Vertical cost information sharing in a supply chain with value-adding retailers

We consider a supply chain consisting of one supplier and two value-adding heterogeneous retailers. Each retailer has full knowledge about his own value-added cost structure that is unknown to the supplier and the other retailer. Assuming there is no horizontal information sharing between two retailers, we model the supply chain with a three-stage game-theoretic framework. In the first stage each retailer decides if he is willing to vertically disclose his private cost information to the supplier. In the second stage, given the information he has about the retailers, the supplier announces the wholesale price to the retailers. In response to the wholesale price, in the third stage, the retailers optimize their own retail prices and the values added to the product, respectively. Under certain conditions, we prove the existence of equilibrium prices and added values. Furthermore, we obtain the condition under which both retailers are unwilling to vertically share their private information with the supplier, as well as the conditions under which both retailers have incentives to reveal their cost information to the supplier, thus leading to a win–win situation for the whole supply chain.     

The Impact of Competitive Strategy and Supply Chain Strategy on Business Performance: The Role of Environmental Uncertainty*

This article investigates the relationships among competitive strategy, supply chain strategy, and business performance while examining the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty. A total of 604 questionnaires were collected from three cities in China, and the statistical results show significant moderating effects of external environment on the relationships among competitive strategy, supply chain strategy, and business performance. Firms that primarily focus on a differentiation strategy emphasize an agile supply chain strategy. Cost leaders are inclined to implement both lean and agile supply chain strategies, but their emphasis on agile strategy is significantly greater in a volatile environment than in a stable environment. The choice of supply chain strategy does not appear to be an “either‐or” decision and firms could adopt either a lean or an agile strategy, or both, depending on the environment. This article provides significant managerial implications for supply chain practitioners to co‐align supply chain strategy and competitive strategy with the environment to improve performance.     

供应链风险识别与防范策略研究

随着供应链中断事件的频繁发生及其严重后果,供应链风险管理目前成为供应链研究的一个重要方向。本文总结分析了供应链风险来源及类别,提出了供应链风险防范及其对策。     

Configuration of flexibility strategies under supply uncertainty

In this paper, we study a buyer׳s configuration of flexibility strategies under supply uncertainty. His main supplier׳s production process is uncertain, and he can either choose pricing flexibility (setting prices depending on the available supply) or operational flexibility (requesting a contingent order from a backup supplier). As the buyer may or may not find a suitable contingent supplier ex post, we study two scenarios that the backup supplier׳s supply is infinite, and that this supply is random. We also include the factor that the main supplier may determine the wholesale price. We demonstrate that the adoption of flexibility strategies is controlled by threshold policies in different scenarios whether the main supplier determines the wholesale price or not. We also investigate how the buyer׳s attribute (finding a suitable contingent supplier) affects the configuration of flexibility strategies.     

Private Labels: Facilitators or Impediments to Supply Chain Coordination

We consider a retailer’s decision of whether to develop an internally produced, private label version of a national brand and the role that this decision plays in coordinating the supply chain. Our model assumes that the perceived quality of the private label is lower than that of the national brand, and we allow for the two products to have different marginal costs. We further allow for a fixed development cost that the retailer must incur to develop private label capability, and distinguish two types of private labels depending upon whether they would or would not be developed as product line extensions by a vertically integrated supply chain. We refer to these two types as first‐best (FB) and non‐first‐best (NFB) product line extensions, respectively. When the private label can be characterized as a NFB product line extension, its development creates adverse cannibalization effects, yet it also helps to mitigate the effects of double marginalization with respect to the national brand. We characterize the conditions under which the retailer will develop private label capability, and distinguish among the conditions under which this is either beneficial or detrimental to the overall performance of the supply chain.     

人才供应链培养模式下高职个人投资、收益与风险防范研究

在人才供应链下培养模式下,作为“原材料”的高中生越来越重视高职教育的投资与收益问题,本文通过分析高职教育个人投资与收益,从个人、高职院校、企业和政府四个方面提出了防范高职教育的个人投资风险。     

回应需求:社会工作专业教育发展的契机与策略

政府相关文件的出台为社会工作专业教育发展带来了机遇。随着社会服务需求市场的逐步形成,社会将迫切需要大量合格的社会工作者。专业教育体系要积极回应这一需求,通过明确培养目标和办学特色、加强师资队伍建设、完善课程体系和教材建设、优化教学过程等,促进人才供给与社会需求之间的对接。     

社会服务供给集约化发展思路探索

针对我国目前社会服务供给主体发展现状和社会服务供给特性,结合市场集中度和集约化管理理论,分析我国社会服务供给主体存在的主要问题,论述社会服务供给市场集中度与社会服务供给集约化的关系,提出通过降低准入门槛、鼓励主体竞合、强化规模运营、培育大型主体、理顺主体关系、完善竞争机制及优化市场结构等策略与措施,来推动社会服务供给集约化管理。     

How do policy levers shape the quality of a national health system?

Poor quality of care may have a detrimental effect on access and take-up and can become a serious barrier to the universality of health services. This consideration is of particular interest in view of the fact that health systems in many countries must address a growing public-sector deficit and respond to increasing pressures due to COVID-19 and aging population, among other factors. In line with a rapidly emerging literature, we focus on patient satisfaction as a proxy for quality of health care. Drawing on rich longitudinal and cross-sectional data for Spain and multilevel estimation techniques, we show that in addition to individual level differences, policy levers (such as public health spending and the patient-doctor ratio, in particular) exert a considerable influence on the quality of a health care system. Our results suggest that policymakers seeking to enhance the quality of care should be cautious when compromising the level of health resources, and in particular, health personnel, as a response to economic downturns in a sector that traditionally had insufficient human resources in many countries, which have become even more evident in the light of the current health crisis. Additionally, we provide evidence that the increasing reliance on the private health sector may be indicative of inefficiencies in the public system and/or the existence of features of private insurance which are deemed important by patients.     

数字经济供给使用表:概念架构与编制实践研究

数字经济供给使用表是数字经济卫星账户的核心表式,具有统计协调和分析工具的双重作用,能够准确监测数字经济产业发展规模及传统产业与数字经济的融合程度。目前,国际上对数字经济供给使用表的研究尚处于初期探索阶段,还未有国家编制出基于实际数据的数字经济供给使用表,经济合作与发展组织(OECD)对数字经济供给使用表的理论框架进行了前瞻性探索,但系统的数字经济供给使用表构建指南还亟待完善。本文首先从供给和使用层面构建数字经济供给使用表概念框架,界定数字经济特征活动的概念和范围,梳理OECD 划分的数字经济供给使用表中的产品清单和数字经济产业分类;阐释数字经济最终消费、固定资本形成、贸易活动的内涵和种类。其次,围绕“产品×产业×特征活动”三重维度,设计数字经济供给使用表整体架构、阐明其核心指标。再次,编制数字经济供给使用表实例,剖析编制流程、总结编制要点。最后,提出结论和建议。本文尝试完善数字经济统计核算体系,为提出促进我国数字经济高质量发展的政策建议提供核算方法参考。