Reverse Channel Design With Uncertain Demand

Today, the shortages of resources and environmental deterioration have been a threat to the survival and development of humans. When people have become more environment-conscious, the closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) has aroused the business community, research institutions and government departments’ concern, which has the advantages of saving resources and reducing environmental pollution. However, the closed-loop supply chain management is a very complex work, which involves many aspects.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the management of a single manufacturer and two retailers in the closed-loop supply chain under random demand and many retailers’competition. The thesis research the closed-loop supply chain from three angles:Firstly, the thesis discussed the influence of uncertainty demand on the order strategies and the profits by building uncertainty demand model. Secondly, the games between the manufacturer and the retailer and between the retailers are modeled in the closed-loop supply chain with a single manufacturer and two retailers, in order to find out the most optimal reverse channel. Thirdly, the numerical examples are illustrated to analyze the consequence in the closed-loop supply chain induced by changing related factors.The main contents of this thesis are as follow:Firstly, based on the summary of relative reference, we respected domestic and foreign researchers on demand uncertainty and reverse channel decision in CLSC. Then, we pointed out the shortcomings on this problem and found some potential areas of the research. And finally, we introduce the frame of the thesis simply.Secondly, based on classical newsboy model, we built the CLSC with uncertainty demand, which is consisted with a single manufacturer and a single retailer, then analyzed the influences and decisions about demand uncertainty.Thirdly, we further expanded the demand model, and built the CLSC with a single manufacturer and two retailers. Then, we analyzed several reverse channels and games between players in the CLSC, and compared the optimal solution and profit for each model.Fourthly, we illustrated numerical examples for the most optimal solution and the highest profits, using the Lingo software. Meanwhile, the influences on the every model were discussed, which aroused by changing related factors.At last, we summarized the conclusions and enlightenment of the study.