Pricing policy and coordination for a two-layer supply chain of duopolistic retailers and socially responsible manufacturer

This paper explores channel coordination and profit distribution in a two-layer socially responsible supply chain that consists of a manufacturer and two competitive retailers. In manufacturer-Stackelberg game setting, the manufacturer exhibits corporate social responsibility and the retailers play Cournot and Collusion games. Besides comparing the optimal decisions of the retailers two game behaviours, the paper analyses the effects of social responsibility on the optimal decisions. It is found that two-part tariff contract resolves channel conflict and provides win–win outcome for a specific range of the franchise fee and it is always possible to find a particular profit split using Nash bargaining product. With increasing social responsibility of the manufacturer, the coordinated wholesale prices of the manufacturer may be both decreasing or ‘U’ shaped and decreasing when the market potentials of the retailers are almost the same or significantly different. Also, at least one coordinated wholesale price is less than the manufacturer's marginal cost. The proposed model is illustrated by a numerical example.     

The Profit‐Maximizing Case for Corporate Social Responsibility in a Bilateral Monopoly

We analyze a stylized distribution channel (bilateral monopoly) model where an upstream manufacturer sells output to a downstream retailer. In a two‐stage linear demand game setting, we show that a two‐part contract, consisting of a wholesale price and corporate social responsibility (CSR) component, can be utilized by the manufacturer to fully coordinate and control its retailer. Thus, a CSR contract can be used in place of the traditional two‐part tariff scheme (wholesale price and fixed franchise fee) to optimally coordinate the marketing channel. Our model provides a novel theoretical profit‐maximizing rationale for the strategic use of CSR. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不对称信息的供应链激励机制研究

研究由单个制造商和单个零售商组成二级供应链,基于市场需求是线性的,且受价格与销售努力的影响。首先,研究在对称信息下,集中模式和分散模式两种情况下的供应链,求出制造商和零售商使得利润达到最优时的最优批发价及销售价;其次,研究了在信息不对称情况下,制造商的机制设计问题,得到了制造商激励批发价的表达式以及零售商的最优零售价的公式;最后利用实例仿真对模型进行分析,结果表明该激励机制对整个供应链的收益有改善作用。     

Direct Marketing in Oligopoly

We consider a game in which symmetric manufacturers decide whether to set up sites (e.g., web sites) where consumers can buy their products directly. Following this decision, the manufacturers choose quantities to sell to the retailers, and then the manufacturers with direct‐sales sites and retailers choose quantities to sell to the consumers. We show that since an increase in the number of retailers may drive the direct‐selling manufacturers from the retail market, it may raise the retailers’ profit and reduce social welfare. Finally, we discuss two cases: an oligopolistic wholesale market and a market with price competition and differentiated products.     

Data-driven manufacturer-retailer collaboration under competition

This research employs game theoretic models to investigate how and when data-driven collaborations between manufacturers and retailers are beneficial. In the models, two symmetric retailers each offer two products from two different manufacturers. Each manufacturer may choose to collaborate with one or both retailers through data-driven initiatives in providing retail value to the consumers. The results show that the main incentive behind these collaborations arise from the efficient allocation of resources. Surprisingly, greater brand differentiation reduces profit margins and the incentive to collaborate. We also find that market leaders can endogenously arise through data-driven collaborations.     

Competing for Consumers with Self‐Control Problems

I examine strategic implications of competing for consumers with self‐control problems. For investment goods, like health clubs, I find that the equilibrium sign‐up (lump‐sum) fees decrease when competition intensifies, similarly to prices in standard oligopoly models. However, the equilibrium attendance (per‐unit) price increases due to firms' deteriorated ability to take advantage of consumers' self‐control problems. Moreover, firms earn less profit due to consumers' self‐control problems—the firms have a unilateral incentive to charge per‐unit fees lower than the marginal cost; however, they cannot make up the lost margins by increasing the lump‐sum fee, due to competition. I also show that for plausible parameter regions the market adjusts to consumers' self‐control problem in such a way that firms play the standard equilibrium strategies that they would have engaged in with fully rational consumers, with identical market outcomes. Most of the results are qualitatively the same for leisure goods (for example, credit cards); however, some results are reversed: the per‐unit fees are higher than marginal cost and decrease as competition intensifies.     

时间和价格影响需求的变质物品促销研究

质物品的销售策略是商家制定销售计划的重点。价格折扣是目前商家最为常用的策略。但大都是供应商面对零售商的价格折扣。文章结合实际情况,研究了在需求和价格随时间同时变化条件下,零售商面对顾客时如何制定变质物品的临时价格折扣策略．并发现临时价格折扣会影响物品的销售速度。通过建立模型及对模型求解。得出使零售商利润最大时的最优折扣价格和实施临时价格折扣的最佳时刻,实例分析表明零售商采用最优的临时价格折扣策略后利润会有明显的增大。     

A model of vertical integration and investment in generation capacity in electricity markets: The case of the bidding game

The aim of this work is to assess the impact of (partial) vertical integration between generators and retailers on generation capacity choice and its subsequent welfare consequences. We present a framework in which final demand is perfectly inelastic and stochastic. Nevertheless, wholesale demand is elastic because of the existence of outside opportunities (mainly international transmission capacity). The model is a three-stage game. Neither transmission nor retail costs are taken into account.

