Modelling low-carbon closed-loop supply chain considering channel power structures and cross-shareholding

The importance of closed-loop supply chains has been widely recognized both in academic communities and in industrial sectors. This paper starts from the traditional supply chains and the new self-supply chain of GREE to extract realistic problems, to mainly investigating two noncooperative dynamic pricing policies in a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. Then, it studies the influence of different channel power structures on dynamic decisions and their complexities. Furthermore, the reference price affects the purchase decisions of consumers. Therefore, the model takes into account the influence of reference price of the market demands. Results show that the manufacturer who opens up a direct channel can make a huge profit in the game. In the dynamic game evolution process, the game leader is in a more advantageous position when the system is in a stable region; once entering into the bifurcating region or chaotic region, the game follower needs to adjust his price to follow the leader’s decision in order to make a profit. In addition, the system’s stable region becomes smaller when the market demand becomes more sensitive to the difference between the reference price and the actual price. In this model, if the manufacturer acts as a leader, he is in a more advantageous position when the market is sensitive to channel competition in the stable stage while the result is opposite in the unstable stage.

The paper studies how the combination of the manufacturer’s carbon emission reduction and the retailer’s emission reduction relevant promotion impacts the performances of a dyadic supply chain in low-carbon environment. We consider three typical scenarios, that is, centralized and decentralized without or with side-payment. We compare measures of supply chain performances, such as profitabilities, emission reduction efficiencies, and effectiveness, in these scenarios. To improve chain-wide performances, a new side-payment contract is designed to coordinate the supply chain and numerical experiments are also conducted. We find the following. (1) In decentralized setting, the retailer will provide emission cutting allowance to the manufacturer only if their unit product profit margin is higher enough than the manufacturer’s, and the emission reduction level of per unit product is a monotonically increasing function with respect to the cost pooling proportion provided by the retailer; (2) the new side-payment contract can coordinate the dyadic supply chain successfully due to its integrating sales promotion effort and emission reduction input, which results in system pareto optimality under decentralized individual rationality but achieves a collective rationality effect in the centralized setting; (3) when without external force’s regulation, consumers’ low-carbon awareness is to enhance consumers’ utility and decrease profits of supply chain firms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of wholesale price discrimination by a manufacturer on the profitability of chain members in a Retailer—E-tailer dual-channel supply chain for different product categories based on their online channel preference. We have considered two distinct channel power structures in this study, i.e., (i) retailer has higher channel power than the e-tailer and (ii) e-tailer has higher channel power than the retailer. Game-theoretic models are developed to examine the competition between the retailer and e-tailer and to derive their optimal decisions under equal wholesale price strategy and discriminatory wholesale price strategy for the channel power structures considered. Further, a numerical example was employed to quantify the results and to capture the variation with respect to online channel preference of the product. We have found that discriminatory wholesale price strategy is the gainful strategy (i) for a manufacturer dealing with products having high online channel preference under retailer leader structure (ii) for the manufacturer dealing with products having low online channel preference under e-tailer leader structure. Equal wholesale price strategy is the gainful strategy (i) for a manufacturer dealing with products having low online channel preference under retailer leader structure and (ii) for a manufacturer dealing with products having high online channel preference under e-tailer leader structure. The study helps the manufacturers to maximize their profit by adopting the right wholesale price strategy considering the online channel preference of the product and the downstream channel power structure.

Optimal Innovation Investment: The Role of Subsidy Schemes and Supply Chain Channel Power Structure

The low-carbon ecological city aims to harmonise sustainable urban development with low-emission planning approaches. Emissions from business production processes are central to low-carbon planning. This paper explores three closed-loop supply chain recycling models - manufacturer, retailer, and third-party -considering carbon trading and emission reduction technology investment. Respective Stackelberg game models are developed incorporating carbon emission reduction costs, recycling costs, carbon trading price, emission intensity, and recycling price. The influence of these variables on carbon emission reduction and profit is examined through numerical analysis. Results indicate the government’s free carbon quota does not impact per-unit carbon reduction or manufacturer profit, nor optimal recycling mode selection. Under specific remanufacturing emission intensity and production cost saving conditions, carbon quota trading can substantially incentivise manufacturers to invest in emission reduction and recycling. With carbon trading and emission reduction technology investment, manufacturer recycling optimises economic and environmental benefits when remanufactured products provide high production cost savings. This fosters sustainable development supporting low-carbon planning.

