Equilibrium in supply chain network with competition and service level between channels considering consumers' channel preferences

This paper considers a dual-channel supply chain network consisting of multiple competing manufacturers, multiple competing retailers and multiple demand markets. Each manufacturer produces and distributes his products via direct e-commerce channel along with traditional physical channel. The manufacturers also provide services for the consumers in both channels, while the retailers only offer offline services to the consumers. On this basis, a dual-channel supply chain network equilibrium model with pricing and service decisions are established based on variational inequality theory. Nash equilibrium solutions are obtained by modified projection and contraction method. Combined with numerical examples, we analyze the impact of three critical factors on the equilibrium states and profits. Some interesting managerial insights are derived. We find that the profits of the manufacturers decrease (increase) in the raw material conversion ratio under single channel case (dual-channel case), while the increase of the raw material conversion ratio always benefits the retailers and the whole dual-channel supply chain network; the service level in each channel is positively correlated with its transaction volume. There are significant inconsistencies among the best combinations of cross-channel price coefficients between two channels for the manufacturers, the retailers and the whole dual-channel supply chain network. The same equilibrium decision (service level, price) or profit may exhibit the opposite changing trend with respect to cross-channel price coefficients under two cases of active e-commerce transaction and inactive e-commerce transaction. When the introduction of e-commerce channel can bring more profits for the whole dual-channel supply chain network, the manufacturers should provide reasonable allocation schemes of profit increment for the retailers to satisfy their participation constraints.     

服务补贴与具有相同供应商的供应链博弈研究

针对由两个零售商和一个共同的供应商组成的供应链,供应商将具有可替代性的两种产品通过两个零售商进行销售,零售商为其产品提供服务,供应商为零售商提供服务补贴。分析得出:向零售商提供服务补贴虽然能够提高零售商针对自己产品所提供的服务水平,增加其产品的市场占有率和供应商的利润,但并不能增加零售商的利润,反而会使其利润减少。如果在供应商向零售商提供服务补贴的供应链中采用纳什讨价还价机制,不仅可以使产品的服务和销量保持在不采用纳什讨价还价机制的供应商向零售商提供服务补贴时供应链的水平,还可以使供应商和零售商的利润都增加,此时供应商愿意提供服务补贴,零售商愿意接受服务补贴。     

Key Account Management in information-intensive services

Key Account Management (KAM) is surprisingly little known marketing approach in retailing and consumer services context, however it has much to offer to companies in these industries. It provides an effective, practical and rather simple method for companies interested in increasing their profits by right customer and relationship management. Indeed, KAM is a business-to-business marketing approach, however most retailers and service companies can greatly benefit from it. A large number of retailers and service companies operate both in the consumer and business-to-business market. Few retailers or service providers have never invoiced another company. Moreover, most consumer goods and services are influenced by business-to-business services. The availability and quality of consumer goods and services often essentially depends on various business-to-business services in the earlier phases of marketing channels. Furthermore, by understanding the logic of KAM, retailers and consumer service providers can develop their own key supplier management. Information is one of the most important resources of goods and services in post-industrial economy. Information-intensive services are based on knowledge and refining of information. Increasing number of information-intensive services emerge both in the consumer and business-to-business market. This paper describes the nature of KAM and information-intensive services, and suggests a framework for KAM practices in information-intensive services.     

Pricing and coordination with consideration of piracy for digital goods in supply chains

Sales of digital goods via traditional channels are affected by those on digital channels, and thus a competitive relationship often exists. In addition, due to the ease of piracy, digital goods may suffer from a fall in demand, which intensifies competition. This study considers a single supplier who sells digital goods, which may be pirated, to customers through two independent and different retail channels, such as traditional and digital ones, which may compete with each other in terms of service and price. To consider the effects of piracy on demand, a Stackelberg game is utilized to determine the optimal gain-sharing ratio and the equilibrium prices for all channel members with an aim to maximize the profit of the entire supply chain. It is found that an increase in piracy would force retailers to compete in a smaller market, and thus lead to a decrease in profits for each channel member. Therefore, a retailer who has a greater market share and is capable of managing a lower piracy rate would gain more profits by setting a higher price.     

