Supply Chain Coordination Research Articles

Supply Chain Integration and Coordination Applying SAP-ERP: A Case Study in the Fast-moving Consumer Goods Industry

In today’s competitive environment, the pursuit of effective approaches and novel technologies is a key driver for business success. Meanwhile, the coordination of internal and external processes with suppliers and customers is an effective solution for cost reduction, continuous quality improvement, and comprehensive risk management. Therefore, this study proposes a conceptual framework for coordinating and improving supply chain planning workflows using the capabilities of the SAP-ERP solution. The framework encompasses a joint vendor-buyer mathematical model to determine the optimal lot size and purchase quantities. It also provides a heuristic procedure for determining dead-stock in the distribution network. The recommended approach has been applied in a company in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Key performance indicators, such as inventory volume and inventory turnover rate, were meticulously measured before and after the implementation of the framework. The results show a significant improvement in performance measures, including average total inventory and average inventory turnover, and a considerable impact of using the proposed framework.

Retailer involvement in eco-conscious consumer-oriented carbon footprint reduction

Retailer involvement and consumer eco-consciousness are two critical considerations for firms when designing comprehensive carbon footprint reduction (CFR) plans. This paper constructs a supply chain (SC) where one manufacturer and one retailer make CFR and pricing strategies in response to eco-conscious consumers. Eco-conscious consumers form a reference carbon footprint to assess the product's green level. To achieve SC coordination, a cost-sharing contract is introduced. Our results suggest that retailer involvement in CFR always benefits the environment, SC performance, consumer surplus, and social welfare. During CFR cooperation, the manufacturer strategically affects the retailer's CFR decision by adjusting the CFR level, impacting environmental and economic outcomes. Although higher CFR efficiency by the manufacturer can benefit the environment, SC performance, consumer surplus, and social welfare, a similar emphasis by the retailer may have adverse effects. Surprisingly, a lower reference carbon footprint for eco-conscious consumers may be worse for the environment, depending on the retailer's CFR efficiency. Furthermore, implementing a cost-sharing contract under the retailer's different CFR efficiency yields two distinct impacts: a multi-win situation or an incentive conflict. Extended studies are further examined to validate the robustness of these main results.

Multi-Channel Supply Chains Considering Live Streaming Sales and Spillover Effects

Abstract: With the rapid development of e-commerce, an increasing number of companies, such as Huawei, Apple, and Adidas, are no longer confined to offline physical stores for product sales. They leverage third-party e-commerce platforms or establish online stores on their official websites. Modern consumers have access to various purchasing channels, including e-commerce platforms, offline stores, and manufacturer direct sales. In recent years, a new e-commerce model, live streaming sales, has emerged. In live streaming sales, professional salespersons or key opinion leaders (KOLs) showcase product performance, aiming to sell products online. Unlike traditional online channels, live streaming sales alleviate new consumers' uncertainty about product information through real-time interaction or comments from KOLs. Live streaming has been adopted by e-commerce giants worldwide, such as Taobao, JD.com, and Amazon, due to its significant sales revenue potential. Additionally, channels with KOLs may generate negative or positive spillover effects on other channels. These effects are crucial parameters for exploring the impact of seller profits in the multi-channel supply chain under live streaming conditions. Both domestic and international research have focused on live streaming sales, multi-channel sales, and spillover effects, with many studies yielding significant economic and social benefits. However, challenges faced by multi-channel supply chains, including complex channel management, difficulty in information synchronization, brand consistency issues, and increased costs, need to be addressed. To overcome these challenges, recommendations include integrating channel resources, optimizing channel experience, establishing cross-channel data analysis systems, strengthening supply chain coordination, continuous innovation and improvement, and strengthening brand building.

