Models to explore remanufacturing as a competitive strategy under duopoly

Remanufacturing is a product recovery option that upgrades the quality of returns to “as-good-as-new” conditions. Remanufactured products cost less, and are sold with the same or better warranty as for new products. In this paper, we consider a duopoly environment with two manufacturers in direct competition selling their respective new products on the primary market. Specifically, we address the question: In case one manufacturer decides to remanufacture and sell remanufactured products on the price-sensitive secondary market, will it get a competitive advantage over the other manufacturer? We develop theoretical models for a single period and two periods, and show that under the stated assumptions, remanufacturing is almost always more profitable than when there is no remanufacturing. Although remanufacturing may cannibalize new product sales, the combined profitability and market share of the (re)manufacturer on account of new and remanufactured product sales improve over new product sales only. For the competitor, we get mixed results. In some situations, its profitability improves; in some others, it worsens. We also conduct sensitivity analyses with respect to the substitution parameters, price-sensitivity of the secondary market, rate of return of used products (cores), relative market shares of the manufacturers, and relative sizes of the primary and secondary markets. We conclude the paper with managerial implications and directions for future research.     

Cost Allocation in Manufacturing–Remanufacturing Operations

For firms remanufacturing their products, the total life‐cycle costs and revenues from new and remanufactured products determine their profitability. In many firms, manufacturing/sales and remanufacturing/remarketing operations are carried out in different divisions. Each division is responsible for only part of the product's life cycle. Practices regarding transfer pricing across divisions vary significantly among companies, affecting the life‐cycle profit performance of the product. In this research, we identify characteristics of transfer prices that achieve the firm‐wide optimal solution. To this end, we consider a manufacturer who also undertakes remanufacturing operations and we focus on price (quantity) decisions. We determine that a cost allocation mechanism that allocates a portion of the initial production cost to each of the two stages of the product life cycle should be used. We also conclude that cost allocation should be implemented as a fixed cost allocation, where charges to the remanufacturing division should be determined independently of the actual quantity of units remanufactured.     

专利保护下闭环供应链的再制造策略研究

在专利完善市场,受专利保护的原制造商享有产品再制造的专有权利,只有获得原制造商的专利许可,第三方再制造商才能进行旧产品的回收再制造。本文分析了受专利保护下原制造商所采取的不同再制造策略:阻止旧产品再制造(N策略)、原制造商自己再制造(O策略)和许可第三方再制造商进行再制造(A策略),并建立了由零售商负责旧产品回收的闭环供应链模型。通过比较发现,只有在第三方再制造商处理旧产品的节省成本足够低时,受专利保护的原制造商才会选择许可第三方再制造商进行旧产品再制造。     

Competitive Quality Choice and Remanufacturing

We consider an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) who faces competition from an independent remanufacturer (IR). The OEM decides the quality of the new product, which also determines the quality of the competing remanufactured product. The OEM and the IR then competitively determine their production quantities. We explicitly characterize how the OEM competes with the IR in equilibrium. Specifically, we show that the OEM relies more on quality as a strategic lever when it has a stronger competitive position (determined by the relative cost and value of new and remanufactured products), and in contrast it relies more heavily on limiting quantity of cores when it has a weaker competitive position. The IR's entry threat as well as its successful entry can decrease the consumer surplus. Furthermore, our results illustrate that ignoring the competition or the OEM's quality choice leads to overestimating benefits of remanufacturing for consumer and social welfare. In addition, we show an IR with either a sufficiently weak competitive position (so the OEM deters entry) or a sufficiently strong one (so the OEM is forced to limit quantity of cores) is desirable for reducing the environmental impact. Comparing our results with the benchmark in which the OEM remanufactures suggests that encouraging IRs to remanufacture in lieu of the OEMs may not benefit the environment. Furthermore, the benchmark illustrates that making remanufacturing more attractive improves the environmental impact when the remanufacturer is the OEM, while worsening it when remanufacturing is done by the IR.     

考虑法律约束的两周期电子产品回收再制造决策研究

研究电子产品制造商面临政府回收法律约束时的再制造决策问题。第一个周期开始时,制造商生产并决定新产品的价格。当产品的生命周期到达时,面对政府制定的回收法律约束,制造商回收市场中的旧产品用于再制造。第二个周期开始时,制造商同时决策新产品和再造品的价格。研究发现：根据逆向运营成本(即回收成本与再制造成本之和)与新产品生产成本的不同组合,制造商对应五个不同的回收再制造策略;当逆向运营成本低于一定阈值时,法律强制回收不会影响企业的利润;而高于该阈值时,法律强制回收会减少企业的利润,因为较高的逆向运营成本使得企业没有意愿回收旧产品。此外,研究收集了实际数据并进行了案例分析,结果表明研究模型具有较强的稳健性。     

Design of the Reverse Channel for Remanufacturing: Must Profit‐Maximization Harm the Environment?

