确定性需求连续生产模型下的最优保理融资策略

保理是融资机构基于供应链上下游企业之间实际发生交易而给予供应链卖方企业的一种短期融资。基于连续生产模型研究了资金约束制造商的最优保理融资策略。考虑保理时间决策对融资成本和需求损失的影响,比较了固定期保理和即时保理两种策略下制造商的利润。研究发现,固定期保理策略下的最优保理时间随着其边际利润的增加而提前,而随着保理费率上升、应收款账期延长、自有资金增加而延迟。数值研究结果发现,保理商最优保理费率随着应收账款账期延长而降低。     

Side-payment contracts in two-person nonzero-sum supply chain games: Review,discussion and applications

This paper investigates supply chain coordination with side-payment contracts. We first summarize specific side-payment contracts and present our review on the literature that developed general side-payment schemes to coordinate supply chains. Following our review, we discuss two criteria that a proper side-payment contract must satisfy, and accordingly introduce a decision-dependent transfer payment function and a constant transfer term. We present the condition that the transfer function must satisfy, and use Nash arbitration scheme and Shapley value to compute the constant transfer term and derive its closed-form solution. Next, we provide a five-step procedure for the development of side-payment contract, and apply it to four supply chain games: Cournot and Bertrand games, a two-retailer supply chain game with substitutable products and a one-supplier, one-retailer supply chain. More specifically, for the Cournot game, we construct a linear transfer function and a constant side-payment to coordinate two producers. For the Bertrand game, we build a nonlinear transfer function which is equivalent to a revenue-sharing contract, and show that the constant term is zero and two firms in the game equally share the system-wide profit. For a supply chain with substitutable products, we present a side-payment contract to coordinate two retailers. For a two-echelon supply chain, we develop a proper side-payment scheme that can coordinate the supply chain and also help reduce the impact of forward buying on supply chain performance.     

交易流动性不对等环境下基于收入共享契约的供应链协调

供应链中存在单一生产商、单一零售商和一个交易流动性不对等的第三方B2B电子交易市场。在零售需求不确定的情况下,分别建立了供应链集中决策模型、传统固定合约均衡决策模型、收入共享契约分散决策模型,验证了收入共享契约在多渠道采购环境下仍可以协调供应链,分析了使供应链达到帕累托改进的收入共享契约的参数设定,最后分别从卖出流动性和买入流动性两个角度讨论了交易流动性对供应链的影响。研究结果表明,卖出流动性好的电子交易市场可以促使供应链达到最优生产量,实现整体收益的最大化;两种交易流动性的趋好都会提高供应链效率,但生产商更偏好卖出流动性好的电子交易市场。     

Decentralization versus coordination in competing supply chains under retailers’ extended warranties

This paper studies a two-tier duopoly competing supply chain system consisting of two manufacturers and two exclusive retailers. Both manufacturers produce differentiated products and both retailers provide extended warranties for the products they sell. Two types of channel-structure strategy options are considered: a decentralized structure with a wholesale price contract and a coordinated structure with a sophisticated contract. We first derive the equilibrium outcomes under three possible chain-to-chain competition scenarios. Subsequently, we reveal how manufacturers control their retail channels to gain more supply chain system profit under an interactive environment with supply chain competition and retailers’ extended warranties. We find that pure coordinated channel competition and pure decentralized channel competition may both reach equilibrium. Furthermore, the interaction forces of supply chain competition and extended warranty service significantly impact the characteristics of the equilibria. Finally, we analyze the competing supply chain’s coordination contract design by using the example of a two-part tariff contract, and determine the feasible contract parameter range that results in a win-win solution for supply chain members.

