settings in which multiple supply chains compete to sell substitutable products in the same market. Our analysis suggests that both upstream and downstream sides of the supply chain may prefer the same “quantity discount” contract, which would eliminate the conflicts of interest that otherwise typify contracting situations. More interesting still is that both sides may also prefer the wholesale price-only contract; this finding provides a theoretical explanation for why that inefficient (but simple) contract is widely adopted in supply chain transactions.     

企业间信息共享的激励问题研究

本文考虑了一个零售商占主导地位但制造商具有市场需求信息优势的二级供应链系统;具体来说,制造商具有确定的市场需求信息,而零售商对市场需求信息仅仅有一个随机先验分布。本文讨论的问题是,当零售商设计采购合同时,制造商是否有意愿去改善零售商的需求信息？如果可能,是否零售商提供的合同越复杂越能激励制造商这么做呢？本文的研究结果表明,(i)制造商希望零售商需求估计的均值(即信息趋势)尽可能地低。但是对于需求估计的方差(即信息精度),则存在一个临界值,低于这个值时,制造商希望零售商需求的方差越大越好;高于这个值时,制造商希望零售商需求的方差越小越好,这意味着制造商在某种程度上愿意与零售商共享信息;(ii)复杂的合同并不能提供更多的激励去促使制造商共享信息。本文的结论意味着需要设计新的机制去促使制造商能够诚实地披露他的私有信息。     

Pareto analysis of supply chain contracts under satisficing objectives

Supply chain coordination has become critical to firms as increased pressure is placed on them to improve performance. We evaluate the performance of Push, Pull, and Advance-purchase discount (APD) contracts in a manufacturer-retailer supply chain where one or both firms have a satisficing objective of maximizing the probability of achieving a target profit. We identify the resulting operational modes of the supply chain and potential conflicts over the preferred contracts under the Push, Pull, and APD contracts. When both firms are satisficing, conflict over the preferred contract arises when the manufacturer has an ambitious profit target or the retailer has a low profit target. We show that the Push contract can result in a large decrease in the expected profit of a risk-neutral manufacturer when the retailer maximizes the probability of achieving her maximum expected profit. We find that a modified buy-back and profit guarantee contracts can provide significant Pareto improvement over Push or APD contracts when the manufacturer is risk-neutral and the retailer is satisficing, while revenue-sharing contracts cannot. In contrast, revenue sharing and modified buy-back contracts are Pareto dominant under certain conditions when the manufacturer is satisficing and the retailer is risk-neutral.