Model Development for Bundle Pricing In Dual Channel Supply Chain

Bundling merupakan salah satu strategi pemasaran yang digunakan untuk meningkatkan penjualan dengan cara menjual dua produk atau lebih dalam satu paket pada tingkat harga tertentu. Disisi lain, beberapa kegiatan bisnis dilakukan dalam bentuk online, termasuk aktivitas jual beli. Beberapa diantaranya telah menyediakan fasilitas online channel tanpa menghilangkan conventional store. Fenomena tersebut sering disebut dengan Dual Channel Supply Chain (DCSC). Pada permasalahan ini akan dibahas mengenai bundling strategy di DCSC untuk produk komplementer. Jumlah produk yang dibundle ada dua. Pada penelitian ini akan dibandingkan dua skenario, nobundling dan mixed bundling strategy di DCSC dengan menggunakan Nash game. Variabel keputusan yang dicari adalah harga optimum untuk masing-masing produk di masing-masing channel untuk mendapatkan profit yang maksimal baik di masing-masing channel maupun supply chain secara keseluruhan. Pada penelitian ini dilakukan modifikasi fungsi demand yang selanjutnya akan dipakai sebagai penyusun fungsi tujuan maksimasi profit. Hasil dari percobaan numerik menunjukkan bahwa mixed bundling strategy memberikan nilai profit yang lebih besar dibandingkan dengan unbundling strategy

Business model optimization plan for S.F. Group's fresh e-commerce business

Nowadays, the market is increasingly fierce, so many companies seek new growth points through business diversification. However, logistics companies have not succeeded in integrating business in the e-commerce industry. In order to answer the failure of logistics enterprises in the field of E-commerce, this paper chooses S.F. BEST as the research object. Case study is conducted on JD.com FRESH and MISSHFRESH to explore their successful experience in business model and the diversity of the industry. After that, we proposed feasible suggestions on the problems existing in S.F. Group. The study of this project found that fresh e-commerce not only needs to provide customers with quality products and delivery services but also needs to establish a good relationship with customers through platforms and channels. However, S.F. Group lacked the ability of platform and channel management, and its market positioning was obviously wrong, so it suffered from business failure and financial losses. Aiming at the shortcomings of S.F. Group's business model in market positioning accuracy and resource utilisation ability, this project proposes improvement suggestions and a development plan. By improving the implementation of the plan, we hope to help S.F. Group reshapes its business model and business operation process, and help the company achieve business diversification and vertical integration.Na actualidade, o mercado está cada vez mais feroz, levando a que muitas empresas procurem novas vias de crescimento através da diversificação dos negócios. No entanto, as companhias de logística não conseguiram desenvolver os seus negócios no sector de comércio electrónico. A fim de dar conta do fracasso das referidas companhias no domínio do comércio electrónico, o presente trabalho tem o S.F. BEST como objecto de investigação. O estudo de caso é conduzido para explorar a experiência bem-sucedida do modelo de negócios e a diversidade do setor. Em seguida, propusemos sugestões viáveis sobre os problemas existentes no S.F. Grupo. O estudo do presente trabalho constatou que o comércio electrónico actual não apenas necessita de oferecer aos clientes produtos de qualidade elevada e prestar serviços de entrega eficaz, mas também precisa de estabelecer um bom relacionamento com os clientes através de várias plataformas e canais. No entanto, o S.F. Grupo não possuía a capacidade de gestão de plataforma e canal, com um posicionamento obviamente errado no mercado, por consequência, sofreu de fracasso nos negócios e perdas financeiras. O presente trabalho propõe sugestões de melhoria e um plano de desenvolvimento, focando nas deficiências do modelo de negócios do S.F. Grupo de negócios acerca da imprecisão de posicionamento no mercado e incapacidade de utilização de recursos. Através de melhorar a implementação do plano, esperamos ajudar o S.F. Grupo na reestruturação do modelo de negócios e do processo de operação de negócios, ajuda a empresa a alcançar a diversificação de negócios e integração vertical