In the first stage of the game, generators choose capacity only knowing distribution of demand and thus maximizing their expected profit. The second stage of the game represents the competition for market share between retailers in a market where consumers have switching costs. The former face unknown demand and maximize their utility based on two factors: the expected profit and a risk element. Finally, generators submit bid functions to the system operator given known demand and maximizing their profit during the last stage of the game. Retailers and generators interact in the wholesale market, which is cleared by the system operator whose function is to match supply (represented by the bids of the generators) and demand through a system of single price auctions. The wholesale market is the only means to buy and sell energy; there are no bilateral contracts between firms, except if they are vertically integrated.

We compare fully disintegrated and partially vertically integrated structures using a comparative statics approach. In this paper, the analysis will focus on the last stage of the game: the bidding game. We find that partial vertical integration between generators and retailers tends to lower wholesale prices but not unambiguously. Depending on which firm (vertically integrated or disintegrated generator) has installed the higher capacity and depending on level of demand, prices can stay unchanged or even rise.     

考虑强势零售商压价和投资行为的供应链协调

中国流通产业的零供矛盾日益凸显,针对强势零售商的压价问题构建博弈模型并分析其对供应链协调的影响。在由单制造商和单零售商构成的二级供应链中,考虑零售商在主导产品零售价格的同时,通过增加广告投入或提高服务水平等市场投资措施刺激产品需求,探讨当零售商运用其较强的议价能力对制造商提出的批发价进行强制压价时,双方如何通过合作博弈寻找最佳策略。发现在一定的条件下,强势零售商的压价行为不仅可以提升品牌商誉,更能帮助实现供应链协调。     

Bait and ditch: Consumer naïveté and salesforce incentives

We analyze a model of price competition between a transparent retailer and a deceptive one in a market where a fraction of consumers is naïve. The transparent retailer is an independent shop managed by its owner. The deceptive retailer belongs to a chain and is operated by a manager. The two retailers sell an identical base product, but the deceptive one also offers an add‐on. Rational consumers never consider buying the add‐on while naïve ones can be “talked” into buying it. By offering the manager a contract that pushes him to never sell the base good without the add‐on, the chain can induce an equilibrium in which both retailers obtain more‐than‐competitive profits. The equilibrium features price dispersion and market segmentation, with the deceptive retailer targeting only naïve consumers whereas the transparent retailer serves only rational ones.     

基于库存调剂的易逝品供应链合作利益分配问题探讨

本文将解决多人合作博弈问题的Shapley值方法用于解决两级易逝品供应链合作利益分配问题。考虑由一个供应商和两个零售商所组成的两级供应链模型,零售商与供应商不合作时,零售商根据供应商的批发价确定订货量,合作时共同决定库存,零售商之间的合作为共同决定订货量且通过库存调剂(转运)共享库存,三方合作可获最大利益,采用Shapley值法可合理分配合作利益,从而使合作更稳定。     

Optimal Two‐Part Pricing under Demand Uncertainty

This paper examines the pricing behavior of a risk‐averse monopolistic firm under demand uncertainty. The firm produces a single good at a constant marginal cost. To facilitate sales, the firm uses a two‐part pricing contract that includes a membership fee and a selling price per unit. The good is sold to a continuum of heterogeneous consumers who are subject to a common demand shock. We show that the global and marginal effects of risk aversion are to push the unit price closer to the constant marginal cost and to shrink the market coverage so as to limit the firm’s risk exposure to the demand uncertainty. The more risk‐averse firm as such charges a higher membership fee to consumers. We further show that an increase in the fixed cost of production induces the firm to lower (raise) the unit price, to raise (lower) the membership fee, and to shrink (enlarge) the market coverage under decreasing (increasing) absolute risk aversion. The firm’s optimal two‐part pricing contract, however, is unaffected by changes in the fixed cost under constant absolute risk aversion. Finally, we show that a mean‐preserving‐spread increase in the demand uncertainty induces the firm to lower the unit price, to raise the membership fee, and to shrink the market coverage under either decreasing or constant absolute risk aversion. The firm’s risk preferences as such play a pivotal role in determining the optimal two‐part pricing under demand uncertainty. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resale price maintenance in a model of consumer search

A retail search model of Salop and Stiglitz (1977) is adapted to analyze manufacturer incentives for resale price maintenance. For some retailer cost functions and distributions of consumer search costs, imposition of a minimum price for retailers causes a price distribution to collapse to an intermediate price. Manufacturers may benefit from price floors when sales to high-search-cost consumers that have obtained lower prices increase sufficiently so as to offset decreased sales to other consumers facing higher prices. In contrast to previous work, no free-riding problem with respect to dealer services is necessary for manufacturers to prefer banning discounting of their products.     