Government intervention plays an indispensable role in the development of the elderly care service supply chain (ECSSC). However, no research has focused on the optimal decision-making of the ECSSC considering government intervention under different channel power structures. This study establishes a three-stage ECSSC model, including the government sector, elderly care service provider and elderly care service integrator, while considering different government intervention measures and channel power structures. The service-level elasticity coefficient is defined as an uncertain variable, that can affect service demand and ESI service costs. This study explores the optimal decisions and market performance of the government and ECSSC under different channel power structures and government intervention, providing guidance for the ECSSC development and government decision-making. The results show that, first, government intervention is beneficial for the ECSSC, customers, and social welfare. Compared with the subsidy and service-level regulation scenario, only the former is beneficial for the supply chain, social welfare, and unit customer expenditure, but at the cost of lower service level and higher government expenditure. Second, different channel power structures do not affect service level, social welfare, and unit customer expenditure. However, the ESI-dominated structure favors ECSSC development. Third, the setting of the reward-penalty factor should not be too high, as, in this case, supply chain members, customers, and social welfare will benefit from the increased expected value of service level elasticity. At last, managerial insights are presented.

This paper studies the effects of channel power structure and participants' risk-averse attitude on differentiated pricing policies of closed-loop supply chains. It is assumed that the manufacturer is risk-averse and the retailer is risk-neutral. The manufacturer's expected utility function and the retailer's expected profit function are obtained by mean-variance theory. Then the differentiated pricing policies and profit allocation problem are discussed under three channel power structures: manufacturer-Stackelberg (MS), retailer-Stackelberg (RS) and Vertical Nash (VN) equilibrium. The optimal wholesale prices, retail prices and production quantities of new manufactured products and remanufactured products are derived and compared under different cases. Finally numerical analysis of risk-averse degree on participants' profits is given. The study has shown that the VN mode yields the best closed-loop supply chain performances, and then is the MS mode, the worst is the RS supply chain.

Retailer’s optimal CSR investment in closed-loop supply chains: the impacts of supply chain structure and channel power structure

This paper examined the influence of consumer environmental awareness (CEA) under pricing and environmental effort competition between store brands (SB) and national brands (NB) products in a two-stage supply chain that includes a manufacturer and a retailer. We developed a mathematical model to evaluate the dynamic relationship between the manufacturer and the retailer, utilizing three power structures (Manufacturer-Stackelberg (MS), Retailer-Stackelberg (RS), and Vertical Nash (VN)) under two cases: environmental investment in NB products only, and environmental investment in two products. Our findings suggest that: 1) CEA has a favorable effect on the profits of the manufacturer and the retailer when only NB products are environmentally invested in; 2) Both CEA and product substitutability have a direct impact on the best channel power structure; 3) The high substitutability of products encourages the retailer to set a high retail price for products; and 4) RS channel power structure ensures that the retailer is always profitable.

Revenue-sharing versus wholesale price mechanisms under different channel power structures

The technology options for sustainable development are explored with customer low-carbon preference in a port supply chain consisting of one ship and one port. Port supply chains can opt for either shower power or low-sulfur fuel oil to cut down emissions. We set game models considering three power structures: the port dominant (port-led Stackelberg game), the ship dominant (ship-led Stackelberg game), and the port and ship on the same footing (Nash game). We compare the performances of different technologies. It is shown that, when customer low-carbon preference and carbon tax are both low, LSFO is the appropriate choice from the supply chain’s profit perspective, SP is preferred from the emission control perspective, and LSFO is preferred from the social welfare perspective. However, when customers’ low-carbon preferences, carbon tax, and environmental concerns are all low or all high, LSFO should be adopted from the view of social welfare. The profits and carbon emissions of the supply chain in the Nash game are higher than those in the Stackelberg game. While the environmental concern is low, the social welfare of the supply chain in the Nash game is greater than that in the Stackelberg game. Otherwise, it is less than that in the Stackelberg game. The obtained results can help governments formulate policies and ships make emission reduction technology decisions according to their own interests.