An optimisation approach for the e-grocery order picking and delivery problem

[EN] Traditional supermarket chains that are adopting an omni-channel approach must now carry out the order picking and delivery processes to serve online orders, previously done by the customer. The complexity of the logistics processes has increased, therefore modelling and optimising e-grocery operations becomes definitely important. Since there are few studies modelling order picking and delivery processes, we propose an approach that simultaneously optimises the decision variables of different functions which have traditionally been treated separately. In this study, we present a linear programming model for store-based e-fulfilment strategies with multiple picking locations. The proposed model optimises the allocation of online orders to stores, based on the e-fulfilment costs. As well as minimising the picking and delivery costs, the proposed approach consolidates workloads in order to avoid idle times and reduce the amount of resources required. A weighted sum method is applied to compute the solution, integrating parameters that represent different store features such as the product range, sales mode and physical store activities. The proposed model has been tested on one of the largest grocery sellers, showing that substantial savings can be achieved by reallocating orders to different stores, time windows and delivery vehicles. By focusing on optimising e-fulfilment resources, this approach serves as a guide for traditional grocery sellers to redesign their supply chains and to facilitate decision-making at a managerial level.Funding was provided by Universidade de Vigo.Vazquez-Noguerol, M.; Comesaña-Benavides, J.; Poler, R.; Prado-Prado, JC. (2022). An optimisation approach for the e-grocery order picking and delivery problem. Central European Journal of Operations Research. 30(3):961-990. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-020-00710-9S96199030

Structuring postponement strategies in the supply chain by analytical modeling

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Research on dual channel supply chain decision-making of new retailing enterprises considering service behavior in the era of big data

Drawing from extant retailing and supply chain research, this paper studies the dual channel supply chain decision-making of member channel, and obtains the optimal price strategy, maximum demand and maximum total revenue of the supply chain of network channel and retailing channel under the centralized decision-making and decentralized decision-making respectively. The contributions of this study identify that investing in big data within a certain threshold can improve the channel service level, reduce the channel price and improve the income of the supply chain. Supply chain members improve the channel service level and increase the corresponding channel price. The supply chain can get the most advantages when manufacturers and retailers make centralized decisions. This paper provides a starting point for new retailing academic and practical research in a domain that is deficient in empirical research, provides the theoretical framework to new retailing enterprises and decision-making model for their sustainable competitive advantage

Pricing and warranty decisions in a two-period closed loop supply chain

For a two-period closed loop supply chain (CLSC) consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, Stackelberg game analyses are conducted to examine pricing and warranty decisions under two warranty models depending on who offers warranty for new and remanufactured products and the corresponding benchmark models with warranty for new products only. Next, we identify the conditions under which warranty for remanufactured products is offered and investigate how this warranty affects the CLSC operations. Subsequently, comparative studies are carried out to examine equilibrium decisions, profitability and consumer surplus of the CLSC between the two warranty models. Analytical results show that offering warranty for remanufactured products does not affect new product pricing in period 2, but influences pricing of new products in period 1 and remanufactured products in period 2, thereby enhancing remanufacturing, individual and channel profitability, and consumer surplus. Compared to the retailer warranty for remanufactured products, the manufacturer warranty can attain a more equitable profit distribution. If the warranty cost advantage of the manufacturer (retailer) is significant relative to that of the retailer (the manufacturer), the manufacturer (retailer) arises as a natural choice to offer warranty for remanufactured products as this decision enhances both profitability and consumer surplus

The Role of Consumer Behaviour in Service Operations Management

In this thesis, I study the impact of consumer behaviour on service providers’ operations. In the first study, I consider service systems where customers do not know the distribution of uncertain service quality and cannot estimate it fully rationally. Instead, they form their beliefs by taking the average of several anecdotes, the size of which measures their level of bounded rationality. I characterise the customers’ joining behaviour and the service provider’s pricing, quality control, and information disclosure decisions. Bounded rationality induces customers to form different estimates of the service quality and leads the service provider to use pricing as a market segmentation tool, which is radically different from the full rationality setting. When the service provider also has control over quality, I find that it may reduce both quality and price as customers gather more anecdotes. In addition, a high-quality service provider may not disclose quality information if the sample size is small. In the second study, I analyse the performance of opaque selling in countering the negative revenue impact from consumers’ strategic waiting behaviour in vertically differentiated markets. The advantage of opaque selling is to increase the firm’s regular price, whereas the disadvantage lies in the inflexibility of segmenting different types of consumers. Both the advantage and the disadvantage are radically different from their counterparts in horizontally differentiated markets, and this contrast generates opposite policy recommendations across the two settings. In the third study, I investigate an online store’s product return policy when competing with a physical store, in which consumers can try the product before purchase. I find that the online store should offer product return only if it is socially efficient. Moreover, it should allocate product return cost between the online store and the consumers to minimise the total return cost

