Research On Decision-making And Coordination In A Supply Chain With Consideration Of Joint Cost Reduction And Quality Improvement Investments

As the market competition is becoming more and more intense,enterprises pay more and more attention to R&D innovation activities,such as product upgrading and cost reduction,etc.It is common that the supply chain enhance their overall competitiveness through cooperation across supply chain nodes because competition has moved from between firms to between supply chains.Thus,it is necessary to study the mutual influence between the investment strategy and the operation strategy.The manufacturer considers to make R&D investment to improve the product quality and reduce the production cost,we call them cost reduction investment and quality improvement investment.In fact,In fact,companies usually invest a limited amount of resources in two or more research and development innovation activities.The existing researches assume that companies invest their resources for innovation activities either to reduce the production cost of the products or to enhance the level of the quality of the products.So,in view of the deficiency of existing literature,three situations are considered here from supply chain perspective:(a)the upstream supplier make R&D investment to improve the product quality and/or reduce the production cost(the third chapter);(b)the downstream manufacturer make R&D investment to improve the product quality and/or reduce the production cost(the fourth chapter);(c)the middle enterprise make R&D investment to improve the product quality and/or reduce the production cost(the fifth chapter).The paper investigates the joint decision problems which involve investment decision strategy and operational decision strategy,and develops a contract mechanism to coordinate the supply chain.This paper on the R&D investment includes the following three aspects:Firstly,under the situation(a),it establishes a two-stage supply chain which consisted by an upstream supplier and a downstream manufacturer.The thesis analyses the corresponding investment decision strategies and the operational decision strategies.In the third chapter,the upstream supplier as a Stackelberg leader which makes decisions on the R&D investment strategy and the wholesale price strategy,and the downstream manufacturer as a Stackelberg follower which makes decisions on the optimal retail price.By using a backward manner,the dissertation derives the optimal retail price expression,then derives the optimal R&D investment strategy and the wholesale price strategy.The differences between this chapter and the existing research is that: this chapter which assumes that the upstream supplier invest their resources both to reduce the production cost and to enhance the level of the quality of the products.Secondly,under the situation(b),it establishes a two-stage supply chain which consisted by an upstream supplier and a downstream manufacturer.The thesis analyses the corresponding investment decision strategies and the operational decision strategies.In the fourth chapter,the downstream manufacturer as a Stackelberg leader which makes decisions on the R&D investment strategy and the retail price strategy,the upstream supplier as a Stackelberg follower which makes decisions on the wholesale price strategy.By using a backward manner,the dissertation derives the optimal whole price expression,then derives the optimal R&D investment strategy and the retail price strategy.The differences between this chapter and the existing research is that: this chapter which assumes that the downstream manufacturer invest their resources both to reduce the production cost and to enhance the level of the quality of the products.Finally,under the situation(c),it establishes a three-stage supply chain which consisted by an upstream supplier,a middle manufacturer and a downstream retailer.The thesis analyses the corresponding investment decision strategies and the operational decision strategies.In the fifth chapter,the middle manufacturer as a Stackelberg leader which makes decisions on the R&D investment strategy and the wholesale price strategy,the upstream supplier and downstream retailer as Stackelberg followers which make decisions on the wholesale price strategy and retail price strategy.By using a backward manner,the dissertation derives the optimal whole price expressions,then derives the optimal R&D investment strategy and the wholesale price strategy.The differences between this chapter and the existing research is that: this chapter which assumes that the middle manufacturer invest their resources both to reduce the production cost and to enhance the level of the quality of the products.