Cross-border supply chain coordination of low-carbon agricultural products under the risk of supply uncertainty.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how cross-border e-commerce enterprises can promote the sustainable development of the supply chain by optimizing the risk of supply disruption and product quality control mechanism of the cross-border supply chain of low-carbon agricultural products in the face of the problem of uneven quality and inventory shortage that prevails in the supply chain of low-carbon agricultural products under the framework of low-carbon economy. Methods: A two-level supply chain model consisting of a risk-averse cross-border e-commerce enterprise and two risk-neutral overseas suppliers is constructed to compare the optimal strategies and their coordination effects under the centralized and decentralized decision-making modes, and to deeply analyze the supply chain's operation mechanism. Further, the quality cost factor is introduced and an option contract model is designed to quantitatively analyze the impact of different decision-making scenarios and parameter changes on the overall supply chain performance. The results of the study show that under the coordination of option contract, the profit of cross-border e-commerce companies tends to decrease as the risk of supply disruption increases, while the profit of suppliers rises accordingly. Meanwhile, improving the quality of agricultural products can significantly improve the overall profitability of the supply chain. The cost-sharing mechanism is positively related to the profit of cross-border e-commerce companies, but negatively affects the profit of suppliers. In addition, the adjustment of the option price is directly associated with the increase of the specific supplier's profit and the decrease of the cross-border e-commerce enterprise's profit. Conclusion: By constructing and analyzing the option contract model considering the risk of supply disruption, this study effectively reveals the key influencing factors and their interactions in the cross-border supply chain of low-carbon agricultural products, and provides cross-border e-commerce enterprises with specific strategies to achieve coordination of the supply chain contract, improve product quality, and mitigate the risk of supply disruption, and then promote the sustainable development of the supply chain of low-carbon agricultural products.

Dynamic pollution management strategies and coordination in aquatic product supply chain under eco-compensation: Perspective of extreme weather crisis

The ecological compensation mechanism emerges as a solution to reduce pollution for aquatic product supply chain. To comprehend the dynamic pollution management strategies and coordination under the ecological compensation mechanism, this study develops a stochastic differential game between farmers and firms from the perspective of extreme weather crisis. The subjects’ optimal decisions are explored in three cases including cooperative case, noncooperative case, and land transfer-cost sharing contract case. Then we simulate theoretical results and illustrate a case study to demonstrate the applicability of ecological compensation collaboration. The results indicate that the extreme weather crisis changes the evolutionary trend and steady state of pollution accumulation. Moreover, the land transfer-cost sharing contract could realize the Pareto improvement in high-risk environment especially after the crisis. But its coordination relies on the ecological compensation coefficient, which gets larger with the interval of [4.9,6.3] after the crisis, compared to the range of [4,5.4] before the crisis. Notably, the contract and ecological compensation mechanism exhibit a complementary relationship in response to the crisis. The findings could provide new inspirations for aquatic product supply chain to balance production and environmental protection.

Analysing the feasibility of agro-based value chain configurations in the rural context with B2B marketing

Purpose This paper aims to advocate for small-scale entrepreneurship with commercial cultivation to earn better profits at the farmer level. This paper explores potential value chain configurations of vertical coordination. Design/methodology/approach The aloe vera supply chain was examined for the study where aloe vera juice is the product. The various configurations are complete vertical coordination, semi-vertical coordination and non-vertical coordination. These were analysed to find feasibility and market prospects based on parameters. The cyclic view of supply chains, comparative analysis and fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process algorithm are presented. Findings The semi-vertically coordinated supply chain is indicated as the optimum setup to initiate value chains. The entrepreneurs in this configuration will be able to sell semi-finished produce to a brand that will process and distribute the final product. This B2B setup will help the farmer to earn better revenues in the post-COVID-19 scenario. Effective marketing with improved execution and innovation will boost the food processing industry. Research limitations/implications This study uses an established methodology to distinguish among alternatives based on underlying factors. The study is based on data collected from stakeholders. The study reflects the most accurate picture of real-world scenarios at the farm and market level in the Indian context. Practical implications This study’s learnings will help understand the organisational approach to serve demand by designing unique business configurations. Adapting the fundamental model with technological intervention will improve supply chain performance and sustainability. The most modern approaches in agri-business, such as subscription models, vertical farming, corporate entrepreneurship and technological intervention, will be covered in future work. Social implications This study will help stakeholders, including the government, decide whether to introduce training skills, subsidy policies, business expansion ideas and feasibility studies. Originality/value The study highlights the strategic role of developing the B2B platform to support customer values and customer ecosystem with better product availability.

