Abstract
With the gradual popularity of online sales and the enhancement of consumers’ low-carbon awareness, the low-carbon e-commerce supply chain (LCECSC) has developed rapidly. However, most of the current research on LCECSC assumes that the decision-making body is rational, and there is less research on the irrational behavior of the e-platform altruistic preference. Therefore, aiming at the LCECSC composed of a single e-platform and a single manufacturer, this paper establishes two basic models with or without altruistic preference. Additionally, this paper combines the characteristics of online sales and assumes that altruistic preference is a proportional function of commission, then establishes a commission-based extended model with altruistic preference to further explore the influence of commission on its altruistic preference. The current literature does not consider this point, nor does it analyze the influence of other parameters on the degree of altruism preference. By comparing the optimal decisions and numerical analysis among the models, the following conclusions can be drawn that: (1) different from the traditional offline supply chain, the profit of the dominator e-platform is lower than the profit of the follower manufacturer; (2) when the consumers’ carbon emission reduction elasticity coefficient increases, service level, sales price, carbon emission reduction, sales, supply chain members profits, and system profit increase, ultimately improving economic and environmental performances; (3) the altruistic preference behavior of the e-platform is a behavior of ‘profit transferring’. The moderate altruistic preference is conducive to the stable operation and long-term development of LCECSC.
Highlights
Greenhouse gases are still a common challenge faced by human society today
Because of this, incorporating carbon emission reduction and service into the demand function, this paper studies the influence of altruistic preference of the e-platform on decision-making
According to the research of Nair and Narasimhan [56], the carbon emission reduction cost of the manufacturer is assumed as Cm (h) = th2 /2, and the market demand for low-carbon products is q = α − βp + γs + λh According to the hypothesis of Han and Wang [10], the cost of the e-platform to provide service is assumed as Ce (s) = ks2 /2
Summary
Greenhouse gases are still a common challenge faced by human society today. Effectively responding to smog and the greenhouse effect, and accelerating the enhancement of the low-carbon economy, has become an urgent international issue [1,2]. The fairness of decision-making has become a key factor affecting the operation of the supply chain [15,16] For this reason, to ensure the stability and coordination of the system, the e-platform, while pursuing its profit maximization, pays attention to the manufacturer’s profit and carries out altruistic preferences. Because of this, incorporating carbon emission reduction and service into the demand function, this paper studies the influence of altruistic preference of the e-platform on decision-making. The difference between this paper and previous papers is mainly in these two aspects: Firstly, considering the development of low-carbon awareness and e-commerce environment, by contrast with the research of Xia et al [19], this paper incorporates carbon emission reduction and service into the demand function to establish models, which makes the conclusions more consistent with reality.
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