旧货市场呈现“新七彩”

北京最大旧货交易市场——新七彩商业中心旧货交易商城进驻泛CBD地区,这会为旧货市场带来哪些理念的冲击与影响?让我们来一睹它的神采。     

农村商品流通发展对策研究

本文认为,目前我国农村商品流通中存在着商品流通业态单一、营销方式单一、支付方式单一、流通网络薄弱等问题。开拓农村市场,要进一步提高农村商品档次、增加商品种类;积极发展农村超市和连锁经营,开辟旧货市场,满足农村市场的不同需求;完善支付方式,如赊销、信用交易等,为农村市场发展提供更多的便利;推行新的营销方式,增加有效供给;加强物流供应链理论的研究,发挥各类协会在农村商品流通中的重要作用。     

基于第三方电子交易平台的供应链金融服务创新——云仓及其运作模式初探

针对中小企业“融资难”现象,对比分析传统供应链金融与交易型电子商务平台的交易方式和融资模式,将传统供应链金融服务拓展到现货电子交易平台上,提出“云仓”——这一新型商业模式,该模式提供供应链一体化服务,既可线上交易担保和商机拓展,又可线下融资支持和仓储物流服务,同时具有现货连续交易的价格发现机制,能更有效地解决中小企业融资瓶颈,提高商品流通效率,降低融资风险。该文为供应链金融业务和现货电子交易市场持续健康发展提供理论支撑和行业指导。     

Conceptualizing and managing service supply chains

The supply chain management (SCM) literature is dominated by studies in industrial markets and studies that deal with the supply chains of manufactured goods. This paper develops a framework for conceptualizing and managing the supply chains of services. The few studies that deal with services' supply chains either focus on a particular business service sector or they adopt an unvaried approach to the management of different service supply chains. The paper draws insights from the existing frameworks for SCM and takes into account the peculiar characteristics for the production and delivery of services across several service industries. Based on the analysis of several processes, areas of concern for supply chain managers are identified, and a research agenda for services SCM phenomena is proposed.     

Differentiation value through services in a manufacturer's delivery chain

The delivery of industrial goods includes various possibilities for service business. Previous research has concentrated on third-party logistics (3PL) providers' perspective on service opportunities. This study takes the manufacturer's perspective in inter-organizational relationships and investigates the potential for differentiation value though services associated with the delivery of industrial goods. Field observation was carried out on three high-volume construction component deliveries, to uncover differentiation value drivers and the emergence of service opportunities in a manufacturer's delivery chain. The results complement earlier 3PL-centered goods delivery research by showing that the manufacturer's unique product and process competences, and activities in the delivery chain drive differentiation value, enable new service opportunities. The findings, thereby, draw attention to manufacturers and their competences as sources of added-value service in the delivery of industrial goods. Manufacturing firms have various options for differentiation and centrality in the inter-organizational network through cooperation with third parties. The results reveal that third parties can be hidden sources of added customer value in the goods delivery chain. The differentiation value for different firms in the industrial goods' delivery chains can emerge when firms begin to develop and offer services to each other, and therefore a proactive and in-depth analysis of their customers' differentiation-oriented value hierarchies is required.     

Market Structure and Market Access

We explore an issue at the nexus of domestic competition policy and international trade, the interaction between goods trade and market power in domestic trade and distribution sectors. We examine the effect of variations in conditions of domestic competition in services on trade volumes in goods in the cases of both linear and nonlinear import demand, including standard form CES‐based gravity models of bilateral trade flows. Theory suggests a set of linkages between service‐sector pricing and goods trade supported by econometrics involving imports of 22 OECD countries vis‐a‐vis 69 exporters. Competition in distribution services affects the volume of trade in goods. Additionally, because of interaction between tariffs and pricing, the market structure of the domestic service sector becomes increasingly important as tariffs are reduced. Indeed, depending on the degree of competition, market access concessions on tariffs may be effectively undone in some cases by changes in margins. For exporters, we find that service competition in destination markets matters most for exporters from smaller, poorer countries. Our results also suggest that while negotiated agreements leading to cross‐border services liberalisation may boost goods trade as well, they may also lead to a fall in goods trade when such liberalisation involves FDI leading to increased service sector concentration.     

