IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v285y2020i1p237-246.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is a ‘free lunch’ a good lunch? The performance of zero wholesale price-based supply-chain contracts

Author

Listed:
  • Choi, Tsan-Ming
  • Guo, Shu

Abstract

In the real world, some manufacturers supply their products to retailers at a zero wholesale price (ZWP), and receive compensation by sharing the revenue or receiving some side payment from the retailers. In this paper, we analyse this kind of ZWP-based supply-chain contract. In the basic model, ordering is done either by the manufacturer or the retailer. For both of these cases, we explore ZWP-revenue-sharing (ZR) contracts, ZWP-side-payment (ZS) contracts, and ZWP-revenue-sharing-plus-side-payment (ZRS) contracts. We prove that, irrespective of the ordering scenario being retailer-led or manufacturer-led, only a ZRS contract can achieve win-win coordination. In the extended models, we first study the scenario with multiple products and discuss how a generalised ZRS contract can coordinate the supply chain efficiently. We then investigate greedy wholesale price (GWP)–based contracts, in which the manufacturer charges the retailer a wholesale price equal to the retail price. We find that a GWP-based revenue-sharing-plus-side-payment (GRS) contract and a ZRS contract can both achieve win-win coordination. However, the ZRS contract mean-variance dominates the GRS contract in bringing a lower level of risk to both the retailer and manufacturer if the unit production cost is sufficiently small. We further discuss cases of differences in the perception of ZWP versus non-ZWP contracts. Important managerial insights are derived from the findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Choi, Tsan-Ming & Guo, Shu, 2020. "Is a ‘free lunch’ a good lunch? The performance of zero wholesale price-based supply-chain contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(1), pages 237-246.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:285:y:2020:i:1:p:237-246
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2020.01.045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221720300825
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.01.045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mobini, Zahra & van den Heuvel, Wilco & Wagelmans, Albert, 2019. "Designing multi-period supply contracts in a two-echelon supply chain with asymmetric information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(2), pages 542-560.
    2. Venu Nagali & Jerry Hwang & David Sanghera & Matt Gaskins & Mark Pridgen & Tim Thurston & Patty Mackenroth & Dwight Branvold & Patrick Scholler & Greg Shoemaker, 2008. "Procurement Risk Management (PRM) at Hewlett-Packard Company," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 38(1), pages 51-60, February.
    3. Zennyo, Yusuke, 2020. "Strategic contracting and hybrid use of agency and wholesale contracts in e-commerce platforms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 281(1), pages 231-239.
    4. Becker-Peth, Michael & Thonemann, Ulrich W., 2016. "Reference points in revenue sharing contracts—How to design optimal supply chain contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(3), pages 1033-1049.
    5. Li, Qingying, 2018. "The optimal multi-period modular design with fairness concerns," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 233-249.
    6. Zhang, Dengfeng & de Matta, Renato & Lowe, Timothy J., 2010. "Channel coordination in a consignment contract," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 897-905, December.
    7. Zhao, Ju & Zhou, Yong-Wu & Cao, Zong-Hong & Min, Jie, 2020. "The shelf space and pricing strategies for a retailer-dominated supply chain with consignment based revenue sharing contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 280(3), pages 926-939.
    8. Leng, Mingming & Zhu, An, 2009. "Side-payment contracts in two-person nonzero-sum supply chain games: Review, discussion and applications," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 196(2), pages 600-618, July.
    9. Senlin Zhao & Qinghua Zhu, 2017. "Remanufacturing supply chain coordination under the stochastic remanufacturability rate and the random demand," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 257(1), pages 661-695, October.
    10. Teunter, Ruud H. & Babai, M. Zied & Bokhorst, Jos A.C. & Syntetos, Aris A., 2018. "Revisiting the value of information sharing in two-stage supply chains," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(3), pages 1044-1052.
    11. Gérard P. Cachon, 2004. "The Allocation of Inventory Risk in a Supply Chain: Push, Pull, and Advance-Purchase Discount Contracts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 222-238, February.
    12. Zhao, Yingxue & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Cheng, T.C.E. & Wang, Shouyang, 2018. "Supply option contracts with spot market and demand information updating," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(3), pages 1062-1071.
    13. Li, Xiang & Li, Yongjian & Cai, Xiaoqiang, 2013. "Double marginalization and coordination in the supply chain with uncertain supply," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 226(2), pages 228-236.
