Pricing supply chain option contracts: a bilevel programming approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1567-1589
Author(s):  
Abir Trabelsi ◽  
Hiroaki Matsukawa

Purpose This paper considers an option contract in a two-stage supplier-retailer supply chain (SC) when market demand is stochastic. The problem is a Stackelberg game with the supplier as a leader. This research assumes demand information sharing. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal pricing strategy of the supplier along with the optimal order strategy of the retailer in three option contract cases. Design/methodology/approach The paper model the option contract pricing problem as a bilevel problem. The problem is then solved using bilevel programing methods. After computing, the generated outcomes are compared to a benchmark (wholesale price contract) to evaluate the contract. Findings The results reveal that only one of the contract cases can arbitrarily allocate the SC profit. In both other cases, the Stackelberg supplier manages to earn the total SC profit. Further analysis of the first contract, show that from the supplier’s perspective, the first stage forecast inaccuracy is beneficial, whereas the demand uncertainty in the second stage is detrimental. This contracting strategy guarantees both players better outcomes compared to the wholesale price contract. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first that links the option contract literature to the bilevel programing literature. It also the first to solve the pricing problem of the commitment option contract with demand update where the retailer exercises the option before knowing the exact demand.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tengfei Nie ◽  
Hualin Liu ◽  
Yilun Dong ◽  
Shaofu Du

Purpose The existing literature has a lack of modeling of procedural fairness concerns in the supply chain level. This paper aims to investigate how procedural fairness concerns affect channel decisions, performance and coordination. Design/methodology/approach This paper considers a supply chain consisting of one supplier and one retailer who have procedural fairness concerns in a classic Stackelberg game setting. The model is set in sales promotional environment. According to the existing literature, engagement is used to depict fair process. Some findings are made through analyzing respective decisions of the supplier and the retailer under the influence of procedural fairness concerns. Findings The results show that the channel efficiency can be improved when the retailer exhibits procedural fairness concerns, but if the aversion to unfair process exceeds a certain threshold, the retailer cannot benefit from it. Besides, the retailer profits more when he cares about distributional fairness, although the whole channel surplus can be improved by procedural fairness concerns. Originality/value This is the first paper to study the influences of procedural fairness concerns on supply chain decisions and channel performance. Finally, a mechanism combining a wholesale price contract with slotting allowances is proposed to coordinate the supply chain.


Author(s):  
Lengceng Gao ◽  
◽  
Jiayu Shen

This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain problem that includes a manufacturer and a retailer. The manufacturer plays a leading role in the supply chain and must make efforts to increase sales. Due to many uncertain factors in business, the market demand, manufacturing costs and retail operating costs are assumed to be uncertain variables. Expected and chance-constrained models are developed to address these uncertain variables. Stackelberg game is used to solve the proposed models. The equilibrium optimal wholesale price and unit margin are provided in order to determine the maximum profit. Finally, numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed models.


2010 ◽  
Vol 143-144 ◽  
pp. 773-781
Author(s):  
Xin Rong Jiang ◽  
Yong Chao Li

This paper studied the influence of asymmetric information and demand disruption on the decision of the supply chain. We analyzed the supply chain decision models based on a Stackelberg game under normal circumstances and demand disruption situation. The conclusion indicates when the market demand is disrupted, the optimal wholesale price, the retail price, the supplier’s expected profit and the supply chain system’s expected profit change in the same direction as the demand disruption, while the optimal production quantity and the retailer’s profit both have certain robustness under disruption. Finally we gave a numerical example to illustrate our analysis.


Kybernetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhong Li ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Yanfei Lan

Purpose The advent of e-commerce has prompted the proliferation of digital platforms for virtual products. This reinforces the importance of the contract design problem between the virtual product supplier (he) and the digital platform retailer (she). The purpose of this paper is to investigate a principal-agent problem in a virtual product supply chain, in which the retailer’s sales-effort investment level to sell the virtual product is unobservable to the supplier, and the market demand is unknown to both parties. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the supplier designs two kinds of contracts (wholesale price contract and two-part tariff contract) to maximize his profit, while the retailer determines her sales-effort investment level and the virtual product’s retail price. The results of two different types of contracts are compared to explore in depth the effect of contract choices on the participants’ profits. Findings The authors show that the comparative results of the optimal wholesale prices, retail prices and sales-effort investment levels between these two kinds of contracts all rely on the retailer’s risk-averse degree. Specifically, both the supplier and the whole supply chain prefer the two-part tariff contract rather than the wholesale price contract, the retailer should do opposite when she is low risk-averse, whereas there is no distinction for the retailer’s utilities between these two kinds of contracts when she is more risk-averse. Originality/value The value of the research rests on the use of principal-agent theory in the contracts of virtual products considering the retailer’s sales-effort and risk-aversion degree. The research will serve as a guide for the virtual products’ supplier and the platform retailer in decision-making processes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-656
Author(s):  
Guoshu Dong ◽  
Lihong Wei ◽  
Jiaping Xie ◽  
Weisi Zhang ◽  
Zhefu Zhang

Purpose The development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is vital to the economy, as such the financing of SMEs has become the focus of government and enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to find the operational and financial strategies of the supplier and retailer in supply chain. Design/methodology/approach In a Stackelberg game, supplier moves first setting wholesale price, while the retailer follows, setting the ordering quantity. Enterprises maximize their profits by optimization. When measuring profit targets, the capital constraints and income taxes of two companies are considered. In the portfolio financing model, the retailer can obtain products from suppliers through trade credit, and the supplier can use asset-backed securitization (ABS) to solve his/her financing problems. Findings The wholesale price is a decreasing function of retailer’s initial cash balance, and the supplier’s financing interest rate is a decreasing function of his/her own capital, the incentive effect of the supplier’s price discount strategy on retailer is more intense in the supply chain with high-priced product or high-capital retailer. And in a capital-constrained supply chain, an increase in tax rate or financing rate does not necessarily motivate the supplier to increase wholesale price. Most importantly, if the supplier’s markup is moderate, portfolio financing has value for both retailer and supplier, while solving the financing problems of both parties. Research limitations/implications Future research can consider the explicit and implicit interest when supplier provides trade credit to retailer. It is also possible to consider the portfolio financing when multiple retailers are facing financial constraints. Practical implications It provides guidance for supply chain enterprises with financing needs, helping them find optimal decisions. With financial interest, enterprise income tax on the enterprises’ financing factors will produce a tax shield effect; thus, a cost–benefit analysis with the tax shield effect can provide more accurate picture when making corresponding decisions. Social implications Government takes feasible adjustments of tax rate for the sake of motivation on financial SMEs tax shield. Furthermore, ABS calls for service from financial institutions, which will, in turn, expedite financial institutions revenue. Originality/value The authors provide insights on enterprise financing models, combining ABS with trade credit, expanding enterprise financing channels and enriching the theory of financial supply chain and supply chain management. The authors analyze in detail the influence of tax factors on enterprises by introducing tax factors into traditional process of enterprise operation and financing strategy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Cheng Che ◽  
Xiaoguang Zhang ◽  
Yi Chen ◽  
Liangyan Zhao ◽  
Peng Guo ◽  
...  

The occurrence of major public health events usually leads to interruptions in the supply chain. This article studies the supply chain consisting of two suppliers and one manufacturer. In the case of supply interruptions, the manufacturer adopts two models of unit cost subsidies and proportional subsidies. The reliability of the supplier’s supply is incentivized and ensured. A Stackelberg game model is established in which the manufacturer is the leader and the supplier is the follower. The research results show that the optimal order quantity of the supplier manufacturer and the optimal wholesale price of the supplier will be affected by the reliability level, and the optimal supply chain profits of the two models under different parameters are compared.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-118
Author(s):  
Xinning Li ◽  
Kun Fan ◽  
Lu Wang ◽  
Lang Zhou