A key attribute of a remanufacturing strategy is the division of labor in the reverse channel, especially whether remanufacturing is performed in‐house or outsourced. We investigate this decision for a retailer who accepts returns of a remanufacturable product. Our formulation considers the cost structures of the two strategies, uncertainty in the input quality of the collected/returned used products, consumer willingness‐to‐pay for remanufactured product, the extent to which the remanufactured product cannibalizes demand for a new product, and the power structure in the channel. For the profit‐maximizing retailer, the differentials in variable remanufacturing costs drive strategy choice, and higher fixed costs of in‐house remanufacturing favors outsourcing. The variable remanufacturing costs and the balance of power in the prospective outsourced reverse channel are the key drivers of environmental impact, as measured by the retailer's propensity to remanufacture. While profitability and environmental goals often conflict, they align under certain conditions. These include (a) the third party has less bargaining power; or (b) the fixed cost for in‐house remanufacturing is relatively high. All else equal, when remanufacturing is outsourced, the environment fares better if the third party has leadership power. We generalize to the cases when remanufacturing achieves a quality level less than “good‐as‐new" and when used items have non‐zero salvage value. Analysis of these extensions illuminates how relative power in the reverse channel drives the firms’ preferences, as well as the end customers’ consumption experience.     

Take‐Back Legislation: Consequences for Remanufacturing and Environment

In the last two decades, many countries have enacted product take‐back legislation that holds manufacturers responsible for the collection and environmentally sound treatment of end‐of‐use products. In an industry regulated by such legislation, we consider a manufacturer that also sells remanufactured products under its brand name. Using a stylized model, we consider three levels of legislation: no take‐back legislation, legislation with collection targets, and legislation with collection and reuse targets. We characterize the optimal solution for the manufacturer and analyze how various levels of legislation affect manufacturing, remanufacturing, and collection decisions. First, we explore whether legislation with only collection targets causes an increase in remanufacturing levels, which is argued to be an environmentally friendlier option for end‐of‐use treatment than other options such as recycling. While increased remanufacturing alone is usually perceived as a favorable environmental outcome, if one considers the overall environmental impact of new and remanufactured products, this might not be the case. To study this issue, we model the environmental impact of the product following a life cycle analysis–based approach. We characterize the conditions under which increased remanufacturing due to take‐back legislation causes an increase in total environmental impact. Finally, we model the impact of legislation on consumer surplus and manufacturer profits and identify when total welfare goes down because of legislation.     

Joint Life‐Cycle Dynamics of New and Remanufactured Products

Many products considered for remanufacturing are durables that exhibit a well‐pronounced product life cycle—they diffuse gradually through the market. The remanufactured product, which is a cheaper substitute for the new product, is often put on the market during the life cycle of the new product and affects its sales dynamics. In this paper, we study the integrated dynamic management of a portfolio of new and remanufactured products that progressively penetrate a potential market over the product life cycle. To this end, we extend the Bass diffusion model in a way that maintains the two essential features of remanufacturing settings: (a) substitution between new and remanufactured products, and (b) a constraint on the diffusion of remanufactured products due to the limited supply of used products that can be remanufactured. We identify characteristics of the diffusion paths of new and remanufactured products. Finally, we analyze the impact of levers such as remanufacturability level, capacity profile and reverse channel speed on profitability.     

Effects of Remanufacturable Product Design on Market Segmentation and the Environment

Despite documented benefits of remanufacturing, many manufacturers have yet to embrace the idea of tapping into remanufactured‐goods markets. In this article, we explore this dichotomy and analyze the effect of remanufacturable product design on market segmentation and product and trade‐in prices by studying a two‐stage profit‐maximization problem in which a price‐setting manufacturer can choose whether or not to open a remanufactured‐goods market for its product. Our results suggest that it is optimal for a manufacturer to design a remanufacturable product when the value‐added from remanufacturing is relatively high but product durability is relatively low and innovation is nominal. In addition, we find that entering a remanufactured‐goods market in and of itself does not necessarily translate into environmental friendliness. On the one hand, the optimal trade‐in program could result in low return and/or remanufacturing rates. On the other hand, a low price for remanufactured products could attract higher demand and thereby potentially result in more damage to the environment. Meanwhile, external restrictions imposed on total greenhouse gas emissions draw criticism in their own right because they risk stifling growth or reducing overall consumer welfare. Given these trade‐offs, we therefore develop and compare several measures of environmental efficiency and conclude that emissions per revenue can serve as the best proxy for emissions as a metric for measuring overall environmental stewardship.     

