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Supply chain ethics and transparency: An agent‐based model approach with Q‐learning agents

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  • Daehyeon Park
  • Doojin Ryu

Abstract

This study examines suppliers' decision making regarding supply chain ethics and transparency using an agent‐based model with Q‐learning agents. A supplier may not accurately identify the demand for its product because the impact of supply chain ethics on the market is opaque. Thus, we define each supplier as a Q‐learning agent that learns via an iterative game process. Our simulation results show that suppliers maintain low levels of ethics and transparency, which is a collusion behavior. Several suppliers deviate from collusion, but most of the suppliers collude to manage the supply chain unethically and opaquely.

Suggested Citation

  • Daehyeon Park & Doojin Ryu, 2022. "Supply chain ethics and transparency: An agent‐based model approach with Q‐learning agents," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3331-3337, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:mgtdec:v:43:y:2022:i:8:p:3331-3337
    DOI: 10.1002/mde.3597
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