LG = 50 nm T-gated and Fe-doped double quantum well GaN‒HEMT on SiC wafer with graded AlGaN barrier for future power electronics applications

High-performance LG = 50 nm graded double-channel (GDC)-HEMT featuring AlN top barrier, recessed T-gate and graded-AlGaN bottom barrier is designed and investigated. Two quantum wells are formed in the AlN-GaN-graded AlGaN-GaN multilayer structure developed on a SiC substrate and the clear double hump feature of the transconductance (GM), cut-off frequency (fT), and capacitance plots clearly illustrates the double-channel (DC) behavior. The investigations carried out to explore the impact of barrier thickness (both AlN & graded-AlGaN) revealed superior performance with the GM showing two peaks at 181.5 & 488.1 mS/mm, the peak-drive-current (ID_peak) with VGS biased at 3 V is 1.81 A/mm, maximum saturation drain current of 3.08 A/mm (VGS = 3V), and the fT derived from the left- and right-hump are 263.7 GHz & 354.2 GHz, respectively, when both barriers are 6 nm thin, attributable to enhanced 2DEG density due to the coordination of channels because of proximity and lower leakage. It has been noticed that when the bottom barrier is thick, the DC behaviour is less obvious due to insufficient gate access to the lower channel. We investigated the impact of varying the Al % in AlGaN top barrier on the DC/RF performance of GDC-HEMTs, demonstrating enhanced performance with increased Al content, particularly for Al0.35Ga0.65N. By using various metals, this study also investigates how gate engineering affects the electrical characteristics of the GDC-HEMT. The lower ϕm (work function) of the Al-gate led to better DC/RF performance. When the Schottky barrier rises as a result of the conduction band edge being elevated, the performance reduces, and the threshold voltage (Vth) increases. Since it is essential to comprehend the role that source resistance (Rs) & drain resistance (Rd) play in RF design, we have also conducted simulations by varying the source-gate gap (LGS) & drain-gate gap (LGD). Due to low Rs & Rd, it was determined that the GDC-HEMT performed better at the smallest LGS & LGD. The extraordinary performance strongly highlights the immense potential and applicability of the GDC-HEMTs for future broadband power amplifiers.

Research on the Game Model of Green Technology Investment in a Two-Echelon Manufacturing Supply Chain Under Carbon Tax Regulation

Using a Stackelberg game model, this research examines the impact of government-imposed carbon taxes on the sustainability of a two-echelon supply chain. The analysis focuses on the interactions between upstream suppliers and downstream manufacturers, taking into account how manufacturers’ carbon emissions influence market demand, as well as how sustainability levels and price affect this demand. The results show that a centralized system has a lesser potential for total profit development in the supply chain than a decentralized system. To encourage investment in green technologies throughout the supply chain, this paper proposes two coordination mechanisms: a green subsidy and a two-part tariff contract. Numerical study reveals that a win–win scenario for the supply chain requires suppliers to share part of the costs. Furthermore, under a two-part tariff contract, successfully managing fixed costs can result in total profit levels comparable to those in a centralized system. The research also makes strategy recommendations, such as differentiating carbon levies, improving supply chain coordination, and assessing fixed costs. These aim to provide theoretical and practical implications for supply chain management in order to assist businesses and policymakers in effectively responding to the problems of climate change.

