Channel incentives in sharing new product demand information and robust contracts

Demand for a new product is often highly uncertain. As the developer of a new product, the manufacturer may reduce the uncertainty of the product’s demand through observing progress in his product development process or receiving demand signals directly from customers. This paper first shows that a centralized channel always benefits from improved demand information. Yet, to realize this benefit in a decentralized manufacturer–retailer channel, the manufacturer needs to disclose his private demand information to the retailer. We show that the manufacturer’s incentive to share his improved demand information depends on the supply contract signed with the retailer. Furthermore, mandating the manufacturer to disclose his improved demand information can actually reduce the total channel profit. We provide managerial insights by analyzing three widely used contract forms. We investigate whether these contracts are robust under an unanticipated demand information update observed by the manufacturer. We show that the quantity flexibility contract with a high return rate is not robust. The buyback contract, however, is robust and always achieves information sharing while preserving channel performance.     

考虑权力结构的产品服务供应链服务渠道选择及协调研究

在制造业服务化转型过程中,传统的产品供应链转变为了产品服务供应链,为顾客提供产品和服务,服务可以由制造商或零售商提供,权力结构会对服务渠道的选择产生影响。本文通过建立博弈模型,研究了制造商为核心、零售商为核心以及制造商与零售商权力均等三种权力结构下最优服务渠道的选择问题,并应用两部定价契约对最优服务渠道的结果进行协调。研究发现,当制造商为核心时,最优的服务渠道为零售商提供服务,当零售商为核心时,最优的服务渠道为制造商提供服务,当制造商与零售商权力均等时,不存在最优的服务渠道。两部定价契约可以实现最优服务渠道的协调,最后通过数值仿真对结论进行了验证。     

考虑大数据营销和风险规避的绿色供应链决策与协调

通过建立考虑大数据营销及零售商风险规避的博弈模型,对绿色供应链定价、产品绿色度及利润进行比较分析。研究发现：无论集中决策、双方风险中性分散决策还是仅零售商风险规避分散决策,考虑大数据营销时的供应链整体期望利润和产品绿色度较高,且大数据营销效率因子对产品绿色度的增加有正向作用;双方风险中性分散决策下,一定条件下,两部定价契约能够有效协调供应链整体利润,实现帕累托改进;仅零售商风险规避分散决策下,零售商的风险规避行为会降低其对大数据营销的投入,一定条件下,两部定价契约也能够实现供应链整体期望利润的帕累托改进。     

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.     

需求不确定下制造商为核心的三级供应链协调

在需求不确定的情境下,研究由单一供应商、制造商和销售商组成的三级供应链系统的协调问题。设计了制造商—销售商采用期权契约,制造商—供应商采用回购契约的联合契约协调机制,分析了集中控制、分散控制和协调机制下供应链系统的最优决策。最后,通过数值算例说明了机制设计的有效性,并对分析结果进行验证。研究结果表明,通过制定合理的契约参数可以使供应链各成员的期望利润相比分散决策时有帕累托改进,从而实现三级供应链系统的协调。     

Coordination of cooperative cost-reduction efforts in a supply chain partnership

We study cooperative cost reduction in a decentralized supply chain with a single manufacturer and multiple suppliers. The manufacturer assembles components that are procured from the suppliers to produce a final product. Both the manufacturer and the suppliers invest in reducing the unit production costs of the components. We see that neither of the two well-known conventional contracts, the wholesale price contract and the cost-plus pricing contract, generally coordinates the supply chain, i.e., under both of these types of contract, the individual optimal cost-reduction efforts of players deviate from the centralized system-optimal solution. However, this result is not surprising because these contracts encourage either only the manufacturer or only the suppliers alone to invest in cost reduction.     

