scholarly journals Strategic Analysis of the Pricing Mechanisms in an Online Book Supply Chain in the Presence of Reference Price Effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1492-1516
Author(s):  
Wenhua Hou ◽  
Yuwen Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Discount Rate ◽  
Reference Price ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Lower Boundary ◽  
Retail Price ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Price Effects ◽  
Retail Prices ◽  
Online Book

(1) Background: A binding recommended retail price has been used in several markets in a variety of forms, and the book market is a typical example. Publishers sell books to online retailers at a unit wholesale discount computed on the cover price. Retailers are then allowed to set the retail price. Therefore, if consumers regard the cover prices as reference points, then they may be more likely to purchase books if retail prices are lower than the cover prices. (2) Methods: We develop a Stackelberg game model for a book supply chain to investigates how reference price effects affect retailers and publisher’s pricing strategies. (3) Results: The results show that retailers will sell printed books at a discount only when the publisher’s wholesale discount rate is not high. Further, as the intensity of the reference price effects increases, (a) the lower boundary of the wholesale discount rate rises, (b) publishers’ profits increase and (c) retailers’ profits increase relative to the level of consumers’ e-books acceptance. (4) Conclusions: This result is related to the fact that the online retailer, such as Amazon and JD.com, like to invoke reference price effects in consumers’ minds by highlighting the printed book’s discount rate.

scholarly journals Equilibrium decisions on pricing and innovation that impact reference price dynamics

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Shaokun Tao ◽  
Xianjin Du ◽  
Suresh P. Sethi ◽  
Xiuli He ◽  
Yu Li
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Steady State ◽  
Reference Price ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Retail Price ◽  
Price Ratio ◽  
Reference Prices ◽  
Consumer Memory

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>Previous studies have confirmed that reference prices play an essential role in consumer purchasing decisions, and some researchers have suggested that reference prices are positively influenced by innovation. Therefore, we construct an interactive effect of innovation and reference price to study their combined impact on supply chain decisions. We model a supply chain, where a manufacturer determines the innovation level and the wholesale price while the retailer controls the retail price, as a dynamic Stackelberg game. We show that the interactive effect causes the steady-state wholesale and retail prices to increase, thus motivating the manufacturer to increase innovation investment. We see that the retail price and the level of innovation increase in reference price effect whereas they decrease in consumer memory. The centralized firm has a higher steady-state innovation level and innovation/price ratio and lower steady-state retail price compared to the decentralized supply chain. Consumers also benefit from the interactive effect as well as from centralization. Finally, we use numerical analysis to demonstrate our results and offer some managerial implications.</p>

scholarly journals A Building-Material Supply Chain Sustainable Operations under Fairness Concerns and Reference Price Benefits

Complexity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Huimin Xiao ◽  
Youlei Xu ◽  
Shiwei Li
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Building Material ◽  
Cost Sharing ◽  
Reference Price ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Noncooperative Game ◽  
Sustainable Operations ◽  
Effort Level ◽  
Fairness Concerns

This paper incorporates fairness concerns and consumer reference price effects into a two-echelon building-material closed-loop supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. By establishing four differential game models, we investigate the sustainable operations and cooperation of this supply chain. The four game models are a Nash noncooperative game, Stackelberg game with cost sharing, Stackelberg game with fairness concerns and cost sharing, and centralized decision model. By using dynamic models and optimal control theory, we obtain the two members’ optimal equilibrium strategies in the supply chain. Analytical results show that the consumer reference price effect has a positive impact on the manufacturer’s effort level, retailer’s publicity level, and product brand goodwill, which can improve the supply chain performance. The retailer’s partial commitment to cost sharing can enhance the production enthusiasm of the manufacturer, improve the brand reputation of the product, and enhance the two members’ individual profitability. The distributional fairness concerns of the manufacturer not only prevent the manufacturer and retailer from achieving Pareto improvement but also lead to the decline of the manufacturer’s effort level and profitability. The research conclusions of this paper can provide some insights into the cooperation and sustainable development of the supply chain.

