Contracting and Coordination under Asymmetric Production Cost Information

We analyze a supply chain consisting of a supplier and a retailer. The supplier's unit production cost, which characterizes his type, is only privately known to him. When trading with the retailer, the supplier demands a reservation profit that depends on his unit production cost. We model this problem as a game of adverse selection. In this model, the retailer offers a menu of contracts, each of which consists of two parameters: the ordering quantity and the supplier's share of the channel profit. We show that the optimal contract depends critically on a surrogate measure—the ratio of the types’ reservation profit differential to their production cost differential. An important implication from our analysis is that information asymmetry alone does not necessarily induce loss in channel efficiency. The optimal contract can coordinate the supply chain as long as the low‐cost supplier's cost efficiency is neither much overvalued nor much undervalued in the outside market. We further discuss the retailer's preference of the supplier's type under different market conditions, as well as evaluate the effects of the supplier's reservation profit, the retail price, and the demand uncertainty on the optimal contract.     

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.     

A Mobile Platform's In‐App Advertising Contract Under Agency Pricing for App Sales

Unlike advertising in traditional media, a mobile platform's in‐app advertising market exhibits two unique features—split structure of the mobile platform with a platform owner and an app developer jointly provisioning in‐app advertising, and agency pricing for app sales. We develop a two‐sided market model to analyze the role of these two unique features in determining the platform owner's optimal advertising revenue‐sharing contract. Our results reveal an interesting N‐shaped dynamic regarding the platform owner's optimal choice of her ad revenue share with respect to the overall advertisers’ valuation of in‐app ads. We identify a between‐agent subsidization strategy for the platform owner, where she finds it optimal to subsidize the developer via the advertising channel, leading to greater profits for both of them. We find that the advertising revenue‐sharing contract under agency pricing for app sales leads to a higher app price than would be offered by the integrated platform found in traditional advertising. However, the ad price is coordinated under the platform owner's optimal choice of ad revenue share when she obtains revenue from both the advertising and app sales channels, leading to an alignment of her interest with the app developer's on ad level.     

On the evaluation of commonality strategy in product line design: The effect of valuation change and distribution channel structure

This paper investigates a manufacturer's optimal decisions in relation to the adoption of the commonality strategy in a decentralized channel as opposed to a centralized channel. Our model, through valuation premium and discount, captures the possible changes in the perceived quality made by customers as a result of the use of common design in the high-quality and low-quality products. We show that commonality always help reduce the extent of quality distortion encountered by the low-valuation segment, regardless of the channel structure. We also show that the adoption of commonality strategy in a decentralized channel is able to reduce channel efficiency loss, which may lead to improvements in the channel profits even when there is no cost saving associated with the use of common components. The valuation premium and discount are influential on several important measure including optimal quality levels, channel profits, and consumer surplus. Furthermore, we point out an important issue on the coordination between the manufacturer and the retailer that must be addressed if the commonality strategy is to be implemented in a decentralized channel.     

A Note on Optimal Selling to Asymmetric Retailers

I consider a channel with one manufacturer selling the same product to two retailers engaged in imperfect competition. The retailers are asymmetric because one has a lower marginal selling cost (or a higher demand potential) than the other. I design the manufacturer's optimal selling mechanism, whereby the manufacturer must offer the same contract options to both retailers. I fully characterize the manufacturer's optimal selling mechanism for varying degrees of retailer asymmetry and competition intensity. I find that under certain conditions, the manufacturer is better off selling a larger quantity through the high‐cost (or low‐demand potential) retailer. I also show how the optimal mechanism can be implemented using a menu of two‐part tariffs with quantity controls.     