Retail services and firm profit in a dual-channel market

With the rapid development of the Internet, many manufacturers nowadays use online technology to engage in direct sales. The mix of retailing with a direct channel adds a new dimension of competition and complementarity to a product's distribution channels. Our model focuses on the strategic role played by the retail services in a dual-channel competitive market. The manufacturer uses a direct channel as an effective tool to motivate the retailer to improve its retail services and profits from it. While operated by the manufacturer to motivate retailer to perform more effectively from the manufacturer's perspective, the direct channel may not always be detrimental to the retailer because the retailer can obtain a lower wholesale price from the manufacturer and a higher sales volume from the improved retail services. In our research, our results suggest that the improved retail services effectively alleviate the channel competition and conflict and improve the supply chain performance in a competitive market.     

不同市场力量下的再制造闭环供应链决策研究

本文建立了由一个制造商和两个竞争零售商组成的再制造闭环供应链博弈模型,研究了制造商领导的Stackelberg博弈、零售商领导的Stackelberg博弈、制造商和零售商Nash均衡博弈等三种市场力量结构,研究和对比了三种市场力量结构下的均衡回收率、批发价、零售价、渠道成员利润、渠道总利润。研究结果表明：零售商的回收率在市场无领导者时最高,在制造商领导的市场中最低。批发价格在制造商领导时最高,最小的是零售商领导情形。零售价在制造商领导时最高,最小是市场无领导者情形。消费者和整个行业均受益于无领导者的市场结构。然而,制造商和零售商均有动机成为领导者。在具市场领导的市场结构下,消费者和整个行业偏好零售商领导的市场结构。     

我国电力改革后电力普遍服务主体的变迁及实施机制

电力市场化改革后,电力企业以作为追求利润最大化的市场主体而存在,没有内在的提供电力普遍服务这种公共产品的动机。因此,电力普遍服务供给有赖于建立一个科学合理的电力普遍服务实施机制,其中尤为关键的是要建立一个合理的协调电力普遍服务过程中相关电力企业的利益关系,并建立一个科学合理的利益补偿机制。     

基于复杂系统理论的企业生态系统动态演化研究

将生命周期理论引入企业生态系统的动态演化规律分析,其演化过程经历开拓、成长、成熟、自我更新或衰退大致四个阶段。基于耗散结构理论,对企业生态系统的动态演化机制进行研究,得出其演化是自组织和环境选择相结合的结果的结论。     

WHY ARE GOODS CHEAPER IN RICH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES? BEYOND THE BALASSA–SAMUELSON EFFECT

In wealthy European countries consumer goods tend to be cheaper than consumer services. Usually explained in terms of cost developments and/or foreign‐trade considerations, this trend could also be a reflection of demand‐side regularities. Estimation of a cross‐country demand system indicates that goods are ‘necessities’ whereas services are ‘luxuries’. The relative price of goods responds negatively to the rising supply of goods and positively to the rising supply of services, with the former response being much stronger. If the supplies of both items were to rise at the same speed, the relative price of goods would have to fall.     

Modes of goods acquisition in deprived neighbourhoods

The aim of this paper is to show that the extent to which British consumers acquire their goods new through formal retail outlets is not as all-pervasive as some might believe. Analysing how 200 households in relatively deprived areas of Southampton last acquired six goods (furniture, DIY tools, clothes, fridge, cooker and car), it finds that a large proportion of goods were acquired either informally and/or second-hand, especially amongst households excluded from the formal labour market, due to their financial circumstances. Given this reliance on informal and second-hand modes of goods acquisition, it concludes that public policy should seek to develop initiatives for the distribution of such goods, especially electrical goods, in a more regulated environment. Without such developments, the socially excluded will remain dependent on modes of acquisition in which there is little or no regulation of the quality of the products.     