How to respond to low cost competition – A case study

Background Today many large corporations worldwide are facing new competitors that develop good enough products to a low price. This is a well-known problem for large companies and is not an industry specific problem. We have seen new entrants especially from Asia entering, ranging from the airline industry, grocery, retailing, wind energy market, banking to IT services. These are just examples and no industry is presumably immune to this issue. How have successful companies tackled these kinds of threats? Managers at traditional premium corporations are having a hard time to decide what strategy to use while responding to these growing competitors and the change in the business landscape. The company in this thesis, Tetra Pak, is threatened by low cost competitors due to some of its patents have expired. The largest low cost competitor is named Greatview Aseptic Packaging Ltd and is based in China. Greatview is a Non-System Supplier (NSS) and obtains its revenues through using a more focused business model concentrating on a limited product offering. Thesis Objective This thesis consists of two main objectives. The first one is to describe how companies in the B2B manufacturing industry have responded to direct low cost competition and to identify what factors in the market or within the company that has been significant, decisive and descriptive for the choice and outcome of the Companys strategy. These factors will be identified and presented in a normative schematic model. The second objective is to test the hypothesis if the criteria for not being stuck in the middle stated by Michael Porter are true for the case companies utilizing a dual strategy. In addition, the companies actions will be compared with Kumars framework. Research questions What strategy could a company use against low cost competition? Which factors caused the case companies to take action? Limitations This reports focus has been manufacturing companies within the global B2B industry. The report examines six different firms in the mature market, all except one in the B2B industry. The firm that was not a B2B company was requested from Tetra Pak. The numbers of case objects (six) chosen were depending on a time constraint. Furthermore, this thesis puts focus on direct competition in the aseptic packaging industry only. Greatview Aseptic is the leading NSS and therefore that company has been studied thoroughly in this report. Methodology This thesis is based on a comparative descriptive multiple case study. An abductive approach is used. The data consists of both qualitative and quantitative data such as literary books, dissertations, newspapers, databases, annual reports, websites and trade organizations. Conclusions The schematic normative model developed in this thesis is deemed to support management when responding towards low cost competition. Analysis of the empirical findings provided this report with identified factors, which will assist managers to strategize toward low cost competition. Management could then use the model when looking over the competitive environment on a particular market based on how the outside world changes and what internal capabilities the company possess. This can provide an important basis when planning to enter a new market and advise how to develop a strategy against low cost competition. The idea is to bring in new thoughts and assist management with a competition analysis and emphasize a new perspective to rethink and think new in order to improve old thinking patterns. What is interesting to note is that none of the case companies transformed itself to a low cost player. The criteria for not being stuck in the middle stated by Michael Porter are true for the case companies utilizing a dual strategy. Furthermore, the findings about the companies reactions to the low-cost players support Nirmalya Kumars theoretical framework

Differentiation by Design:How New Product Design Creates Value and Competitive Advantage in Small Manufacturing Entities (SMEs)

In the practice of new product value creation there is a creative quest that product design and development practitioners must address when existing knowledge of practice proves inadequate but the development objective remains. Design practitioners often achieve new competitive advantages as the outcome of these creative quests, and yet truly innovative and competitive products are rare, as their efforts often fall short of the original design aims. In this study, the design process of the author, a product design practitioner with over thirty years of experience, has been investigated through the examination of three case histories of successful new product development arising from his design practice. The cases were assembled by the practitioner, who is also an academic researcher, seeking an explanatory research analogue of his tacit design process. The methodology draws on the reflective practice philosophy of Donald Schön, in conjunction with grounded theory and case studies employing mixed methods, to explain how design can create new value and competitive advantage in the marketplace. The chosen cases share common successful marketplace outcomes resulting from their design and development approaches. Although qualitative in nature, this autobiographic study builds on the insights available to the researcher, and the unique access to rich quantitative evidence of the design narrative and marketing histories gained from an insider’s view of industry practice. Competitive advantage and its role in innovation in the real-world laboratory of the marketplace provide the context for researching the process of this design-focused strategy. This thesis explains the practice-design relationship in strategic new product design and development by distinguishing between existing practice and the new knowledge rivalry created through design practice, bringing focus to the new design’s ability to displace the existing solution. Whilst the primary focus of the study is on design value creation for competitive advantage in new product marketplaces, a new knowledge creation framework has emerged from this research with the potential for application by other practitioners. This strategically focused, differentiation by design based competitory action model (CAM) provides a systematic explanatory framework for practitioners seeking advantaged new knowledge creation for product design praxis, as well as an actionable framework for further academic research