基于消费者满意的双渠道销售商退款保证策略研究

研究了双渠道销售商的退款保证策略选择问题。将销售商的退款保证策略分为两个渠道都不提供、仅实体渠道提供、仅网络渠道提供以及两个渠道同时提供等四种。分别求解得到相应的最优定价及利润。研究发现:销售商在实体渠道和网络渠道的产品价格仅与其是否在该渠道提供退款保证服务有关,而与另一渠道是否提供退款保证无关。如果销售商想要刺激某渠道的利润水平,当退货产品残值较高时应选择在该渠道提供退款保证,而当残值较低时应选择在另一渠道提供退款保证。通过数值分析发现,同时在两个渠道提供退款保证并非总是销售商的最优策略。销售商的退款保证策略选择与两个渠道间的成本差异有关,当两个渠道间的成本差异较高时,销售商最好仅在网络渠道提供退款保证。     

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。     

The Impact of Product Returns and Retailer's Service Investment on Manufacturer's Channel Strategies*

We study the distribution channel decision of a manufacturer who considers whether to add an online channel (direct channel) to its brick‐and‐mortar retailer (indirect channel). The retailer faces the opportunity to invest in store assistance to help consumers choose products and thus reduce product returns. Special attention is given to the impact of product returns and retailer's store assistance investment on manufacturer's dual channel decision. We examine conditions under which the manufacturer uses dual channels and how various relevant factors affect its channel decision under two settings, depending on whether the retailer has its own online store or not. When the retailer does not have its online store, we find that (i) the addition of the direct channel raises the wholesale price; (ii) the direct channel addition hurts the retailer if the nonreplacement rate is low; (iii) the manufacturer has a lower incentive to add the direct channel when the retailer's service cost is lower or its returns reduction rate from service investment is higher; and (iv) the manufacturer should treat its own returns handling cost as a key factor in its channel structure decision. In addition, when the retailer operates an online store, we find that the manufacturer may have an incentive to add a direct channel such that both firms own direct channels.     

互补型闭环供应链的收益共享与成本共担契约协调优化

互联网平台开放、协作和分享的特点改变了传统的商业模式。如何将互联网思维与传统产业相融合,理论界和实业界正在进行理论探索和模式实践,突破线上平台商和线下渠道服务商界限以提高服务效率,解决线上平台服务和逆向回收难的瓶颈。本文针对单一线上平台商-单一线下渠道服务商的闭环供应链系统,探讨双方如何在正向供应链进行收益共享、逆向供应链进行渠道成本分担情境下的产品定价和服务优化决策。通过对比收益共享模型和收益共享-成本共担模型发现,线上平台商将部分收益分给线下服务商的同时,如果能分担线下渠道服务建设投入,将更有利于逆向回收和服务商逆向渠道服务水平的提高。最后,还通过数值分析,验证了分成分担比例对平台商和服务商决策的影响,以及对各决策变量的影响关系机理。     

Quantity Discount‐Based Inventory Coordination: Effectiveness and Critical Environmental Factors

It is understood that quantity discounts provide a practical foundation for coordinating inventory decisions in supply chains. The primary objective of this research is to test, under a variety of environmental conditions, the effectiveness of quantity discounts as an inventory coordination mechanism between a buyer and a supplier. A comprehensive simulation experiment with anova has been designed to investigate the impacts of (1) choice of quantity discount‐based inventory coordination policies, (2) magnitude of demand variation, (3) buyer's and supplier's relative inventory cost structure, and (4) buyer's economic time‐between‐orders on the effectiveness of supply chain inventory coordination. The analytical results confirm that the quantity discount policies have managerial properties as a mediator for inventory coordination. The results also show that the performance of quantity discount‐based inventory coordination policies is influenced significantly by environmental factors, such as the magnitude of demand variation, the buyer's and the supplier's inventory cost structure, and the buyer's economic time‐between‐orders.     

Technology Choice and Capacity Portfolios under Emissions Regulation

We study the impact of emissions tax and emissions cap‐and‐trade regulation on a firm's technology choice and capacity decisions. We show that emissions price uncertainty under cap‐and‐trade results in greater expected profit than a constant emissions price under an emissions tax, which contradicts popular arguments that the greater uncertainty under cap‐and‐trade will erode value. We further show that two operational drivers underlie this result: (i) the firm's option not to operate, which effectively right‐censors the uncertain emissions price; and (ii) dispatch flexibility, which is the firm's ability to first deploy its most profitable capacity given the realized emissions price. In addition to these managerial insights, we also explore policy implications: the effect of emissions price level, and the effect of investment and production subsidies. Through an illustrative example, we show that production subsidies of higher investment and production cost technologies (such as carbon capture and storage technologies) have no effect on the firm's optimal total capacity when firms own a portfolio of both clean and dirty technologies, but that investment subsidies of these technologies increase the firm's total capacity, conditionally increasing expected emissions. A subsidy of a lower production cost technology, on the other hand, has no effect on the firm's optimal total capacity in multi‐technology portfolios, regardless of whether the subsidy is a production or investment subsidy.     