Blockchain-enabled traceability systems for supply chain quality management: empirical insights from pharmaceutical manufacturers

PurposeThe emergence of blockchain technology has the potential to bring about transformative changes in various industries, with supply chain management being a prominent domain of application. This study investigates the strategic performance benefits of using blockchain-enabled traceability systems for improving supply chain quality management.Design/methodology/approachThe present study employed structural equation modelling to analyse data obtained from 200 practitioners working in Indian pharmaceutical companies.FindingsThe results reflect that blockchain-enabled traceability systems have a positive impact on multi-tier quality governance (MQG); supply chain process alignment and coordination (SPAC) and quality centric collaboration (QCC); all of which are the facets of supply chain quality management. Furthermore, when examining the impact of blockchain-enabled traceability systems on firm quality performance and economic performance, the mediation role of SPAC and QCC was confirmed, whereas the mediation role of MQG could not be established.Practical implicationsThe study’s empirical insights offer practical guidance for pharmaceutical manufacturers, regulators and other industry participants seeking to harness the potential of blockchain technology for creating resilient and transparent supply chains that uphold product quality and safety standards.Originality/valueThese findings underscore the significance of blockchain-enabled traceability systems in revolutionizing supply chain quality management practices to achieve superior strategic performance in the pharmaceutical sector.

Biomass supply chain coordination considering government subsidies and corporate social responsibility

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of various decision-making approaches and government subsidies on supply chain performance, aiming to enhance the profits of disposal firms and retailers as well as to improve social welfare.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, a two-echelon biomass supply chain composed of a disposal firm and a retailer is developed. Firstly, considering the effects of government subsidies, we analyze biofuels prices, corporate social responsibility levels, social welfare and supply chain profitability under centralized and decentralized decision-making scenarios, respectively. Furthermore, we assess how subsidies influence pricing, market participation, profitability and social welfare. Secondly, we propose a revenue sharing–cost sharing contract to enhance the profits of the disposal firm and retailer. Thirdly, we extend the supply chain to a disposal firm and two retailers and explore the impact of competition intensity on corporate decision-making behavior. Finally, numerical analysis is conducted by taking one biomass energy firm as an example to support the results.FindingsOur research finds that (1) Equilibrium strategies under the centralized decision-making scenario are greater than those under the decentralized decision-making scenario. Centralized decision-making can increase market demand and consumer surplus. (2) Government subsidies can promote corporate social responsibility levels, despite causing a slight increase in retail price for biofuels. When market competition intensifies, companies usually reduce their investment in CSR, and this trend is particularly pronounced in the absence of subsidies. (3) In both the decentralized and the centralized decision-making scenarios, increasing conversion rates and the CSR coefficient can significantly increase the overall profitability and social welfare.Research limitations/implicationsA three-echelon biomass supply chain involving collection station, disposal firm and retailer can be studied in the future.Originality/valueBy examining the effects of subsidies on CSR engagement and market outcomes, our study contributes valuable insights into policy design for promoting sustainable practices in biomass industries.

Coordination contract design for a two‐echelon supply chain considering risk aversion and yield uncertainties

AbstractThis study establishes a two‐echelon supply chain (SC) wherein the supplier and the manufacturer suffer from yield uncertainty, and the supplier has a risk‐averse attitude. The SC members’ optimal input quantity and order quantity are investigated. On this basis, the revenue‐sharing and subsidy contracts are introduced to achieve SC coordination. The findings indicate that the two contracts are valid on SC coordination, and there exists a one‐to‐one relationship between these two contracts. Moreover, the two contracts can achieve the same utility allocation between the SC members under specific conditions. Overall, our findings help the SC members develop more efficient cooperation mechanisms.

The effect of common ownership among supply chain parties on decision-making and surplus with manufacturer encroachment

In the financial economics field, several studies assess the effect of common ownership on the economic consequence, decision-making of firms, and social performance. In this situation, based on recent supply chain practices and manufacturer encroachment, we examine the effect of common ownership on supply chain parties composed of a retailer and a manufacturer and social performance. From our model analysis, we demonstrate that manufacturer encroachment improves the retailer’s profit under specific economic environments, while generally, manufacturer encroachment harms the retailer’s profit because the manufacturer obtains market share through a direct channel. Additionally, we demonstrate that increasing common ownership improves total surplus in a specific case. Therefore, our analysis does not only propose the positive effects of common ownership among all vertical supply chain parties for supply chain coordination, as opposed to what is indicated by the real world, but also implies that society should accommodate common ownership among supply chain parties in specific economic environments from the perspective of total surplus.