    14. Zhang, Shichen & Zhang, Jianxiong, 2020. "Agency selling or reselling: E-tailer information sharing with supplier offline entry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 280(1), pages 134-151.
    15. Daniel Granot & Shuya Yin, 2008. "Competition and Cooperation in Decentralized Push and Pull Assembly Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 733-747, April.
    16. De Giovanni, Pietro & Karray, Salma & Martín-Herrán, Guiomar, 2019. "Vendor Management Inventory with consignment contracts and the benefits of cooperative advertising," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(2), pages 465-480.
    17. Chun-Hung Chiu & Tsan-Ming Choi, 2016. "Supply chain risk analysis with mean-variance models: a technical review," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 240(2), pages 489-507, May.
    18. Sainathan, Arvind & Groenevelt, Harry, 2019. "Vendor managed inventory contracts – coordinating the supply chain while looking from the vendor’s perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(1), pages 249-260.
    19. Jingqi Wang & Hyoduk Shin, 2015. "The Impact of Contracts and Competition on Upstream Innovation in a Supply Chain," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(1), pages 134-146, January.
    20. Choi, Tsan-Ming & Li, Yongjian & Xu, Lei, 2013. "Channel leadership, performance and coordination in closed loop supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 371-380.
    21. Niederhoff, Julie A & Kouvelis, Panos, 2019. "Effective and necessary: Individual supplier behavior in revenue sharing and wholesale contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(3), pages 1060-1071.
    22. Kristina Shampanier & Nina Mazar & Dan Ariely, 2007. "Zero as a Special Price: The True Value of Free Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(6), pages 742-757, 11-12.
    23. Chen, Haoya & Chen, Youhua (Frank) & Chiu, Chun-Hung & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Sethi, Suresh, 2010. "Coordination mechanism for the supply chain with leadtime consideration and price-dependent demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(1), pages 70-80, May.
    24. Choi, Tsan-Ming & Li, Duan & Yan, Houmin, 2008. "Mean-variance analysis of a single supplier and retailer supply chain under a returns policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 184(1), pages 356-376, January.
    25. Lei Yang & Gangshu (George) Cai & Jian Chen, 2018. "Push, Pull, and Supply Chain Risk‐Averse Attitude," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(8), pages 1534-1552, August.
    26. Bin Shen & Xiaoyan Xu & Tsan-Ming Choi, 2019. "Simplicity is beauty: pricing coordination in two-product supply chains with simplest contracts under voluntary compliance," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(9), pages 2769-2787, May.
    27. Liu, Weihua & Wang, Di & Shen, Xinran & Yan, Xiaoyu & Wei, Wanying, 2018. "The impacts of distributional and peer-induced fairness concerns on the decision-making of order allocation in logistics service supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 102-122.
    28. Guo, Shu & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Shen, Bin, 2020. "Green product development under competition: A study of the fashion apparel industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 280(2), pages 523-538.
    29. Ahmetoglu, Gorkan & Furnham, Adrian & Fagan, Patrick, 2014. "Pricing practices: A critical review of their effects on consumer perceptions and behaviour," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 696-707.
    30. Gérard P. Cachon & Martin A. Lariviere, 2005. "Supply Chain Coordination with Revenue-Sharing Contracts: Strengths and Limitations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 30-44, January.
    31. Choi, Tsan-Ming & Wen, Xin & Sun, Xuting & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2019. "The mean-variance approach for global supply chain risk analysis with air logistics in the blockchain technology era," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 178-191.
    32. Yang, Huixiao & Luo, Jianwen & Zhang, Qinhong, 2018. "Supplier encroachment under nonlinear pricing with imperfect substitutes: Bargaining power versus revenue-sharing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(3), pages 1089-1101.
    33. Chun‐Hung Chiu & Tsan‐Ming Choi & Xin Dai & Bin Shen & Jin‐Hui Zheng, 2018. "Optimal Advertising Budget Allocation in Luxury Fashion Markets with Social Influences: A Mean‐Variance Analysis," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(8), pages 1611-1629, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hosseini-Motlagh, Seyyed-Mahdi & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Johari, Maryam & Nouri-Harzvili, Mina, 2022. "A profit surplus distribution mechanism for supply chain coordination: An evolutionary game-theoretic analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(2), pages 561-575.