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to design a contract to coordinate the biomass molding fuel supply chain consisting of a supplier with uncertain supply and a producer with cyclical demand as well as improve the profit of this supply chain. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the supply chain model was build and all the variables and assumptions are set. Stackelberg game model was used to analyze and solve the problem. Furthermore, the authors give numerical examples and result analysis on the basis of data coming from field study and online information about a real biomass fuel supply chain. Findings The wholesale price with shortage penalty contract the authors proposed can coordinate the supply chain. And as the dominator of the supply chain, the producer can realize the redistribution of profits within the supply chain by determine the contract parameters. Research limitations/implications This one-to-one supply chain is a basic of complex supply chain system. Multi-to-one, one-to-multi and multi-to-multi supply chain can be studied in the future. Originality/value The results obtained in this paper can be used as a reference for enterprises in biomass energy supply chain to make contracts and realize the long-term co-operations among supply chain members.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafei Zu ◽  
Lianghua Chen

To better understand the different effects of the myopic and far-sighted behaviors on the advertising coordination in dynamic supply chain, this paper takes the reference price effect into consideration and formulates four differential game models for the two-level supply chain composed of a manufacturer and a retailer in the situation of Stackelberg game. In our models, the market demand is assumed to be affected by the goodwill, reference price, and the advertising investment, in which the advertising investment can promote the construction of goodwill and such goodwill can further enhance the reference price. The results show that the participating members in the supply chain should invest more in advertisement to improve the goodwill and the relative reference price reflected in the minds of consumers. A far-sighted manufacturer will invest more in the advertisement and charge a higher wholesale price regardless of the behavior choice of the retailer. However, such kind of ignorance leads to different results on the retail pricing strategies of the retailer. The numerical analyses are given in the end to verify the effectiveness of the conclusions which provide the theoretical support to the dynamic supply chain coordination in practice.


Author(s):  
Bo Yan ◽  
Gaodi Liu ◽  
Xiaohua Wu ◽  
Jiwen Wu

The price risk of fresh agricultural products has been a significant topic in recent years. Taking the two-level fresh agricultural product supply chain as the research object, this paper studies the optimal ordering and coordination of supply chain based on two-period price, wholesale price and option contract. The optimal order decision of the retailer at the single period price and the optimal decision corresponding to the supplier are obtained when the output of the supplier is uncertain under decentralized decision-making. The range of penalty cost parameter that avoids supplier default is also obtained. The effect of two-period price on the optimal order decision and supply chain profits is discussed when the production yield of the supplier is fixed. Cost-sharing contract is introduced to increase the order quantity and achieve coordination because the option contract cannot completely make the supply chain coordination with two-period price. This paper provides a low-cost approach that can be applied in fresh agricultural supply chain to solve financing and order problems.


Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anwar Mahmoodi

Purpose Integrated decision of pricing and inventory control for a deteriorating product is known as a good practice in revenue management discipline. The purpose of this paper is to formulate the problem of joint pricing and inventory decision in a manufacturer–retailer supply chain with deteriorating items and backlogging. Furthermore, the other purpose is to develop an efficient algorithm to obtain the equilibrium solution. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a manufacturer–retailer supply chain of a deteriorating product is considered. The retailer aims to maximize his profit, for which he jointly determines the retail price and replenishment cycle. In addition, the manufacturer should decide on the wholesale price to maximize her profit. Considering the problem as a manufacturer-Stackelberg game, the equilibrium solution is formulated and analyzed for both the manufacturer and the retailer. Moreover, two different procedures are developed to obtain the equilibrium solution. The first procedure is an exact procedure for the Taylor-approximated model and the second is a simulated annealing (SA)-embedded algorithm for the actual model. Findings It is found that Taylor-approximated procedure is more accurate than SA-embedded procedure. However, the latter is more time-efficient. Moreover, it is observed that the obtained solution is highly sensitive to demand parameters, while it is not the case for the cost parameters. Originality/value The paper models a real industrial problem, and its results could be used in analyzing any manufacturer–retailer supply chain with deteriorating items. Among others, the fruit and vegetable supply chains are more likely to have a similar setting, and this study’s results are applicable for such chains in food industry.


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