     

Contract design for technology sharing between two farmers

Technology sharing among farmers has become common but controversial in recent years. To address it, we consider two farmers engaged in Cournot competition to investigate motivations of technology sharing and provide suggestions on contract design. One farmer (a licensor) has developed some technology and decides whether to share technology with the other farmer (a licensee). The licensee chooses whether to buy technology under a fixed-rate contract or a royalty-fee contract. We propose a technology sharing ratio between two farmers to characterize the degree of technology sharing. We find a win–win outcome for both farmers when the technology sharing ratio is higher than a threshold under the fixed-fee contract. While under the royalty-fee contract, the licensor only shares technology with an additional constraint that they have similar production costs. When the licensor can design contracts, he prefers the royalty-fee contract to the fixed-fee contract. We further interpret why the licensor may not benefit more under the two-part tariff contract than the fixed-fee or the royalty-fee contract. Moreover, we find that in supply chain settings, a win–win outcome for both farmers exists if and only if the technology sharing ratio is smaller than a threshold under the fixed-fee contract while technology sharing will not be realized under the royalty-fee contract. Finally, we show that the strategy of whether to share technology is robust to yield uncertainty, and both the licensor and licensee may benefit more from technology sharing because of yield uncertainty.

     

供应链链际竞争的研究与发展

本文试图从供应链的结构、竞争的数学经济模型,以及工业应用的领域等三个方向, 概括和介绍国际和国内有关供应链链际竞争的研究工作。其中绝大多数的数学模型是建立 在竞争的各方都是具有相同性质和相同结构的供应链的前提假设下,因此是对称的链际竞 争模型,而且主要局限于二层或者三层的供应链网络。但是我们也特别介绍了一些非对称的模型可以用来研究不同性质和结构的供应链之间的竞争问题。另一个有意义的方向是研 究链内的合作契约在链际竞争中所起到的作用。     

多因素扰动下同价双渠道供应链协调应对突发事件

一条双渠道供应链存在一个传统零售商和一个拥有电子渠道的制造商,制造商采用了跟随零售商线上线下同价的定价策略。通过建立市场需求模型,求出供应链的最优价格、生产数量,利用博弈论和合同理论的原理设计收益共享契约。研究表明,当供应链处于稳定状态时,收益共享契约可以用来实现同价双渠道供应链的协调。当突发事件导致市场规模和制造成本发生扰动时,同价双渠道供应链存在鲁棒性,而收益共享契约也能够很好地协调同价机制下的双渠道分权供应链,最后给出一个算例验证了结论。     

外包策略下的三级供应链系统协调问题研究

由于存在着激烈的商业竞争,供需匹配成为供应链追求高绩效的关键.本文在制造商采取产能外包的策略下,引入二次采购契约研究制造商和销售商之间的契约订货问题.研究表明:1)供应链上存在一个核心企业来主导供应链契约的制定;2)本文设计的二次采购契约机制对分散式供应链的协调是有效的;3)制造商通过产能外包解决由于销售商的二次采购造成的缺货,可以使其更好地满足销售商的产品需求,进而提高供应链整体收益.最后,通过算例对研究结果作进一步说明.     

Optimal business policies for a supplier–transporter–buyer channel with a price-sensitive demand

As the third party logistics partners (carriers) taking a more and more significant role in supply chain practices and customer service performance improvement, there is an emerging need for the studies on optimal channel coordination policies for business processes involving not only supplier and buyer (retailer), but also transportation partners. In this paper, we explicitly add a transportation partner with concave cost functions into the analysis for supplier–buyer channel coordination policies, and analyse the impact of coordination and pricing policies on supply chain profitability. The market demand is assumed to be a decreasing convex function of buyer's selling price (x), D(x)=d/x². Under this assumption, we quantify the improvement on total supply chain profitability when moving from a non-cooperative environment to a fully cooperative environment, and show that the joint annual profit of three partners in a cooperative environment can be at least twice of what may be achieved by three independently operated companies in a leader–follower business game. While in a real-world business environment, a perfect collaboration is hard to achieve, this result can be used to provide a quick estimation on the upper bound on the budget for profit sharing or discount offers among the supply chain partners.     