制造商竞争环境下基于产品生命周期的闭环供应链的定价和生产策略研究

研究制造商竞争环境下基于产品生命周期的闭环供应链的定价和生产策略:产品第一个生命周期中,只有一个制造商利用原材料生产新制造产品,从第二个周期开始制造商生产新品的同时进行回收再制造、并且出现替代品生产商的竞争。建立两周期双寡头垄断的闭环供应链定价和生产优化模型,得到最优策略,然后将其扩展到多周期和无限周期的情况。结果表明:两周期中制造商应根据再制造成本节约的大小而采取不同的定价和生产策略;多周期中,除第一和最后一个周期外,制造商应采取相同的策略;无限周期中,制造商应在出现竞争后一直采用相同策略。三种情况下,制造商都应在第一周期中低价销售产品来保证第二周期中能回收更多的产品用于再制造以取得低成本的竞争优势;而且随着再制造产品成本节约的增大,制造商旳利润和销售量增大,并且竞争者的利润和销售量减小。算例验证了上述结论。     

Revenue and Cost Management for Remanufactured Products

This paper considers pricing and remanufacturing strategy of a firm that decides to offer both new and remanufactured versions of its product in the market and is concerned with demand cannibalization. We present a model of demand cannibalization and a behavioral study that estimates a key modeling parameter: a fraction of consumers who switch from new to remanufactured product. As we show, this fraction has an inverted‐U shape, and, thus, the underlying consumer behavior cannot be modeled using the standard methodologies that rely on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). We find that by incorporating the inverted‐U‐shaped consumer behavior, the firm remanufactures under broader conditions, charges a much lower price, and typically remanufactures more units—leading to an increase of profits from remanufacturing by up to a factor of two as compared with making decisions based on the WTP only. Lastly, we find that the behavior of the low‐price market segment plays an important role because the firm reacts to it differently than the WTP‐based logic would suggest.     

闭环供应链上的回收激励契约设计与政府补贴再制造政策的优化

废旧工业产品的回收再制造活动具有较大的正向外部经济特性,常常导致企业从事该项活动的动力不足。从节约资源和保护环境的目的出发,各国政府大都制定了给予补贴以鼓励回收再制造活动的政策。而且新产品和再制造产品一般具有一定的感知价值差异,可能会影响到再制造成本优势的发挥。将政府也作为一个决策主体,建立了以政府为领导者、制造商和再制造商、回收商为跟随者的三级非线性闭环供应链上的Stackelberg主从博弈模型,其中嵌套了基于委托代理关系分析基本技术框架的再制造商对回收商回收努力的最优激励契约。分析求解了政府和制造商、再制造商等的最优决策。政府的补贴政策将有效提高再制造品的竞争优势,同时有效降低废旧产品的掩埋等处理成本,有利于生态环境的保护。政府最优补贴下再制造商对回收商的最优激励机制设计可以有效提高废旧工业品的回收再制造效率。新产品和再制造产品的相互替代程度将间接影响到政府的最优补贴决策。同时通过数值分析得到再制造的比较成本优势对闭环供应链决策的影响。可供政府有关部门在政策制定以及闭环供应链上的企业决策时参考。     

Effects of Random Yield in Remanufacturing with Price‐Sensitive Supply and Demand

In this study, we investigate the effects of recovery yield rate on pricing decisions in reverse supply chains. Motivated by the automotive parts remanufacturing industry, we consider an end‐of‐life product from which a particular part can be recovered and remanufactured for reuse, and the remainder of the product can be recycled for material recovery. Both the supply of end‐of‐life products and demand for remanufactured parts are price‐sensitive. Yield of the recovery process is random and depends on the acquisition price offered for the end‐of‐life products. In this setting, we develop models to determine the optimal acquisition price for the end‐of‐life products and the selling price for remanufactured parts. We also analyze the effects of yield variation to the profitability of remanufacturing, benefits of delaying pricing decisions until after yield realization, and value of perfect yield rate information.     

COMPETITION IN REMANUFACTURING

We present a two‐period model of remanufacturing in the face of competition. In our model, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) competes with a local remanufacturer (L) under many reverse logistics configurations for the returned items. After establishing the Nash Equilibrium in the second period sub‐game, we use numerical experiments for comparative statics. OEM wants to increase L'S remanufacturing cost. Surprisingly, while L competes in the sales market, she has incentives to reduce oem's remanufacturing cost. A social planner who wants to increase remanufacturing can give incentives to the OEM to increase the fraction available for remanufacturing, or reduce his remanufacturing costs.     