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。     

双渠道供应链中的价格决策与服务决策研究

在集中式和分散式决策条件下,应用两阶段优化技术和Stackelberg博弈的理论与方法,对一个制造商与一个零售商组成的双渠道供应链,重点考虑了制造商在网络渠道的服务决策,建立了利润最大化模型,得到了最优的价格策略和服务策略,研究表明,网络渠道的服务水平对制造商和零售商的价格决策有着重要影响,而且消费者对网络直销渠道的偏好对制造商和零售商价格决策和服务决策会产生很大影响．     

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。     

Quality uncertainty and quality-compensation contract for supply chain coordination

Many firms often face quality problems, even though quality improvement has long been a competitive imperative for performance enhancement. When suppliers are the sources of quality problems, prior literature has focused on sustaining a buyer’s competitiveness given the suppliers’ quality uncertainty. Surprisingly, the literature has not paid sufficient attention to quality uncertainty from a coordination perspective. On the other hand, the literature on channel coordination has not considered quality uncertainty in designing a contract of alliance. We bridge the gap between these two streams of literature by explicitly considering quality uncertainty in a coordination framework. In contrast to the coordination literature, we show that channel integration may result in smaller order quantity and less accurate inspection than in a decentralized supply chain if product quality is uncertain. We examine the two most extensively discussed contracts for coordination, buybacks and revenue-sharing, in the presence of quality uncertainty, and find that these two contracts fail to coordinate the supply chain. We then propose a new scheme, the quality-compensation contract, in which the manufacturer compensates the retailer for defective products that are inadvertently sold to consumers, and analytically show that the contract fully coordinates the supply chain.     

不确定环境下制造再制造供应链定价与协调问题研究

研究模糊不确定环境下制造/再制造供应链系统的定价与协调问题。通过考虑制造产品与再制造产品的差异性,利用模糊理论和博弈论理论等知识,在集中式和分散式决策方式下,分别给出了制造/再制造商和零售商关于制造产品和再制造产品的最优价格决策,以及分散决策方式下的系统协调策略,并且利用数值算例对所得结果进行了分析。     

货架展示量与定价模型及供应链协调分析

针对单生产商和单零售商组成的供应链,假定需求依赖于货架展示量与零售价格,分别建立了集中式控制下和分散式控制下的货架展示量与定价决策模型,给出了协调供应链的批发价加货架补贴合同。针对单生产商和n个零售商组成的供应链,假定总需求是n个零售商的总货架展示量和平均零售价格的函数、每个零售商的需求与其货架展示相关的促销努力成正比,分析了相应的集中式与分散式决策,并给出了协调供应链的批发价加货架补贴加转移支付合同。     

回收再制造与定价决策模型及供应链协调分析

假定负责废旧产品回收再制造的生产商为主导者.针对单生产商和单零售商组成的逆向供应链,分析了Stackelberg博弈(分散式控制)下和合作(集中式控制)下的零售价和回收再制造率决策,发现集中式供应链的利润较高,给出了协调供应链的利润共享合同.针对单生产商和n个竞争零售商组成的供应链,分析了一主多从Stackelberg博弈和联合决策,结果表明供应链合作可降低产品的零售价格、提高回收再制造率和供应链总利润,进而给出了协调单生产商和n个零售商决策的利润共享合同.最后的算例表明了模型的合理性和协调合同的有效性.     

规模不经济下基于一致定价和促销努力的双渠道供应链协调策略

在制造商存在规模不经济环境下,分别针对集中决策模式和分散决策模式,建立了基于一致定价和促销努力的双渠道供应链协调策略模型,分析了规模不经济和服务负溢出效应对供应链运营决策的影响,得到了集中和分散决策下各企业最优运作策略和收益。研究指出,规模不经济的双渠道供应链在分散决策批发价契约下无法实现供应链协调;而分散决策网络渠道收益共享契约能够实现双渠道总收益等于集中决策模式下供应链收益,但无法保证各主体始终获得高于批发价合同下的收益;进一步,设计了带有固定补偿的网络渠道收益共享契约,通过对固定补偿值的有效设计,不仅可以保证双渠道总收益等于集中决策模式下供应链收益,且可以始终保证各主体收益不低于分散决策批发价契约下其所得收益,从而实现各主体利益双赢以及供应链的有效协调。     