Coordination of a socially responsible two-stage supply chain under random yield and demand

This study integrates corporate social responsibility (CSR) and channel coordination in a supply chain (SC) under random yield and random demand. In the SC, a supplier with random yield determines wholesale price and production input, and a producer with CSR decides order quantity and CSR investment facing CSR-related random demand. For centralized SCs with and without CSR, we prove the unimodality of the expected profits of the SCs for generic random yield and demand, and show the uniqueness of optimal ratio of order quantity to production input quantity. We disclose that the optimal expected profit of the SC with CSR is larger than that of the SC without CSR, and the profit difference increases with CSR effort and expected yield. We also find that the optimal CSR investment increases with the expected yield. Subsequently, the Nash equilibrium solutions of decentralized SCs under wholesale price and revenue-sharing contracts are analyzed. Next, we present a revenue and CSR sharing contract to realize channel coordination and win-win of SC members and related stakeholders. Lastly, we verify theoretical statements of centralized and decentralized SCs versus three numerical examples, and present managerial insights for the effect of yield uncertainty and CSR effort.

Construction of supply chain management information system based on networked web service composition technology

Web service composition is crucial for creating valuable services by integrating pre-existing ones. With their service-oriented architecture (SOA), which can be used for any system design, web services can increase flexibility. Fusing Web services architecture with Semantic Web services can better assist supply chain coordination in a distributive, autonomous, and ever-changing corporate environment than current information technology. Decisions must be made quickly and with enough information many systems fail to provide real-time supply chain insight. Forecasting, inventory management, and decision-making may all be impacted by poor data quality. Modifying preexisting systems according to unique organizational needs may be challenging and expensive. Hence, this paper proposes a semantic web service-based supply chain management framework (SWS-SCMF) to analyze the web services in supply chains and examine how they interact using Web Ontology Language (OWL)-S, including automated discovery, construction, and invocation. The suggested method for improving supply chain data integration uses an ontology-based multiple-agent decision support system. Different accessibility tools, data formats, management information systems, semantic web, and databases are integrated across the five interconnected levels of the system. Businesses may find the proposed approach useful for data and information sharing when dealing with complex supply chain management. The suggested SWS-SCMF is an adaptable, accurate, and effective method for bidirectional chaining composition that uses mediators to enable the automated composition of Semantic Web services. The numerical results show that our proposed method enhances the overall performance ratio by 94%, accuracy ratio by 98%, and supply chain management ratio by 91% compared to other methods.

Supply Chain Coordination of New Energy Vehicles under a Novel Shareholding Strategy

As important methods of ecofriendly transportation, the supply chain coordination of new energy vehicles (NEVs) is an important issue in the field of sustainability. This study constructs a Stackelberg game composed of a power battery supplier and an NEV manufacturer. To better describe the coordination relationship in the NEV supply chain, we introduce the Nash bargaining framework into the fairness concern preference utility function. Through a comprehensive discussion of shareholding ratios and external environment factors, we discover that the traditional shareholding strategy fails to coordinate the NEV supply chain effectively, as enterprises seek to avoid losing management control, which occurs when excessive shares are held by others. In this context, this study proposes a novel industry–university–research (IUR) shareholding strategy, which can more easily achieve supply chain coordination and improve social welfare. In particular, this study reveals the superiority of the novel strategy in eliminating the double-marginal effect caused by high fairness concern preference among NEV enterprises. Based on these facts, we provide enterprises with optimal strategies under different conditions and offer a government-optimal subsidy to maximize the social welfare function.

