Equilibrium Analysis of Channel Structure Strategies in Uncertain Environment

Abstract In this paper, we consider a pricing decision problem with two competing supply chains which distribute differentiated but competing products in the same market. Each chain can be vertically integrated or decentralized based on the choice of the manufacturer. The manufacturing costs, sales costs and consumer demands are characterized as uncertain variables, whose distributions are estimated by experienced experts. Meanwhile, uncertainty theory and game theory are employed to formulate the pricing decision problems. The equilibrium behaviors (how the supply chain members make their own pricing decisions on wholesale prices and retailer markups) at operational level under three possible scenarios are derived. Numerical experiments are also given to explore the impacts of the parameters’ uncertain degrees on supply chain members’ pricing decisions. The results demonstrate that the supply chain uncertain factors have great influences on equilibrium prices. In addition, we also evaluate the effects of competing intensity (substitutability) of the two products on the strategy behaviors, vertically integrated channel strategy versus decentralized strategy, of the manufacturers. It is found that the manufacturers are better off to distribute their products through a decentralized channel rather than an integrated one when the substitutability is greater than some value. Besides, the uncertain factors in the supply chain might reduce the value contrast to the one in deterministic case. Some other interesting managerial highlights are also provided in this paper

Nash Game Model for Optimizing Market Strategies, Configuration of Platform Products in a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Supply Chain for a Product Family

This paper discusses how a manufacturer and its retailers interact with each other to optimize their product marketing strategies, platform product configuration and inventory policies in a VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) supply chain. The manufacturer procures raw materials from multiple suppliers to produce a family of products sold to multiple retailers. Multiple types of products are substitutable each other to end customers. The manufacturer makes its decision on raw materials’ procurement, platform product configuration, product replenishment policies to retailers with VMI, price discount rate, and advertising investment to maximize its profit. Retailers in turn consider the optimal local advertising and retail price to maximize their profits. This problem is modeled as a dual simultaneous non-cooperative game (as a Nash game) model with two sub-games. One is between the retailers serving in competing retail markets and the other is between the manufacturer and the retailers. This paper combines analytical, iterative and GA (genetic algorithm) methods to develop a game solution algorithm to find the Nash equilibrium. A numerical example is conducted to test the proposed model and algorithm, and gain managerial implications.supply chain management;nash game model;vendor managed inventory

Nash game model for optimizing market strategies, configuration of platform products in a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) supply chain for a product family

This paper discusses how a manufacturer and its retailers interact with each other to optimize their product marketing strategies, platform product configuration and inventory policies in a VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) supply chain. The manufacturer procures raw materials from multiple suppliers to produce a family of products sold to multiple retailers. Multiple types of products are substitutable each other to end customers. The manufacturer makes its decision on raw materials' procurement, platform product configuration, product replenishment policies to retailers with VMI, price discount rate, and advertising investment to maximize its profit. Retailers in turn consider the optimal local advertising investments and retail prices to maximize their profits. This problem is modeled as a dual simultaneous non-cooperative game (as a dual Nash game) model with two sub-games. One is between the retailers serving in competing retail markets and the other is between the manufacturer and the retailers. This paper combines analytical, iterative and GA (genetic algorithm) methods to develop a game solution algorithm to find the Nash equilibrium. A numerical example is conducted to test the proposed model and algorithm, and gain managerial implications. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.postprin

Constructive solution methodologies to the capacitated newsvendor problem and surrogate extension

The newsvendor problem is a single-period stochastic model used to determine the order quantity of perishable product that maximizes/minimizes the profit/cost of the vendor under uncertain demand. The goal is to fmd an initial order quantity that can offset the impact of backlog or shortage caused by mismatch between the procurement amount and uncertain demand. If there are multiple products and substitution between them is feasible, overstocking and understocking can be further reduced and hence, the vendor\u27s overall profit is improved compared to the standard problem. When there are one or more resource constraints, such as budget, volume or weight, it becomes a constrained newsvendor problem. In the past few decades, many researchers have proposed solution methods to solve the newsvendor problem. The literature is first reviewed where the performance of each of existing model is examined and its contribution is reported. To add to these works, it is complemented through developing constructive solution methods and extending the existing published works by introducing the product substitution models which so far has not received sufficient attention despite its importance to supply chain management decisions. To illustrate this dissertation provides an easy-to-use approach that utilizes the known network flow problem or knapsack problem. Then, a polynomial in fashion algorithm is developed to solve it. Extensive numerical experiments are conducted to compare the performance of the proposed method and some existing ones. Results show that the proposed approach though approximates, yet, it simplifies the solution steps without sacrificing accuracy. Further, this dissertation addresses the important arena of product substitute models. These models deal with two perishable products, a primary product and a surrogate one. The primary product yields higher profit than the surrogate. If the demand of the primary exceeds the available quantity and there is excess amount of the surrogate, this excess quantity can be utilized to fulfill the shortage. The objective is to find the optimal lot sizes of both products, that minimize the total cost (alternatively, maximize the profit). Simulation is utilized to validate the developed model. Since the analytical solutions are difficult to obtain, Mathematical software is employed to find the optimal results. Numerical experiments are also conducted to analyze the behavior of the optimal results versus the governing parameters. The results show the contribution of surrogate approach to the overall performance of the policy. From a practical perspective, this dissertation introduces the applications of the proposed models and methods in different industries such as inventory management, grocery retailing, fashion sector and hotel reservation