Sustainability investment under cap-and-trade regulation

Carbon emission abatement is a hot topic in environmental sustainability and cap-and-trade regulation is regarded as an effective way to reduce the carbon emission. According to the real industrial practices, sustainable product implies that its production processes facilitate to reduce the carbon emission and has a positive response in market demand. In this paper, we study the sustainability investment on sustainable product with emission regulation consideration for decentralized and centralized supply chains. We first examine the order quantity of the retailer and sustainability investment of the manufacturer for the decentralized supply chain with one retailer and one manufacturer. After that, we extend our study to the centralized case where we determine the production quantity and sustainability investment for the whole supply chain. We derive the optimal order quantity (or production quantity) and sustainability investment, and find that the sustainability investment efficiency has a significant impact on the optimal solutions. Further, we conduct numerical studies and find surprisingly that the order quantity may be increasing in the wholesale price due to the effects of the sustainability and emission consideration. Moreover, we investigate the achievability of supply chain coordination by various contracts, and find that only revenue sharing contract can coordinate the supply chain whereas the buyback contract and two-part tariff contract cannot. Important insights and managerial implications are discussed.     

The implications of postponement on contract design and channel performance

We analyze a supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer under consignment sales with a revenue sharing contract. The manufacturer produces before, but charges price to sell the products through the retailer after the demand curve is revealed. The retailer deducts a fraction from the selling price for each unit sold and remits the balance to manufacturer. We refer to the capability whereby firms delay price decision and make sales in response to actual market condition as postponement. We find that, when market demand admits a multiplicative structure, the revenue share and allocation of channel profit between the firms when they have postponement capability are similar to when they do not have such capability. Postponement improves the profits of individual firms. Such an effect is more phenomenal in the centralized system than in decentralized system, and when the market demand is more sensitive to price changes. However, it causes the profit loss, defined as the percentage deviation of channel profit in the decentralized system relative to the centralized system, to worsen, and the gap widens with retailer’s sales cost. When the demand has an additive structure, while the roles of postponement on firms’ decisions differ slightly from those under the multiplicative structure, the structure of the strategic interactions between firms and relative channel performance are not significantly altered.     

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。     

Coordination in a two-stage capacitated supply chain with multiple suppliers

The aim of this paper is to coordinate the inventory policies in a decentralized supply chain with stochastic demand by means of contracts. The system considered is a decentralized two-stage supply chain consisting of multiple independent suppliers and a manufacturer with limited production capacities. The suppliers operate on a make-to-stock basis and apply base stock policy to manage their inventories. On the other hand, the manufacturer employs a make-to-order strategy. Under the necessary assumptions, each supplier is modeled as an M/M/1 make-to-stock queue; and the manufacturer is modeled as a GI/M/1 queue after deriving an approximate distribution for the interarrival times of the manufacturer. Once the supply chain is modeled as a queuing system, centralized and decentralized models are developed. Comparison of the optimal solutions to these models reveals that the supply chain needs coordination. Three different transfer payment contracts are examined in this paper. These are the backorder and holding cost subsidy contracts, the transfer payment contract based on Pareto improvement, and the cost sharing contract. Each contract is evaluated according to its coordination ability and whether it is Pareto improving or not. The results indicate that all three contracts can coordinate the supply chain. However, when the Pareto improvement is taken into account, the cost sharing contract seems to be the one that will be preferred by all parties.     

需求信息不对称下多渠道供应链的协调定价

针对由一个制造商和一个零售商组成的两层供应链,其中制造商拥有网络直销渠道和传统零售渠道组成的多渠道问题,运用stackelberg博弈分别进行了制造商和零售商需求信息不对称时二者集中控制和分散控制时的最优定价分析,结果表明分散控制会降低供应链的总体效率,继而为了提高多渠道供应链的效率,通过数量折扣模型对多渠道供应链进行协调定价,最后进行了算例验证及有效性分析,结果表明数量折扣模型能使多渠道供应链中的制造商和传统零售商达到双赢,它是合理有效的。     

考虑绿色等级和递送时间的双渠道绿色供应链

考虑了双渠道绿色供应链的定价决策问题.在集中式、分散式和协调合同条件下分别建立了双渠道绿色供应链的最优定价模型,给出了零售商和供应商的最优定价策略.研究表明,引入利润共享合同后零售商和供应商都会比在分散式决策下获得更多的利润.最后通过数值算例对不同条件下的模型进行了比较.