Decisions and coordination in low-carbon supply chains with a wholesale price constraint under government subsidies

Motivated by the challenge of meeting carbon-conscious consumers and carbon regulations, this paper expounded on the decisions and coordination in low-carbon supply chains with a wholesale price constraint (WPC). The WPC is the behavior of large retailers (e.g., Walmart, Amazon, and E.Leclerc) that pursue a profit margin that does not fall below a certain level, which can affect supply chain operations. First, we develop a competition model, revealing that the WPC can result in a loss of total supply chain profit and a shortage in carbon emission reduction and then pose systematic challenges. Following this, we design a Nash bargaining-based cooperation model, showing that it can coordinate the supply chain and achieve a continuous allocation of optimal profits according to the bargaining power of firms. Lastly, our extended analysis incorporates the external influence of government subsidies for low-carbon technologies and designs the optimal subsidy mechanism. We demonstrate that, while government subsidies can reduce cost pressures on the supplier and provide incentives to reduce carbon emission, they can also induce the retailer to set a higher WPC for greater profitability, so the performance loss remains prominent. In this circumstance, we construct a Nash bargaining-based cooperation model that can coordinate the supply chain. Overall, our insights can help firms achieve scientific carbon emission reduction and formulate a reasonable WPC, as well as provide a quantitative basis for government carbon regulations.

Generative AI-enabled supply chain management: The critical role of coordination and dynamism

Generative AI has exerted a transformative impact on various industries. However, the effective integration of generative AI into supply chain management (SCM) remains unclear. To address this, we employ the relational view to examine the relationships among generative AI usage depth, supply chain coordination, and supply chain performance at different levels of supply chain dynamism. We analyze survey data from 236 Chinese firms that have implemented generative AI to varying extents. We identify a positive association between generative AI usage depth and supply chain performance. Two types of supply chain coordination—supplier and buyer—play crucial mediating roles in connecting the aforementioned positive association. Surprisingly, supply chain dynamism amplifies the mediating roles of supplier and buyer coordination. We contribute to the existing AI-enabled SCM research by providing empirical support for the moderated mediation mechanism underlying the generative AI usage depth-supply chain performance link. We also offer practical guidelines for firms aiming to strategically leverage generative AI.

Mixed deterministic and stochastic disturbances in a discrete-time Nash game

This paper considers a discrete-time non-cooperative M-players linear affine quadratic game of pre-specified fixed duration, affected by stochastic noise and deterministic disturbances. The last one is seen as a pernicious fictitious player looking to maximise the expected cost functions of each player. Inspired in the discrete-time robust dynamic programming, sufficient conditions for the existence of a type of robust feedback NE are given in the solution of a set of discrete-time difference equations. A formal induction proof is provided for the closed form of the obtained robust set of strategies. Two illustrative simulation examples are included, one related to the problem of coordination of a two-echelon supply chain with uncertain seasonal demand. The goal of the agents is to reduce the expected cost of storage while satisfying a partially known demand. The second example is related to a game of government debt stabilisation. Comparing the simulation with the standard Nash strategy, the robust one achieves a better performance.

Fresh product supply chain coordination using vendor managed inventory and consignment with revenue sharing over a finite planning horizon

Fresh product supply chain coordination using vendor managed inventory and consignment with revenue sharing over a finite planning horizon

Investment in fuel‐consumption reduction technologies in a vehicle supply chain under different subsidy policies: A dynamic framework

AbstractIt develops a differential game model of a fuel car supply chain in which consumers' low fuel consumption, green preferences, and government subsidies promote manufacturers' investment in fuel‐consumption reduction technologies (FCRT); the price, the fuel consumption per mile, and the retailer's marketing efforts jointly determine the demand for the product. There are four game scenarios constituted by ex ante or ex post government that subsidizes and shares or does not share marketing costs. The results show that ex ante and ex post subsidies can incentivize investment in FCRT. However, the preferable subsidy model depends on the parameter values; the manufacturer‐led marketing cost‐sharing contract results in supply chain coordination.