Bargaining in a multi-echelon supply chain with power structure: KS solution vs. Nash solution

Abstract

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>This paper studies a multi-echelon serial supply chain with negotiations over wholesale prices between successive echelons. Two types of bargaining systems with power structures are compared: one adopts the generalized Kalai-Smorodinsky (KS) solution and the other adopts the generalized Nash solution. Our analyses show that, for any KS bargaining system with a given bargaining power structure, there is a Nash bargaining system with another bargaining power structure, such that the two systems are the same. However under the same power structure, the generalized KS solution results in lower wholesale price and higher total supply chain profit than the Nash solution does. Finally, we characterize the necessary and sufficient condition of the bargaining power structure under which the KS bargaining system Pareto dominates the Nash bargaining system, and the set characterized by such condition does not shrink to an empty set as the number of echelons increases to infinity.</p>