<sec><title>Objective</title> The world is still in a phase of rapid industrialization and urbanization. Excessive carbon emissions has become the primary root cause of various urban or even global environmental problems, further impacting human physiological and psychological health. Cities are the largest sources of carbon emissions and are crucial regions for achieving carbon neutrality goals. Urban blue-green infrastructure (UBGI), comprising natural, semi-natural, or artificial green and blue spaces within cities, is considered as the most important carbon sink space in urban areas and has increasingly attracted widespread attention from researchers. However, there are still many unresolved issues regarding the effectiveness of UBGI in carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction: 1) How is the energy efficiency of carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction measured, and what factors influence it? 2) What are the mechanisms and pathways through which UBGI enhances carbon sink and reduces carbon emission? 3) How can UBGI be regulated to better enhance its effectiveness in carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction? 4) What are the limitations and potential directions for future research? This research aims to address these issues and propose scientifically sound planning strategies for UBGI construction to achieve urban carbon neutrality goals. </sec><sec><title>Methods</title> Through literature synthesis and deduction, this research organizes and analyzes the multi-scale measurement methods for UBGI’s efficiency in carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction, identifies corresponding influencing factors at each scale, and constructs multi-scale planning strategies for UBGI based on the logical framework of “measurement methods–influencing factors – planning strategies”. </sec><sec><title>Results</title> The research proposes UBGI planning strategies across three spatial scales (site, community and urban area), covering three key aspects: Carbon sequestration and sink enhancement, carbon reduction based on temperature reduction (or preservation), and travel-related carbon reduction. Based on current research gaps and planning needs, five major research topics are further identified. This research provides a detailed analysis of the measurement methods and influencing factors of UBGI’s efficiency in carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction from three perspectives: Carbon sequestration and sink enhancement, carbon reduction based on temperature reduction (or preservation), and travel-related carbon reduction. The research finds significant differences in the measurement methods for UBGI’s efficiency in carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction efficiency across different scales. Contradictory results may occur at different scales, and large-scale research often lacks characterization of internal features, leading to unclear mechanisms of influencing factors and obstructing practical planning. Based on the interpretation of UBGI’s mechanisms for carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction at different scales, this research formulates UBGI planning strategies across three spatial scales (site, community, and urban area). These strategies include: 1) At the site scale, for carbon sequestration and sink enhancement – carbon sink at the source, land balance, and ecological design; for emission reduction – symbiosis with buildings and integration into daily life. 2) At the community scale, for carbon sequestration – overall balance of revenue and expenditure, precise positioning, and proper interconnection of the carbon chain; for emission reduction – incorporation of cool islands and co-construction. 3) At the urban area scale, for carbon sequestration – enhancement of ecological space management and establishment of a carbon-safe pattern; for emission reduction – demand-based layout and organic dispersion. Finally, the research proposes five major research topics for the planning of UBGI’s carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction: How to construct unified measurement methods for UBGI’s efficiency in carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction across scales? How to measure UBGI’s efficiency in carbon reduction based on temperature reduction (or preservation) at the site scale? How to integrate the pathways of carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction for a life cycle assessment of UBGI? How to balance UBGI’s carbon sink enhancement and emission reduction with other functions to achieve the optimal layout for comprehensive benefits? How to achieve urban “carbon justice” through UBGI? </sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title> The carbon sink pathway of the strategy framework requires “carbon sink at the source – precise positioning – safe pattern”, and the emission reduction pathway requires “symbiotic integration – co-construction and sharing – organic dispersion”. The key trade-offs between these two pathways at three spatial scales may provide theoretical support and practical guidance for UBGI construction and management. The five major research topics mentioned above may offer valuable assistance for UBGI construction and future research. </sec>

Carbon emission reduction and promotion policies considering social preferences and consumers' low-carbon awareness in the cap-and-trade system

In recent years, global climate change has profoundly influenced natural ecosystems and human societies, making climate mitigation and carbon emission reduction a point of consensus among the international community. The issue of carbon emissions in agriculture, particularly in the livestock sector, is garnering increasing attention. This study focuses on large-scale dairy farms in the central and western regions of Inner Mongolia, exploring their low-carbon production behavioral intentions and influencing factors. By constructing a structural equation model (PLS-SEM), we systematically analyze the relationships between variables such as climate perception, value judgment, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived control and their combined effects on low-carbon production behavioral intentions. The findings suggest that the influence of climate perception and low-carbon awareness is mediated. Thus, the stronger the farm owners’ perception of climate change, the more they recognize the value of low-carbon production and the greater the social pressure they experience and their sense of self-efficacy. The farm owners’ attitudes, perceptions of social norms, and evaluations of their own capabilities collectively determine their intentions regarding low-carbon production. Furthermore, multi-group analysis showed significant heterogeneity in behavioral intentions between different scales of dairy farms. Small-scale farms, due to their weaker economic capacity, tend to harbor negative attitudes towards low-carbon production, while large-scale farms, with greater economic power and sensitivity to policy and market demands, are more likely to take low-carbon actions. This study provides theoretical support for formulating effective low-carbon policies, contributing to the sustainable development of the livestock sector and agriculture as a whole.

Transportation carbon emission reduction potential and mitigation strategy in China