制造商作为再制造商的经销商的合作模式研究

与传统的再制造商与制造商市场竞争模式研究不同,首次研究了制造商作为再制造商的经销商的合作模式。分别求得合作模式下的新产品与再制造产品的最优价格决策,并将该模式与竞争模式进行比较。通过数值仿真,分析了在合作模式下消费者对再制造产品的接受度、生产成本对生产商盈利的影响;比较了合作模式与竞争模式下生产商的盈利情况。     

Impact of Take‐Back Regulation on the Remanufacturing Industry

As waste from used electronic products grows steadily, manufacturers face take‐back regulations mandating its collection and proper treatment through recycling, or remanufacturing. Environmentalists greet such regulation with enthusiasm, but its effect on remanufacturing activity and industry competition remains unclear. We research these questions, using a stylized model with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) facing competition from an independent remanufacturer (IR). We examine the effects of regulation on three key factors: remanufacturing levels, consumer surplus, and the OEM profit. First, we find that total OEM remanufacturing actually may decrease under high collection and/or reuse targets, meaning more stringent targets do not imply more remanufacturing. Consumer surplus and the OEM profit, meanwhile, may increase when OEM‐IR competition exists in a regulated market. Finally, through a numerical study, we investigate how total welfare changes in the collection target, what happens when the cost of collection is not linear, and what happens when IR products are valued differently by consumers.     

EPR制度下考虑不同融资策略的再制造决策研究

基于生产者延伸责任制度(EPR)在再制造产业的实施,构建包含制造商和资金约束的再制造商的闭环供应链,分别探讨在选择银行贷款、向制造商直接贷款及延迟支付3种不同融资策略下闭环供应链的再制造决策问题。研究表明:在一定条件下,再制造商选择制造商贷款融资可实现与制造商的双赢;不论政府是否严格实施EPR制度,延迟支付策略有助于提升社会福利及再制造产品的社会效益;当政府严格实施EPR制度时,制造商的回收努力水平及再制造商的制造占比与融资贷款利率相关,且废旧产品转移价格是制造商是否愿意严格履行EPR制度的关键。     

基于消费者效用模型的耐用品垄断商回购与再制造决策研究

运用消费者效用模型,研究了二手市场条件下耐用品垄断商回购并进行再制造的两周期动态决策问题。研究得到,当耐用品的生产成本与再制造成本低于临界值时,耐用品垄断厂商才应该选择回购并进行再制造;再制造不仅可以对二手市场产生挤兑效应,而且可以获得市场增长效应,新耐用品成本越高,则挤兑效应与增长效应越明显;耐用品垄断厂商有提高消费者对再制造耐用品的认可程度与降低耐用品耐用度的激励。     

奖惩机制下电子类产品制造商回收再制造决策模型

研究了电子类产品制造商回收再制造决策问题。为引导制造商回收再制造,设计了一个奖惩机制。建立了制造商回收再制造的三个决策模型并分别比较了三种情形下制造商的决策结果。研究表明:只有回收再制造具有成本优势时制造商才自愿回收废旧产品;当回收再制造废旧产品具有成本优势时,该奖惩机制导致回收率提高、新产品销售价格降低、新产品需求量增加;当回收再制造废旧产品不具有成本优势时,该奖惩机制导致回收率提高、新产品销售价格提高、新产品需求量减少;针对有无回收再制造成本优势情形,分别给出了奖惩机制下制造商利润大于无奖惩机制情形下制造商利润的奖惩力度和最低回收率的临界值;本文结论能够为政府引导制造商回收再制造提供理论指导。     

Lot Sizing for Optimal Collection and Use of Remanufacturable Returns over a Finite Life‐Cycle

Reverse supply chains process used product returns to recover value by re‐processing them via remanufacturing operations. When remanufacturing is feasible, the longer the return flows are delayed during the active (primary) market demand period of the product, the lower the value that can be recovered through these operations. In fact, in order to recover the highest value from remanufactured products, the collection rates, return timings, and reusability rates should be matched with the active market demand and supply. With these motivations, this paper is aimed at developing analytical models for the efficient use of returns in making production, inventory, and remanufacturing decisions during the active market. More specifically, we consider a stylistic setting where a collector collects used product returns and ships them to the manufacturer who, in turn, recovers value by remanufacturing and supplies products during the active market demand. Naturally, the manufacturer's production, inventory and remanufacturing decisions and costs are influenced by the timing and quantity of the collector's shipments of used product returns. Hence, we investigate the impact of the timing of returns on the profitability of the manufacturer‐collector pair by developing system‐wide cost optimization models. Analyzing the properties of the optimal shipment frequency, we observe that the fastest reverse supply chain may not always be the most efficient one.