Cooperation Mechanisms For A Competitive, Sustainable Food Supply Chain To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The food industry is one of the main emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG). The consumers of this industry are aware of the unpleasant consequences of GHG emissions such as global warming and climate change, so food supply chain members should consider mechanisms to reduce GHG emissions besides economic and social goals. This paper examines the impacts of the supply chain structure and cooperation methods on the goals and decisions of a sustainable food supply chain. The proposed supply chain consists of one manufacturer and two suppliers, competition, and cooperation between those studied with centralized and decentralized structures. A single-level problem is solved for the centralized supply chain in the first scenario. The decentralized structure is then considered for the other four scenarios, and bi-level programming is used to model competition and cooperation between the members. Computational results demonstrate that the maximum total profit of the supply chain among all the decentralized scenarios is obtained with the alliance of the manufacturer and the first supplier. It is found economical to increase the budget in the scenarios where the supply chain members competed with each other. Moreover, increasing production capacity and budget reduce GHG emissions for the supply chain members forming coalitions.