考虑健忘顾客行为的B2C无理由退货策略研究

通过分析顾客的购买决策及制造商的运营决策，研究考虑健忘顾客行为的电子商务环境下的无理由退货策略模型，并与只考虑策略顾客的无理由退货模型相比较，发现当市场中存在健忘顾客时，制造商的最优销售价格和最优生产量都有所改变，但最优退货价格保持不变。相比较而言，考虑健忘顾客的无理由退货策略模型更贴合实际，制造商在销售期初应该就市场上存在的健忘顾客适当调整其运营决策。     

Intermediated surge pricing

Although Uber and Lyft are known for their flexible “surge pricing,” they are surprisingly rigid in another way: each firm takes a constant percentage of passenger fare whether or not there is a surge. In this paper, I investigate the possible reasons for, and the impact of, this rigidity. I study a market in which a profit‐maximizing intermediary facilitates trade between buyers and sellers. The intermediary sets prices for buyers and sellers, and keeps the difference as her fee. Optimal prices increase when demand increases, that is, shifts right. If a demand increase is due to an increase in the number of ex ante symmetric buyers, then the intermediary's optimal percent fee decreases. If, instead, a demand increase is due to a reduction in the elasticity of demand, then the intermediary's optimal percent fee increases. In either case, if the intermediary keeps a constant percent fee regardless of shifts in demand, as is the case with Uber and Lyft, then surge pricing (i.e., the ratio of price during high demand to price during low demand) is amplified on one side of the market and diminished on the other side.     

The impact of corporate social responsibility associations on trust in organic products marketed by mainstream retailers: a study of Italian consumers

This paper investigates the determinants of consumer attitudes toward organic products marketed by mainstream retailers under a private label. Since organic products are credence goods, consumers cannot directly verify whether these products comply with official standards. Organic labels are the primary source of consumer trust in organics, but these labels must be noticed and understood before consumers will actively seek them out. In that some consumers may not prioritize product labels when they shop, it is sometimes up to retailers to strengthen consumer trust. Within the antecedents of this trust, we isolated the contribution of the corporate social responsibility associations held by consumers about retailers. We surveyed Italian customers interested in organics and found that they are more likely to trust the private‐label organic products sold by a retailer when it is considered socially responsible. Our results also show that consumer trust translates into brand loyalty and a willingness to pay a premium price for organic products. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

耐贮大路货性果蔬品销售策略的探讨——以湖南石门柑桔销售为例讨论

对耐贮大路货性的果蔬品的销售策略有五条：树立果蔬的地方品牌和加强其食补价值的宣传;发展鲜品加工工业：扩大国际市场销售：政府适当的指导价及公示鲜果的平均种植成本：果蔬的物流增值——近／远距销售．应／延时销售。建立了销售价格g,销售成本c与物流距离x,销售延时t之间利润计算公式,并用示意图表明x和t与利润厂之间的关系,对销售经纪人有指导意义。     

Joint inventory and transshipment decisions with consumer behavioral heterogeneity

Transshipment is an effective method for reducing mismatches between supply and demand among retailers. Consumers attempting to purchase out-of-stock items may wait for transshipment, purchase at another store, or choose not to buy. In this paper, the consumer behavioral heterogeneity is characterized using the transshipment request rate and consumer switching rate. It affects the replenishment and transshipment decisions, as well as the system profits. The inventory replenishment and transshipment decisions are studied in both centralized and decentralized two-location inventory systems with consumer behavioral heterogeneity. We characterize optimal replenishment decisions in a centralized system, prove the existence of a unique Nash equilibrium in a decentralized system with a specific demand distribution, and determine the coordinating transshipment price for some decentralized systems. In numerical studies, the performance of various systems is analyzed for consumers with identical (symmetric) or differing (asymmetric) behavior between retailers. For scenarios with symmetric consumers, a higher transshipment request rate and consumer switching rate resulted in increased total profit in all systems. For scenarios with asymmetric consumers, the retailer with the higher consumer switching rate should reduce ordering in a centralized system but increase ordering in a decentralized system. Moreover, the retailer with the higher transshipment request rate reduces ordering to increase profit, whereas the other retailer increases order quantity yet earns less profit.     

基于信息共享的供应链定价策略及利润增值研究

基于单一制造商和单一零售商构成的供应链系统,在非线性市场需求的前提下,应用博弈理论对供应链系统的定价策略进行了分析,分别得出信息共享时的博弈均衡解和信息不共享时的博弈均衡解;进一步分析了信息共享程度的大小与批发价、零售价以及双方利润之间的关系,得出信息共享程度越高,制造商和零售商的利润越大,信息共享实现了帕累托改进。最后,通过实例对结论进行了验证。