Controlling Power Retailer's Gray Activities Through Contract Design

We develop a model that captures dynamic relationships of a supply chain populated by a dominant retailer and a number of fringe retailers. The two types of retailers are asymmetric in buying power, retailing cost, and the ability to service the manufacturer's product. The wholesale prices offered through a quantity discount (QD) schedule can coordinate such a supply chain, but invite channel flow diversion type of gray trading between the dominant retailer and the fringe retailers. Our analysis is focused on how such a channel can be coordinated and the gray market activities be prevented. We propose a dynamic QD contract or a revenue‐sharing contract that the manufacturer can use to fight the gray market activity. The performance of the supply chain and the manufacturer's profit under each of the two contract forms are compared and managerial guidelines are provided to help the manufacturer make a judicious choice.     

异质品双渠道供应链下制造商的渠道决策研究

研究由两个制造商、两个零售商以及消费者组成的双渠道供应链,制造商的最优产品分销渠道策略问题,通过构建Stackelberg主从动态博弈模型,分析制造商在不同渠道选择下的产品质量水平及定价决策,消费者三种不同渠道偏好下渠道竞争和品牌竞争激烈程度对制造商渠道选择均衡结果及帕累托最优选择的影响,以及对产品质量水平、产品价格、制造商及零售商利润的影响.研究表明：品牌和渠道双重竞争下,两种竞争之间存在相互作用的关系,并共同影响制造商最终渠道选择,制造商通过权衡价格决策的后动优势与消费者渠道偏好对其利润的贡献选择是否开辟双渠道,产品价格与产品质量水平正相关,与产品的替代率负相关,产品质量水平对渠道价格的影响程度等于消费者对该渠道的偏好程度.当消费者偏好某一渠道时,制造商可在该渠道上的产品采取优质高价策略,但渠道上产品性价比降低,当品牌竞争越激烈,产品价格越低,对制造商和零售商的利润挤压越严重.     

消费者导向类型与电商全渠道决策研究

从现实出发,基于不同消费者导向类型研究了电商的全渠道决策问题。首先建立电商单渠道销售的基础模型,并得出最优产品组合、价格和交付时间。在此基础上,给出了消费者为产品导向型和渠道导向型情况下电商采取全渠道决策的条件,得出双渠道产品组合、价格及交付时间的最优决策;并进行了数值验证。研究发现,同一渠道提供的产品其最优价格相同,最优交付时间只和消费者耐心程度及交付成本函数有关。若消费者为产品导向型,仅当双渠道运营成本之差较小且消费者耐心程度较低时,电商进入线下渠道才有利可图,且在线下渠道提供最受欢迎的产品,线上渠道提供剩余产品。若消费者为渠道导向型,电商进入线下渠道必然有利可图,且在线下渠道提供最受欢迎的产品,线上渠道提供所有产品。     

不完全信息下再制造逆向供应链的定价与协调研究

本文探讨了回收量随机情况下的单一制造商和两个零售商组成的再制造逆向供应链系统的定价策略。在完全信息下,分别得到了Stackelberg博弈和联合博弈下的可行策略集合及可行解。在不完全信息下,运用信号甄别方法及激励相容约束得到了两个最优定价合同。研究表明:定价合同可以有效避免逆向选择问题,保证回收市场的稳定性;通过签订合同,制造商和零售商的利润均有所增加;制造商可通过零售商的履约表现控制其回收量,并对未完成任务的零售商进行惩罚;高运营成本零售商会不断降低运营成本以增加利润。     

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.     

