Structuring and contracting in competing supply chains

This paper considers two competing supply chains, each with multiple upstream suppliers producing complementary products and selling to a single buyer (e.g., assembler or retailer), who then sells the finished assembled product to a market that involves both demand uncertainty and competition. Our main research questions focus on what supply chain structure (integration vs. decentralization) and which contracting strategy a business should choose. We find that supply chains that decentralize perform better under strong market competition (i.e., high degree of product substitution between supply chains). However, when a large number of suppliers exist, supply chains that integrate perform better. When decentralized structures are used for both supply chains, a consignment with revenue sharing contract generally outperforms a wholesale price contract from the downstream retailer's point of view. Interestingly, for a supplier, a wholesale price contract, which pushes all demand risks to the downstream retailer, might not be preferred. For the entire supply chain, one contract strategy can outperform another depending on the degree of competition, the cost share of the buyer, and the number of suppliers.     

Strategic information sharing between competing retailers in a supply chain with endogenous wholesale price

This paper introduces a new motivation for information sharing in decentralized supply chains—as a mechanism to achieve truthful information sharing and to reduce signaling costs. We study a two-echelon supply chain with one manufacturer selling a homogenous product to n price-setting competing retailers. Each retailer has access to private information about the potential market demand, and the retailers have an ex-ante incentive to share this information with each other and to conceal the information from the manufacturer. However, without a mechanism that induces the retailers to truthful information exchange as their strategic choice, no information can be exchanged via pure communication (cheap talk). To overcome this obstacle, two signaling games are analyzed: in the first game, information is shared truthfully among the retailers; in the second game, information is also shared truthfully with the manufacturer. We show that under some conditions sharing information with the manufacturer results in a higher profit for the retailers.     

Resale price maintenance for supply chains distributing products with demand uncertainty

This paper explores the economic roles of resale price maintenance (RPM) in supply chains for a specific product, when consumers have taste heterogeneity and the manufacturer faces demand uncertainty. Two transaction schemes within supply chains are compared: (1) RPM, and (2) decentralized pricing in a competitive market environment. With decentralized pricing, a manufacturer loses the incentive to produce a product in categories where the probability that the manufacturer fails to design the product as suitable to public tastes of consumers is high. However, RPM resolves the problem and induces the manufacturer to supply the good, bringing positive surplus to consumers.     

Impact of RFID information-sharing strategies on a decentralized supply chain with reverse logistics operations

The integration of environmental practices in a supply chain has been study for the past few decades. However, most of the work relies on centralized decisions made by one player. Few papers address the complex dynamics of environmental decentralized supply chains and how these dynamics can affect environmental and economic outcomes. To study this problem, we consider a supply chain with a manufacturer and two different suppliers: a recycled-material and a raw-material supplier. The players make individual inventory decisions to satisfy demand and reduce cost. Further, this supply chain encompasses stochastic elements such as in demands, returns, and collection leadtimes. These decentralized decisions and random factors can cause underperforming results; therefore, new inventory models and technologies are needed to help companies increase coordination within these systems. We model the implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in the supply chain to determine if real-time inventory monitoring and information sharing can help the system attain higher environmental benefits (more returns) and higher economic benefits (less cost). We study two scenarios through a simulation-based analysis: No RFID and RFID. Numerical studies show that environmental benefits are significantly increased with the attainment of more returns. However, although economic benefits are realized, they are less significant than the environmental benefits. Further regression and sensitivity analyses on the cost performance measures reveal that economic benefits depend on several drivers inside the system. We present managerial insights that illustrate what configurations within this complex system can lead to the achieving of environmental as well as economic benefits.     

经销商再制造的闭环供应链收益-费用契约协调研究

针对经销商从事再制造的闭环供应链最优决策及协调问题，考虑消费者对新产品和再制造品的接受程度不同，本文构建了集中决策和分散决策两种模式下闭环供应链差别定价模型。研究发现，分散决策会造成整个闭环供应链的效率损失；消费者接受度对闭环供应链系统中各方的最优决策及利润具有一定影响，并提出了收益共享-费用分担契约来实现闭环供应链的协调和效率优化。最后通过算例分析，进一步验证了本文所提出的协调机制对闭环供应链的有效性。     

Coordination of a supply chain with one manufacturer and multiple competing retailers under simultaneous demand and cost disruptions

This paper develops a coordination mechanism for a supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and n Cournot competing retailers when the production cost and demands are simultaneously disrupted. This differs from traditional supply chain coordination models under a static case and the case with only demand or cost disruption. The coordination mechanism with revenue sharing is considered, and the effects of production cost and demand disruptions on revenue sharing contract are discussed to investigate the optimal strategies of players with disruptions. The penalty cost is introduced explicitly to obtain the production deviation cost caused by the disruptions. In this study, it is obtained that the coordination contract considering the production deviation cost differs from that without disruption. Besides that, the disruptions may affect the order quantities, wholesale prices as well as revenue sharing contract. Then, the optimal strategies for different disruption levels under the centralized decision-making mode are proposed. Concerning the decentralized mode, the improved revenue sharing contract can be used to coordinate the decentralized decision-making supply chain effectively. Finally, the theoretical results are illustrated by conducting some numerical examples.     

