Coordinating Independent Buyers in a Distribution System to Increase a Vendor's Profits

We study the coordination of a two-echelon distribution system where a vendor distributes a single product to a set of independent buyers. The problem is analyzed as a Stackelberg game in which the vendor acts as the leader and buyers act as followers. A simple strategy is developed for the vendor to employ a uniform quantity-discount policy to coordinate buyers' replenishment times by the power-of-two policy. Solution procedures are developed for the equilibrium strategy. It is shown that time coordination generally has a substantial benefit for the vendor, although the benefit to the buyers may be limited. Furthermore, uniform quantity discounts to all buyers are normally feasible but not sufficient to achieve perfect channel coordination when buyers act independently. The proposed strategy obtains a high proportion of the maximum benefit under perfect channel coordination.Quantity Discounts, Channel Coordination, Supply Chain Management

A Game Theoretic Approach in Green Supply Chain Management

Common social issues are usually criticized considering the potential interrelationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and supply chain management. Companies and manufacturers in supply chain networks have been pressured by a growing concern for CSR from governments, organizations, and consumer, and have to bear at least some CSR under policies and regulations. However, naturally, members in a decentralized supply chain network make decisions to maximize their individual net profits. This thesis aims to allocate CSR to members in a non-integrated supply chain over time. Specifically, we formulate a model that crosses through multi-periods by a dynamic discreet Stackelberg game. We then apply control theory and calculus variations to obtain an equilibrium point at where both the profits of members and the level of CSR taken by Supply Chains are maximized. The findings of this thesis serve three subjects: supply chain management, social science, and game theory application