Government Subsidy Policy and Online Selling Strategy in a Platform Supply Chain with Green R&D and DDM Activities

Abstract

Many governments actively subsidize the green activities of manufacturers and consumers to effectively realize the achievement of carbon emissions peak and carbon-neutral goals, while the development of a platform economy can effectively contribute to sustainable development. Therefore, we have modeled a platform supply chain using game theory, in which the manufacturer conducts green research and development (R&D) activities, the third-party platform conducts data-driven marketing (DDM) activities to promote green products, and all consumers have green preferences. The numerical example and empirical analysis methods are used to mine management insights. The government subsidizes the manufacturer’s green R&D, the third-party platform’s DDM, and the consumers’ green consumption. The third-party platform provides an agency selling or reselling strategy to sell products. Our results show that: (1) the sensitivity coefficient of consumers to green R&D and DDM activities has positive impacts on all members’ profits and on the green R&D level of products in the platform supply chain, with three kinds of government subsidy policies. (2) The levels of the three kinds of government subsidies mainly have an impact on all members’ profits and on the green R&D level of products in the platform supply chain with an agency selling or reselling strategy; government subsidies to the manufacturer are more conducive to improving the green R&D level of products. (3) The levels of the three government subsidies and the unit service commissioning fee for selling products are the main factors affecting the preferred selling strategy of each member and the equilibrium of the selling strategy.