Decision Models of Supply Chain Under Asymmetric Information with Demand Disruption

2010 ◽  
Vol 143-144 ◽  
pp. 773-781
Author(s):  
Xin Rong Jiang ◽  
Yong Chao Li
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Asymmetric Information ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Retail Price ◽  
Expected Profit ◽  
Decision Models ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Optimal Production ◽  
Production Quantity

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.

scholarly journals CSR Remanufacturing Supply Chains under WTP Differentiation

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2197
Author(s):  
Lili Dai ◽  
Tong Shu ◽  
Shou Chen ◽  
Shouyang Wang ◽  
Kin Keung Lai
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Consumer Surplus ◽  
Retail Price ◽  
Recycling Rate ◽  
Corporate Social

With the shortage of global resources and the call for sustainable development, the remanufacturing supply chain and the corporate social responsibility of enterprises have attracted extensive attention from scholars. This paper studies a manufacturer-retailer corporate social responsibility (CSR) remanufacturing supply chain in which the manufacturer collects the used products grounded in the willingness to pay (WTP) differentiation. Different from previous literature, this paper first adds WTP differences to the CSR remanufacturing supply chain. Next, we analyze the manufacturer exhibiting CSR activity by Stackelberg game theory in both centralized and decentralized models with a consideration of prices, recycling, consumer surplus, and profits for the chain players in the two models with different CSR ratios. Through calculation and analyses of the models, we note that the chain members have the best status when the consumers’ WTP for new and remanufactured products is within a threshold. Subsequently, we compare the optimal price decisions and the expected profits in the decentralized and centralized systems, and we find that the retail price, wholesale price, and recycling rate decrease with a rising CSR under WTP differentiation. The centralized retail price is lower than the decentralized one. Conversely, the profit is higher when the increment of demand is higher. On top of that, in common cases, the pure and total profits of manufacturing are ascending while the retailer’s profit is descending. We also find that the consumer surplus is increasing in two cases. Finally, to motivate the players in the supply chain to engage in CSR activity, we consider the revenue sharing contract. From the perspective of WTP differences, this paper studies CSR remanufacturing, which has certain influences on the sustainable development of the economy.

scholarly journals Coordination Mechanism of Dual-Channel Supply Chains Considering Retailer Innovation Inputs

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wensheng Yang ◽  
Yinyuan Si ◽  
Jinxing Zhang ◽  
Sen Liu ◽  
Andrea Appolloni
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Operational Efficiency ◽  
Coordination Mechanism ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Dual Channel ◽  
Physical Channel ◽  
Retail Prices

In response to the online channels established by manufacturers, physical retailers are starting to offer innovative services, which will intensify conflicts between manufacturers and retailers. Considering that the conflict will affect the operation efficiency and sustainable development of the supply chain, the coordination mechanism of a dual-channel supply chain has been established. In this study, we construct the Stackelberg game model based on consumer utility theory to analyze the complex mechanism of retailers’ innovation input level affecting supply chain operation and design the double coordination mechanism. The results show that: (1) an optimal combination of wholesale prices, retail prices and innovation input levels can optimize the operational efficiency of the supply chain, (2) Noncooperation among channel members affects the retailer’s product pricing, decreases the market share of the physical channel and increases the market demand of manufacturers, (3) The dual coordination mechanism can alleviate channel conflicts, which can improve the operational efficiency of the supply chain. This study provides several insights on the theory of organizational coordination and sustainable development in conflicts of dual-channel supply chains.

A Strategic Analysis of Mixed Channel Structure

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaowei Linda Zhu ◽  
Xingxing Zu ◽  
Lei Zhu ◽  
Huafan Ma
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Optimal Strategies ◽  
Retail Store ◽  
Retail Price ◽  
Channel Structure ◽  
Online Store

In order to meet the needs of different customer segments, manufacturers use multiple distribution channels. This paper will examine two of the most common types of multi-channel structures. Under Structure 1, a supply chain includes a manufacturer, its online store and its own retail store, like GAP's business model. A profit maximization model is used to obtain optimal strategies in terms of optimal retail price and level of value-added services provided by manufacturer-owned retailer. Under Structure 2, a supply chain includes a manufacturer, its online store and an independent retail store, like Dell's business model. Stackelberg game is applied to obtain the optimal retail price, wholesale price, and level of value-added services provided by an independent retailer. Furthermore, comparisons between these two business structures are discussed and managerial guidelines are proposed. Finally, numerical examples are provided and real business examples are discussed to illustrate and justify the theoretical results.

scholarly journals Myopic versus Far-Sighted Behaviors in Dynamic Supply Chain Coordination through Advertising with Reference Price Effect

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafei Zu ◽  
Lianghua Chen
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Reference Price ◽  
Stackelberg Game ◽  
Supply Chain Coordination ◽  
Wholesale Price ◽  
Pricing Strategies ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Price Effect ◽  
Theoretical Support ◽  
Behavior Choice

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.

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