Do WTO+ commitments in services trade agreements reflect a quest for optimal regulatory convergence? Evidence from Asia

Literature examining WTO + commitments in services trade agreements (STA s) has not considered the role of services regulation. We bridge this gap using a sample of 15 South/South‐East Asian countries, given the burgeoning trend of Asian economies towards services preferentialism and the largely WTO + nature of their preferential services commitments. Our empirical findings suggest that Asian trading dyads with regulatory frameworks that are more similar and more trade restrictive tend to undertake higher levels of WTO + commitments in their STA s. There is also evidence in our results, including by modes of supply, for WTO + commitments in Asian STA s being driven by goods trade complementarities, alluding to supply chain dynamics in the region. Such results support the hypothesis that the heightened “servicification” of production generates a demand to lower services input costs arising from regulatory incidence and heterogeneity.     

基于第四方物流的物流园区互联互通问题研究——双边市场视角

基于4PL的现代物流园区是典型的双边市场经营平台,为解决物流园区间物流服务供给与需求的外部不均衡性,利用双边市场结构模型分析物流服务水平不对称的两个物流园区双边市场经营平台的互联互通,并研究物流服务水平较低的物流园区的物流服务创新、物流园区双边市场交叉网络外部性对互联互通的综合影响。求解发现低物流服务水平的物流园区进行物流服务创新,在交叉网络外部性的综合作用下,会对两个物流园区双边市场经营平台互联互通后的利润、交易费、市场份额产生复杂的交叉影响。     

Entry mode selection and its impact on an incumbent supply chain coordination

This paper considers a supply chain where a manufacturer sells its product through a retailer. In such a market, a potential entrant can make a substitute product by imitating the incumbent's product and then sells it to the common market with one of three alternative entry modes: (i) selling through the incumbent's retailer, (ii) selling through another independent retailer, or (iii) selling directly to consumers. Faced with the entrant's entry, the manufacturer has managed to offer a value-added service to add to its product's value at a cost. We investigate the entrant's optimal entry mode when the manufacturer offers profit-sharing contracts to the retailer and when it does not, and discuss the impact of the potential invader's entry on the incumbent firms' performances. The results show that: (1) the entrant sells directly to consumers when faced with weak value competition, and sells through another retailer against fierce value competition. (2) If the value competition is relatively fierce and the efficiency of the value-added service is relatively high as well, the incumbent firms can benefit from the new entry. (3) A profit-sharing contract, as a coordination policy, can fully coordinate the incumbent supply chain no matter whether there exists a potential entrant or not, yet the entry can affect the distribution of the profits between the incumbent manufacturer and retailer.     

Profits and perils in the antiques and collectibles market: the influence of product knowledge structures on dealer exchange outcomes

The secondary market for antiques and collectibles represents a disorganized market channel characterized by competition for supply of rare goods and retail sales arising from non-traditional channels, loose ties among channel members, and largely unregulated transactions between buyers and sellers. This study explores how knowledge structures affect dealers' abilities to turn a profit in the antiques and collectibles market. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews with eight professional antiques and collectibles dealers operating in different regions of the United States. Findings indicate that while information is widespread, its credibility can be difficult to assess without some degree of product and market knowledge. Furthermore, the findings show knowledge plays a critical and somewhat differential role in the ability of professional dealers to turn a profit. Knowledge asymmetries that create favorable conditions for profits when dealers hold the balance of informational power in the upstream acquisition of antiques and collectibles ironically reduce dealers' ability to earn profits in downstream resale of these goods. Findings support a multidimensional view of knowledge as a broader concept, based on information and product and market expertise, but deepened by experiences that lead to tacit knowledge, which can be difficult to transmit.