Nash Game Model for Optimizing Market Strategies, Configuration of Platform Products in a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Supply Chain for a Product Family

This paper discusses how a manufacturer and its retailers interact with each other to optimize their product marketing strategies, platform product configuration and inventory policies in a VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) supply chain. The manufacturer procures raw materials from multiple suppliers to produce a family of products sold to multiple retailers. Multiple types of products are substitutable each other to end customers. The manufacturer makes its decision on raw materials’ procurement, platform product configuration, product replenishment policies to retailers with VMI, price discount rate, and advertising investment to maximize its profit. Retailers in turn consider the optimal local advertising and retail price to maximize their profits. This problem is modeled as a dual simultaneous non-cooperative game (as a Nash game) model with two sub-games. One is between the retailers serving in competing retail markets and the other is between the manufacturer and the retailers. This paper combines analytical, iterative and GA (genetic algorithm) methods to develop a game solution algorithm to find the Nash equilibrium. A numerical example is conducted to test the proposed model and algorithm, and gain managerial implications

Application of Optimization in Production, Logistics, Inventory, Supply Chain Management and Block Chain

The evolution of industrial development since the 18th century is now experiencing the fourth industrial revolution. The effect of the development has propagated into almost every sector of the industry. From inventory to the circular economy, the effectiveness of technology has been fruitful for industry. The recent trends in research, with new ideas and methodologies, are included in this book. Several new ideas and business strategies are developed in the area of the supply chain management, logistics, optimization, and forecasting for the improvement of the economy of the society and the environment. The proposed technologies and ideas are either novel or help modify several other new ideas. Different real life problems with different dimensions are discussed in the book so that readers may connect with the recent issues in society and industry. The collection of the articles provides a glimpse into the new research trends in technology, business, and the environment

Method and Approach Mapping of Fair and Balanced Risk and Value-added Distribution in Supply Chains: A Review and Future Agenda

This paper proposes a fair and balanced risk and value-added distribution as a novel approach for collaborative supply chain. The objective of this article is to analyze the existing methods and approaches for risk management, value-adding, risk and revenue sharing to develop a new framework for balancing risk and value-adding in collaborative supply chains. The authors reviewed and synthesized 162 scientific articles which were published between 2001 and 2017 and. The reviewed articles were categorized into supply chain management and performance, risk management, value-added, fair risk and value-added distribution and supply chain negotiation. The potentials identified for future research were the importance of decision-making and sustainability for effectiveness of supply chain risk management. Most previous authors have applied an approach of revenue and risk-- sharing with both decentralized and centralized supply chains to achieve the fair risk and value-added distribution. The dominant methods we found in literature were game theory and complex mathematical formulation. Most literature focused on operation research techniques. We identified a lack of discussion of the intelligent system approach and a potential for future exploration. This paper guide future research and application agenda of fair risk and value-added distribution in supply chain collaboration. We developed a new framework for a fair and balanced risk and value-added distribution model. For a future agenda, we point towards the development of a systematic intelligent system applying soft-computing techniques and knowledge transfer for maintaining sustainable supply chains.Keywords Supply chain collaboration, Fair risk and value-added distribution, Revenue sharing, Risk management, Risk sharin

Examining price and service competition among retailers in a supply chain under potential demand disruption

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Supply chain disruptions management has attracted significant attention among researchers and practitioners. The paper aims to examine the effect of potential market demand disruptions on price and service level for competing retailers. To investigate the effect of potential demand disruptions, we consider both a centralized and a decentralized supply chain structure. To analyze the decentralized supply chain, the Manufacturing Stackelberg (MS) game theoretical approach was undertaken. The analytical results were tested using several numerical analyses. It was shown that price and service level investment decisions are significantly influenced by demand disruptions to retail markets. For example, decentralized decision makers tend to lower wholesale and retail prices under potential demand disruptions, whereas a proactive retailer needs to increase service level with an increased level of possible disruptions. This research may aid managers to analyze disruptions prone market and to make appropriate decision for price and service level. The manufacturer or the retailers will also be able to better determine when to close a market based on the proposed analysis by considering anticipated disruptions. The benefits and usefulness of the proposed approach are explained through a real-life case adopted from a toy supply chain in Bangladesh

Centralized Supply Chain Network Ddesign: Monopoly, Duopoly, and Ooligopoly Competitions under Uncertainty

This paper presents a competitive supply chain network design problem in which one, two, or three supply chains are planning to enter the price-dependent markets simultaneously in uncertain environments and decide to set the prices and shape their networks. The chains produce competitive products either identical or highly substitutable. Fuzzy multi-level mixed integer programming is used to model the competition modes, and then the models are converted into an integrated bi-level one to be solved, in which the inner part sets the prices in dynamic competition and the outer part shapes the network cooperatively.Finally, a real-world problem is investigatedto illustrate how the bi-level model works and discuss how price, market share, total income, and supply chain network behave with respect to key marketing activities such as advertising, promotions, and brand loyalty