Title: Coordinating a two-echelon supply chain with price and promotional effort dependent demand

Authors: B.C. Giri; S. Bardhan; T. Maiti

Addresses: Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, West Bengal, India ' Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, West Bengal, India ' Department of Mathematics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, West Bengal, India

Abstract: Apart from retail price, promotional effort is an important factor that controls market demand. Primary objective of promotional effort is to reach the potential customers and presenting the unique features, efficiency and usefulness of the product. Assuming that the market demand is dependent on both the retail price and promotional efforts, a two-level supply chain with single manufacturer and single retailer is considered in this paper. We study the centralised model as the benchmark case. To reflect the real market scenario, the wholesale price-only contract is provided. Aiming at coordination, different contract mechanisms are attempted, and finally a suitable one is developed. We also provide two possible extensions of the decentralised model: one by using co-op advertising policy, and other one by incorporating retail fixed mark-up (RFM). All the models are further illustrated and analysed numerically.

Keywords: promotional effort; price dependent demand; two-level supply chains; cooperative advertising; RFM policy; retail fixed mark-up; supply chain coordination; supply chain management; SCM; product promotion; contract mechanisms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2015.069179

International Journal of Operational Research, 2015 Vol.23 No.2, pp.181 - 199

Received: 20 May 2013
Accepted: 14 Jul 2013
Published online: 01 May 2015 *

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