An option contract pricing model of relief material supply chain

Abstract

Relief material management which aims to reduce the impact of disaster and maintain social stability is of great importance for nonprofit organization (NPO) such as government, department of civil affair or Red Cross. However, the research of efficiency and performance on this field has long been ignored. In order to improve the efficiency and performance of the relief material management, we apply the supply chain management method into this field. Considering the relief material management system as a supply chain with one buyer and one supplier, we introduce the option contract mechanism into relief material supply chain management. With reasonable assumptions, we design an option contract with two delivery steps, and build an option pricing model with binominal lattice to estimate the different values of the same option contract for both members of supply chain. Furthermore, we analyze the impacts of the different parameters (such as the ratio of inventory, subjective probability of disaster, etc.), on the supply chain and its members in detail. The numerical example presented at last demonstrates that, with two delivery steps, there is a feasible price range of option contract which makes both members of relief material supply chain profitable and willing to conduct the transaction with option contract.