云服务供应链技术创新与动态定价的微分博弈分析

考虑了时间因素对产品技术先进度的影响,引入微分博弈的方法在动态框架下研究云服务产品动态定价及技术创新问题。分别探讨了两种合作研发模式(创新成本分担契约和收益共享契约)下的微分博弈模型及均衡结果。结果表明,技术先进度敏感系数的增加会提高技术创新投入、云产品价格以及云服务供应链各成员利润;对于整个云服务供应链来说,选择低创新成本分担比例或高收益共享比例更加有利;当云服务供应链内部成员意见不一致时,可使用一次性转让合同来协调两方的行为。最后通过数值算例展示了模型的有效性。     

不同渠道权力结构下的双渠道闭环供应链定价与协调决策

在双渠道环境下,针对不同渠道权力结构对闭环供应链最优决策的影响情况,构建了三种分散化(制造商主导的Stackelberg博弈、零售商主导的Stackelberg博弈以及由制造商和零售商构成的Nash均衡博弈)和一种集中化的闭环供应链决策模型,并得出了相关的均衡策略。在此基础上进一步有针对性的设计了两种契约相结合的契约机制协调供应链,并利用数值算例分析验证所得结论以及契约机制的有效性与可实践性,同时分析模型中的一些重要参数如渠道替代系数、传统渠道所占市场份额、废旧产品回收率、再制造成本节约等对双渠道供应链各项最优决策及渠道利润的影响。     

基于批发价契约的多零售商横向转载的供应链协调

研究了多零售商横向转载的供应链批发价契约协调问题。以包含一个制造商和多个零售商的供应链系统为研究对象,基于批发价契约研究了零售商转载下的供应链协调问题,获取了批发价契约可以协调零售商存在横向转载的供应链的理论证据,并给出了相应的产生供应链协调的条件,详细分析了协调情形下供应链系统最优订货量与多零售商无转载及单报童等情形下的最优订货量之间的关系。进一步研究了制造商与零售商在Stackelberg博弈下,零售商横向转载对制造商收益的影响,并提出了在Stackelberg博弈模型中,批发价契约也有可能促使制造商选择供应链系统最优订货量所对应的批发价格,使得供应链协调,且给出了此种协调产生的具体条件。数值算例则对两种供应链协调情形下的订货量、批发价格及期望收益进行了计算与仿真。研究表明,批发价契约可能会使得多零售商存在转载的供应链实现协调,传统的双重边际化效应将会由于制造商和零售商的理性而被弱化。     

政府引导下的逆向供应链契约设计

运用委托代理理论和甄别博弈的显示性原理,探讨不对称信息下逆向供应链契约设计问题。分别基于政府不参与逆向供应链运作、政府对零售商实施奖励、政府对零售商实施奖惩三种前提,建立决策模型,得到不同模型下制造商提供给零售商的契约设计策略。三种契约比较分析显示:政府对零售商实施奖励政策时,制造商提供给零售商的线性支付最小,此时制造商提供的契约最为有利。     

基于竞合关系的合同制造商融资策略研究

考虑由竞争合同制造商和原始设备生产商(OEM)组成的竞合供应链,竞争合同制造商在上游是OEM的合作者,在下游市场上是OEM的竞争者。当合同制造商因资金约束而不能进行生产运营时,一个通常做法是向银行贷款或者OEM融资;为了更好地探讨竞合供应链的融资决策,考虑了批发价格分别为外生变量和内生变量两种不同的情况下,以OEM为Stackelberg领导者的博弈,这与实际情况很接近。分析结果表明,当批发价格分别为外生变量时,合同制造商融资方式的选择主要受融资利率的影响;当批发价格为内生变量时,合同制造商融资方式的选择主要受自身自有资金量的影响。研究揭示了竞合供应链的融资决策过程,阐明了合同制造商的融资方式选择与自身的自有资金量和融资利率的关系。最后用数值算例对上述结论进行了验证说明。     

共享平台下供应链闲置资源动态优化配置策略

随着共享经济的发展,其领域已从消费环节延伸到供应链层面。供应链上闲置资源如何重新配置,以实现共享,提高资源利用率,是共享供应链企业面临的新问题。本文考虑基于共享平台的供应链闲置资源匹配过程的动态性,利用微分博弈和动态规划原理分别建立集中式决策下、无成本分担和有成本分担契约的分散式决策下共享供应链闲置资源的优化配置模型,并构建对应的哈密顿-雅克比-贝尔曼(HJB)方程,求解和分析三种情形下资源供应方、共享平台和需求方关于供应链共享闲置资源的最优配置策略。结果表明,成本分担契约在一定条件下可提高供应链闲置资源参与方的积极性,并使供应链上各参与方利润增加,实现共享供应链的Pareto改进。     