Green marketing and its impact on supply chain management in industrial markets

Green marketing and green supply chain have been drawing the attention of both academics and practitioners in the recent decade. However, no holistic framework has been developed on how to build green industrial brands and industrial corporate brands. Whether or not sustainable/green supply chains can be integrated with green industrial marketing in building greener organizations and industrial brands is still unclear. In addition, little is known on the factors on green new industrial product development or how green new industrial products are adopted by organizations. Furthermore, we know little of whether and how green supply chain enables green new industrial product development. This special issue aims at reflecting the most recent advances on green industrial marketing, green/sustainable supply chains and their interplay in green industrial branding, and to explore future research directions. The guest editors hope that the solicited papers can provide insights on the impacts of sustainable or green supply chains on marketing theory in industrial and business-to-business markets.     

基于供应链管理的房地产开发企业合伙模式研究

基于供应链的思想，传统制造业中的各个企业被看作整个供应链中的某一环节，供应链管理使企业集中优势资源与精力创造特殊价值，提高自身竞争能力并带动相关企业发展。房地产开发企业作为自身行业中的“集成制造商”，应该充分借鉴供应链管理的思想，大力发展与相关合作对象的伙伴关系，基于其独特的供应链的内部集成，建立合适的合伙模式，以达到降低开发成本、提高项目品质、增强企业核心竞争力的目标。     

Queues, not just mediocrity: Inefficiency in decentralized markets with vertical differentiation

We analyze a dynamic, decentralized market with endogenous entry, where in each period the active sellers supply one unit of an indivisible service at varying degrees of quality. The customers that have entered the market are randomly matched with the active sellers and prices are set by (complete information) pair-wise bargaining. In its unique steady state, the market leads to an excess diversity of quality and customers may have to suffer costly delays. Notably, efficiency is not regained as per period delay costs disappear. We also show that setting minimal quality standards, such as licensing rules by a professional college, will improve welfare (and even Consumer Surplus), relative to the free market, whenever the inefficiency is caused by a large enough excess supply.     

Generalized single-vendor multi-buyer integrated inventory supply chain models with a better synchronization

Researchers have synchronized both the single-vendor single-buyer and the single-vendor multi-buyer integrated inventory supply chains by transferring the lot either only with equal-sized or only with unequal-sized sub-lot (batches). However, synchronization by transferring the lot with unequal and/or equal-sized batches (combination of unequal and equal sized batches along with the previous two cases), though available in the former case, the latter one lacks it. Accumulating the inventory in each of the vendor and the buyers, here we develop a generalized single-vendor multi-buyer supply chain model individually by extending the idea of such synchronization, and present logical development of their minimal cost solution techniques. Thereafter, we highlight theoretically the uniqueness of the present techniques by showing the best available methods as their special cases. Special cases are validated with the solutions of some numerical problems. Then their comparative studies with recently developed techniques on two numerical problems are carried out to show significant cost reductions.     

Streamlining inventory flows with time discounts to improve the profits of a decentralized supply chain

We consider a decentralized supply chain, whereby a supplier sells a product to a group of independent buyers, and develop a strategy for the supplier to offer an all-units price discount or cash rebate for orders that are synchronized with its replenishments. As synchronized orders can be met with inventory directly from receiving to shipping without warehousing, the proposed strategy streamlines system inventory flows to minimize inventory and, hence, the related costs. On the other hand, by increasing the replenishment interval of the supplier, the proposed strategy is able to induce buyers to order in large quantities and hence achieve the objectives of quantity discounts. We show that the proposed strategy can achieve nearly optimal (minimum) system cost, and is much more effective than the existing coordination strategies for decentralized supply chains in the literature.     

Modular interconnected processes,fluid partnering,and innovation speed: A loosely coupled systems perspective on B2B service supply chain management

In this paper, we examine whether and how loosely coupled systems in service supply chains influence the speed of innovation in service organizations. Drawing upon the nomological network of loosely coupled systems, we propose a way for supply chains in the business to business (B2B) market context to be conceptualized as loosely coupled systems and explain how the dialectical elements of modularity at the interface of standard process and content interfaces (SPCI) and structured data connectivity (SDC) enable the sharing of high-quality information through fluid partnership in service supply chains to improve innovation speed. Results that are based on a sample of service firms indicate that SPCI and SDC are positively associated with modular interconnected processes, and they, in turn, positively influence the ability to reconfigure supply chain partners (fluid partnership). Fluid partnership enhances information quality, which in turn, influences innovation speed. Implications are discussed for B2B service supply chain efforts in improving innovation speed.     