    2. Xu, Xiaoping & He, Ping & Zhang, Shanshan, 2021. "Channel addition from marketplace or reselling under regional carbon cap-and-trade regulation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    3. Xu, Xiaoping & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "Supply chain operations with online platforms under the cap-and-trade regulation: Impacts of using blockchain technology," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    4. Li, Ruihai & Yang, Hui-Ling & Shi, Yan & Teng, Jinn-Tsair & Lai, Kuei-Kuei, 2021. "EOQ-based pricing and customer credit decisions under general supplier payments," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 289(2), pages 652-665.
    5. Qiu, Ruozhen & Li, Xuge & Sun, Minghe, 2023. "Vertical integration of an online secondhand platform and a recycling platform under different power structures," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(1), pages 286-301.
    6. Liu, Bingbing & Yu, Yugang & Guo, Xiaolong, 2021. "Simpler and better: Supply chain contracting in the presence of contract unobservability and upstream competition," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Shen, Bin & Xu, Xiaoyan & Yuan, Quan, 2020. "Selling secondhand products through an online platform with blockchain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hosseini-Motlagh, Seyyed-Mahdi & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Johari, Maryam & Nouri-Harzvili, Mina, 2022. "A profit surplus distribution mechanism for supply chain coordination: An evolutionary game-theoretic analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(2), pages 561-575.
    2. Wang, Yingjia & Lin, Jiaxin & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2020. "Gray market and counterfeiting in supply chains: A review of the operations literature and implications to luxury industries," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Pyung-Hoi Koo, 2022. "A Capacity Cost-Sharing Contract for a Two-Stage Supply Chain with a Risk-Averse Supplier under a Bargaining Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Siqin, Tana & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2022. "Optimal E-tailing channel structure and service contracting in the platform era," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Sung-Moon Jung & Shie-Gheun Koh & Young-Jin Kim & Pyung-Hoi Koo, 2023. "Coordinated Supply Contracts for a Two-Echelon Supply Chain under Given Bargaining Powers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Choi, Tsan-Ming & Liu, Na, 2019. "Optimal advertisement budget allocation and coordination in luxury fashion supply chains with multiple brand-tier products," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 95-107.
    7. Xu, Xiaoping & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "Supply chain operations with online platforms under the cap-and-trade regulation: Impacts of using blockchain technology," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    8. Zhou, Yu & Gao, Xiang & Luo, Suyuan & Xiong, Yu & Ye, Niangyue, 2022. "Anti-Counterfeiting in a retail Platform: A Game-Theoretic approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    9. Guo Li & Lin Li & Mengqi Liu & Suresh P. Sethi, 2020. "Impact of power structures in a subcontracting assembly system," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 291(1), pages 475-498, August.
    10. Shen, Bin & Xu, Xiaoyan & Chan, Hau Ling & Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2021. "Collaborative innovation in supply chain systems: Value creation and leadership structure," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    11. Avinadav, Tal & Chernonog, Tatyana & Ben-Zvi, Tal, 2019. "The effect of information superiority on a supply chain of virtual products," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 384-397.
    12. Shen, Bin & Xu, Xiaoyan & Guo, Shu, 2019. "The impacts of logistics services on short life cycle products in a global supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 153-167.
    13. Choi, Tsan-Ming & Wang, Yingjia & Shen, Bin, 2022. "Selling to Profit-Target-Oriented retailers: Optimal supply chain contracting with bargaining," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    14. Syed Asif Raza, 2022. "A bibliometric analysis of pricing models in supply chain," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 228-251, April.
    15. Juzhi Zhang & Suresh P. Sethi & Tsan‐Ming Choi & T. C. E. Cheng, 2020. "Supply Chains Involving a Mean‐Variance‐Skewness‐Kurtosis Newsvendor: Analysis and Coordination," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(6), pages 1397-1430, June.
    16. Choi, Tsan-Ming, 2020. "Innovative “Bring-Service-Near-Your-Home” operations under Corona-Virus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2) outbreak: Can logistics become the Messiah?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    17. Yu, Yugang & Zhou, Sijie & Shi, Ye, 2020. "Information sharing or not across the supply chain: The role of carbon emission reduction," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    18. Wang, Di & Liu, Weihua & Shen, Xinran & Wei, Wanying, 2019. "Service order allocation under uncertain demand: Risk aversion, peer competition, and relationship strength," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 293-311.
    19. Zhuo, Wenyan & Shao, Lusheng & Yang, Honglin, 2018. "Mean–variance analysis of option contracts in a two-echelon supply chain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 535-547.
    20. Wen, Xin & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2019. "Fashion retail supply chain management: A review of operational models," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 34-55.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:285:y:2020:i:1:p:237-246. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.