Different Dominant Models and Fairness Concern of E-Supply Chain

Abstract

In this study, we examine the impact of the dominant enterprise’s fairness concern on decisions in e-supply chains. Considering that the network platform’s service level obviously influences product sales, an e-supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single network platform is constructed. In this setting, four models of whether fairness concern is considered by the different dominant parties are investigated, and optimal decisions of the four models are compared and analyzed to study the impact of fairness concern. The findings show that when fairness concern is not taken into account, the profits when enterprises are dominating system are higher than when they are not dominating system. When fairness concern is considered, the dominant enterprise’s fairness concern is beneficial to increase the subordinate enterprise’s profit, but it will reduce its profit. And when the network platform dominates system and considers fairness concern, the sales price and the service level are the highest, indicating that consumers can get an enjoyable shopping experience. To sales price, it is negatively correlated with the fairness concern coefficient if manufacturer dominates the system, while it is positively correlated with the fairness concern coefficient if network platform dominates the system. Regardless of who has the fairness concern, fairness concern can improve the service level and increase consumer stickiness.