零售商开辟电子渠道的双渠道供应链定价决策

研究两层双渠道供应链中，在制造商实施直销渠道的基础上，零售商开辟电子渠道对供应链的影响。建立了双渠道供应链的定价决策模型，针对零售商未开辟电子渠道和开辟电子渠道两种情形，分别求解集中决策、Stackelberg博弈分散式决策模式下的零售商和制造商各自的最优定价及利润，并利用数值算例，进行对比分析。研究发现零售商开辟电子渠道的影响是多重的，一方面零售商的市场被拓展，竞争力增强，利润显著提高，有利于其与制造商进行抗衡。另一方面，制造商的利润有所下降，且整个供应链系统的渠道冲突加剧。因此，面对制造商的直销渠道，零售商可以选择开辟电子渠道来增强其话语权，与制造商进行谈判，实现互利双赢。     

VMCI 下基于批发价决策权转移的供应链效率改进研究

本文在VMCI 模式下，考虑销售努力水平对市场需求的影响，研究批发价决策权由供应商转移至零售商的两级供应链效率改进问题。假定零售商决策批发价和销售努力水平，供应商决策寄售量，建立了零售商主导的Stackelberg 博弈模型，证明了集中决策下的最优解和分散决策下的均衡解均存在且唯一，集中决策下的寄售因子大于分散决策下的对应值。随后，引入收入共享与销售努力成本共担契约，论证了系统中寄售因子保持不变、批发价降低，且当契约参数满足一定条件时，可实现帕累托改进，实现供应链的效率改进。最后，分析了契约参数对于系统决策变量及利润的影响。     

国内烟草产业的供应链竞争战略

烟草作为特殊商品，在特殊的管理体制下，其供应链呈现与一般产品不同的特殊性。由于各个利益团体的冲突，导致供应链的断裂，从本质上削弱了供应链的竞争力。本文从烟草供应链的特征和结构分析出发，构建了烟草供应链的竞争力结构，提出在现有体制模式下，以核心企业为中心对烟草供应链进行集成，实施供应链竞争战略可以在一定程度上弥补断裂的供应链。     

Centralized and decentralized control polices for a two-stage stochastic supply chain with subcontracting

An analysis of control policies for a two-stage supply chain with subcontractors at each stage is presented when decisions at each stage concerning safety stocks, backorders, and subcontracting are made jointly or in a decentralized manner. The inventory/admission control policies considered are base stock, echelon base stock and partial backordering, and the objective is to maximize the mean profit rate of the system. The optimal control parameters are found by exhaustive search using Markov chains. From numerical examples it appears that the policies which manage jointly sales and production levels in each stage provide much higher overall (system) profits than decentralized policies, although the latter are individually more profitable for the second stage. In addition, partial backordering provides the system with an extra profit above those that result from the lost sales (no backordering) and complete backordering policies. Finally, a number of numerical results show the impact of variations in certain system parameters on the optimal control parameters and the corresponding profit.     

Optimal pricing and order policies with B2B product returns for fashion products

We study optimal pricing and order policies in supply chain management of fashion products (e.g., a fashion apparel category) with consideration of product returns between supply chain partners (B2B). In order to study channel performance and optimal policies, two stochastic models for centralized channel and decentralized channel are, respectively, developed to handle new fashion and off-season product sales. In the centralized channel, closed-form solutions for optimal order and pricing decisions are proposed for new fashion products. Further, in a decentralized channel, the Stackelberg game model is proposed to derive the optimal Stackelberg equilibrium solution, and then a buy-back contract is designed to coordinate the channel. We also perform parameter analysis on performance of the two channel models. Numerical analysis is finally presented to validate our theoretical results and compare channel performances.     

An optimization approach for managing fresh food quality throughout the supply chain

One of the most challenging tasks in today's food industry is controlling the product quality throughout the food supply chain. In this paper, we integrate food quality in decision-making on production and distribution in a food supply chain. We provide a methodology to model food quality degradation in such a way that it can be integrated in a mixed-integer linear programming model used for production and distribution planning. The resulting model is applied in an illustrative case study, and can be used to design and operate food distribution systems, using both food quality and cost criteria.     

The analysis of bullwhip effect in a HMMS-type supply chain

The aim of the paper is to investigate the well-known bullwhip effect of supply chains. Control theoretic analysis of bullwhip effect is extensively analyzed in the literature with the Laplace transform. This paper tries to examine the effect for an extended Holt-Modigliani-Muth-Simon model. A two-stage supply chain (supplier-manufacturer) is studied with quadratic costs functional. It is assumed that both firms minimize the relevant costs. The order of the manufacturer is delayed with a known constant. Two cases are examined: supplier and manufacturer minimize the relevant costs decentralized, and a centralized decision rule. The question is answered, how to decrease the bullwhip effect.     

Using System Dynamics to assess the impact of RFID technology on retail operations

The application of item-level radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in retail supply chains creates cost savings and promises large potential benefits from revenue growth. However, the economic assessment of the impact on improved store operations, labor utilization, and increased sales is still not fully explored. We propose to use System Dynamics as a structural modeling and simulation approach to integrate conventional return on investment evaluations. Building on previous research about RFID technology in retail supply chains, we developed a model based on the case exploration of a leading Italian apparel retailer. Simulations show that RFID implementations are profitable whenever they contribute to increase sales, especially when a fashion retailer is focused on clerk-assisted sales strategies. Sales growth results from the dynamic and integrated impacts of RFID technology on better inventory control, faster inventory turnover, and longer time available for store personnel to assist consumers as an effect of more efficient backroom operations.