Artificial intelligence-based inventory management: a Monte Carlo tree search approach

The coordination of order policies constitutes a great challenge in supply chain inventory management as various stochastic factors increase its complexity. Therefore, analytical approaches to determine a policy that minimises overall inventory costs are only suitable to a limited extent. In contrast, we adopt a heuristic approach, from the domain of artificial intelligence (AI), namely, Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS). To the best of our knowledge, MCTS has neither been applied to supply chain inventory management before nor is it yet widely disseminated in other branches of operations research. We develop an offline model as well as an online model which bases decisions on real-time data. For demonstration purposes, we consider a supply chain structure similar to the classical beer game with four actors and both stochastic demand and lead times. We demonstrate that both the offline and the online MCTS models perform better than other previously adopted AI-based approaches. Furthermore, we provide evidence that a dynamic order policy determined by MCTS eliminates the bullwhip effect.

     

竞争环境下多个损失规避零售商的供应链回购契约

研究由单个风险中性的供应商与多个竞争的损失厌恶零售商组成的两阶段供应链,在回购契约中考察竞争和零售商的损失厌恶态度对其最优订购决策和整个供应链协调性的影响.应用博弈论的方法,证明了该供应链博弈存在唯一的纯策略Nash均衡,而且竞争使得零售商的总订购量上升,而损失规避使得总订购量下降.竞争的存在削弱了损失厌恶效应对整个供应链协调性的影响.研究还发现,零售商的最优订购量随供应商的批发价增大而增大,随回购价格的增大而减少,并且在一定条件下回购契约可以使得供应链达到协调.     

考虑政府约束的再制造闭环供应链差别定价博弈模型

本文考虑政府对废弃产品回收的奖惩约束措施,针对一类由制造商、零售商构成的再制造闭环供应链系统,基于博弈论方法研究了新产品和再制造品存在定价差别时集中决策和分散决策模式下的定价策略,得出了闭环供应链成员的最优定价策略和利润,并分析了政府约束措施对闭环供应链运作的影响。研究表明:集中决策下供应链效率高于Stackelberg博弈分散决策,为此设计了一个收益共享协调定价契约实现了闭环供应链的协调,进而分析了政府回收约束情况下再制造过程利润超过制造过程的再制造优先条件。算例分析验证了定价策略及协调机制的有效性。     

Coordination of supply chains by option contracts: A cooperative game theory approach

Manufacturer–retailer supply chains commonly adopt a wholesale price mechanism. This mechanism, however, has often led manufacturers and retailers to situations of conflicts of interest. For example, due to uncertain market demand, retailers prefer to order flexibly from manufacturers so as to avoid incurring inventory costs and to be able to respond flexibly to market changes. Manufacturers, on the other hand, prefer retailers to place full orders as early as possible so that they can hedge against the risks of over- and under-production. Such conflicts between retailers and manufacturers can result in an inefficient supply chain. Motivated by this problem, we take a cooperative game approach in this paper to consider the coordination issue in a manufacturer–retailer supply chain using option contracts. Using the wholesale price mechanism as a benchmark, we develop an option contract model. Our study demonstrates that, compared with the benchmark based on the wholesale price mechanism, option contracts can coordinate the supply chain and achieve Pareto-improvement. We also discuss scenarios in which option contracts are selected according to individual supply chain members’ risk preferences and negotiating powers.     

Reverse supply chain coordination by revenue sharing contract: A case for the personal computers industry

Products that are not recycled at the end of their life increasingly damage the environment. In a collection – remanufacturing scheme, these end-of-life products can generate new profits. Designed on the personal computers industry, this study defines an analytical model used to explore the implications of recycling on the reverse supply chain from an efficiency perspective for all participants in the process. The cases considered for analysis are the two- and three-echelon supply chains, where we first look at the decentralized reverse setting followed by the coordinated setting through implementation of revenue sharing contract. We define customer willingness to return obsolete units as a function of the discount offered by the retailer in exchange for recycling devices with a remanufacturing value. The results show that performance measures and total supply chain profits improve through coordination with revenue sharing contracts on both two- and three-echelon reverse supply chains.