Environmental Taxes and the Choice of Green Technology

We study several important aspects of using environmental taxes to motivate the choice of innovative and “green" emissions‐reducing technologies as well as the role of fixed cost subsidies and consumer rebates in this process. In our model, a profit‐maximizing monopolistic firm facing price‐dependent demand selects emissions control technology, production quantity, and price in response to the tax, subsidy, and rebate levels set by the regulator. The available technologies vary in environmental efficiency as well as in the fixed and variable costs. Both the optimal policy for the firm and the social‐welfare maximizing policy for the regulator are analyzed. We find that the firm's reaction to an increase in taxes may be non‐monotone: while an initial increase in taxes may motivate a switch to a greener technology, further tax increases may motivate a reverse switch. For the regulator, we compare the social welfare achievable in the centralized system (which serves as an upper bound) to the highest level achievable under different classes of environmental policies. If the regulator is limited to a tax‐only policy, then when the regulator is moderately concerned with environmental impacts, the tax level that maximizes social welfare simultaneously motivates the choice of clean technology and closes the gap to the upper bound; however, both low and high levels of societal environmental concerns may lead to the choice of dirty technology and significant welfare losses as compared to the centralized case. Supplementing the environmental taxation with fixed cost subsidies and consumer rebates can eliminate this effect, expanding the range of parameters over which the green technology is chosen and often closing the welfare gap to the centralized solution.     

Impact of product proliferation on the reverse supply chain

Product variety is one of the most important advantages in highly competitive markets. However, excessive product proliferation's reducing the profit margin has caused increased focus on developing a management method for maximal profit. In a closed-loop supply chain, product proliferation affects the reverse supply chain as well as the forward supply chain. Although increasing the number of product types can better satisfy diverse customer needs, complexity in the product recycling, remanufacturing, and resale processes may erode a firm's overall profits. In this study, we develop a mathematical model for analyzing a capacitated reverse supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and multiple retailers. We reveal closed-form solutions for the optimal batch size and maximal profit, and discuss managerial insights into how the number of products and other factors can affect both batch size and profit. Finally, we investigate the relationship between product proliferation and the choice of logistics strategy.     

Strategic Motive for Introducing Internet Channels in a Supply Chain

Rapid advances of information technology in recent years have enabled both the manufacturers and the retailers to operate their own Internet channels. In this study, we investigate the interaction between the capabilities of introducing the Internet channels, the pricing strategies, and the channel structure. We classify consumers into two segments: grocery shoppers attach a higher utility from purchasing through the physical channel, whereas a priori Internet shoppers prefer purchasing online. We find that when the Internet shoppers are either highly profitable or fairly unimportant, the manufacturer prefers to facilitate the channel separation either through his own Internet channel or the retailer's. In the intermediate region, however, the manufacturer encroaches the grocery shoppers and steals the demand from the retailer's physical channel. With horizontal competition between retailers, a priori symmetric retailers may adopt different channel strategies as a stable market equilibrium. The manufacturer may willingly give up his Internet channel and leverage on the retailer competition. When the manufacturer sells through an online e‐tailer, Internet shoppers may be induced to purchase through the physical channel. This reverse encroachment strategy emerges because selling through the e‐tailer leads to a more severe double marginalization problem.     

不同混合回收模式和权力结构的逆向供应链决策分析

在制造商主导和销售商主导两种权力结构下,构建了制造商与销售商两者混合回收及制造商、销售商和第三方三者混合回收的四类逆向供应链模型,运用博弈理论求解,对四类逆向供应链进行比较发现:(1)回收竞争程度较高时,制造商的最优策略为制造商主导且两者混合回收;回收竞争程度较低时,制造商的最优策略为制造商主导且三者混合回收。(2)销售商的最优决策始终为参与制造商主导且制造商和销售商混合回收的逆向供应链,最差决策始终为销售商主导且三者混合回收的逆向供应链。(3)逆向供应链系统的最优决策为制造商主导两者混合回收或三者混合回收。(4)针对最佳权力结构和混合回收方式,制造商和逆向供应链系统的最优决策基本一致,均为制造商主导的逆向供应链;制造商、销售商和逆向供应链系统的最差策略均为销售商主导的逆向供应链。