Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Channel Distribution in Supply Chains
2.2. Exclusive Channel Strategies
2.3. Contract Unobservability
3. Model
3.1. Channel Structure
3.2. Contract Unobservability
- (a)
- in structure F, ,, ,,,and .
- (b)
- in structure R, ,, ,,,and .
- (c)
- in structure P, ,, ,,,and .
- (a)
- in structure F, ,, ,, ,and .
- (b)
- in structure R, , , ,, , and .
- (c)
- in structure P, , , , ,, and .
4. Exclusive Channel Strategies
4.1. Exclusive Channel Strategies under Contract Observability
- (a)
- ,
- (b)
- ,
- (c)
- .
- (a)
- ,
- (b)
- ,
- (c)
- .
- (a)
- ; ,
- (b)
- if ; otherwise, , where .
4.2. Exclusive Channel Strategies under Contract Unobservability
- (a)
- ,
- (b)
- ,
- (c)
- .
- (a)
- ,
- (b)
- ,
- (c)
- .
- (a)
- ; ,
- (b)
- if ; otherwise, , where .
4.3. Effects of Contract Unobservability
- (a)
- , and ,
- (b)
- if ; otherwise, ,
- (c)
- if ; otherwise, ,
- (d)
- ,
- (e)
- if , otherwise .
5. Effects of Channel Substitutability
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A. Derivation of Equilibrium under Contract Observability
Appendix B. Derivation of Equilibrium under Contract Unobservability
Appendix C. Proofs
References
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Papers | Three-Tier Supply Chain | Channel Structures | Perspective of Research Subjects | Theme |
---|---|---|---|---|
He et al. [11], Wang et al. [15] | × | Dual-channel supply chains | Manufacturer | A manufacturer’s choice of direct and indirect sales channels |
Chen et al. [16], Pun et al. [17], Zhang et al. [18] | × | Single-channel supply chain; dual-channel supply chain | Manufacturer | A manufacturer’s choice of direct and indirect sales channels |
Abhishek et al. [19] | × | Dual-channel supply chains | Retailer | A retailer’s choice of agency selling and reselling channel strategy |
Zhang and Zhang [20] | × | Single-channel supply chains; dual-channel supply chains | Retailer | A retailer’s choice of agency selling and reselling channel strategy |
Zhang et al. [21] | × | Single-channel supply chains; dual-channel supply chain | Retailer | A retailer’s choice of online-and-offline channel strategy |
Nie et al. [22] | × | Dual-channel supply chains | Retailer | A retailer’s choice of online-and-offline channel strategy |
Giri et al. [23] | √ | Single-channel supply chain | Supply chain coordination | Channel coordination/Pareto improvement |
Islam et al. [24] | √ | Multi-channel supply chain (a supplier, a manufacturer, and multiple retailers) | Manufacturer | A manufacturer-managed consignment policy |
Lan et al. [25] | √ | Dual-channel supply chain (a manufacturer, two distributors, and a retailer) | Supply chain coordination | Competition between two distributors; coordination/Pareto improvement |
Li and Chen [26] | √ | Dual-channel supply chain (two suppliers, one manufacturer, and two retailers) | Supply chain coordination | A manufacturer’s vertical integration strategies |
This paper | √ | Multichannel supply chains (two suppliers, two brand-owners and two retailers) | Brand-owners | Brand-owners’ exclusive channel strategies; contract unobservability |
Notation | Interpretation |
---|---|
Indices | |
, respectively. | |
represent the observable and unobservable cases, respectively. | |
, represent structures F, R, and P, respectively. | |
Parameters | |
Level of channel substitutability. | |
The number of available channels. | |
. | |
Decision and calculated variables | |
. | |
. | |
. | |
. | |
,, respectively. | |
Profit of supply-chain system. |
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Xiong, M.; Zhuo, X. Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability. Sustainability 2023, 15, 7004. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15087004
Xiong M, Zhuo X. Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability. Sustainability. 2023; 15(8):7004. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15087004
Chicago/Turabian StyleXiong, Minghua, and Xiaopo Zhuo. 2023. "Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability" Sustainability 15, no. 8: 7004. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15087004