Outsourcing Decisions under Scale Effect for Competitive Firms with Product Substitutability

doi:10.12005/orms.2018.0075

Abstract

Abstract: The paper discusses outsourcing decisions for a supplier with scale effect and two competitive firms(firm 1 and firm 2)with product substitutability. The supply chain contains a supplier and two downstream firms. Based on the profit functions, this study analyzes the effect of firm 1’s outsourcing on the supplier and both firms, finds out the optimal outsourcing strategies and the best wholesale prices, and compares the effects of substitutability on decision variables before and after outsourcing. The results show that a firm may make products by itself when its production cost is higher than wholesale price. However, a firm may also choose to outsource products when its production cost is lower than wholesale price. Then we extend the model and compare the difference between the sequential outsourcing decision and the simultaneous one.

Key words: outsourcing decisions, substitutability, scale effect

摘要： 针对产品具有一定替代性的两个竞争企业(分别为企业1和企业2)和存在规模效应的上游供应商的外包决策问题, 构建了企业1 外包前后各方的利润模型,求解了下游企业的外包和自产的最优策略以及供应商的最佳批发价格,分析了企业1 的外包策略对企业2 和供应商的外包决策的影响,比较了产品替代性对外包前后各决策变量的影响。研究发现:当企业的单位生产成本高于外包成本时,企业也可能选择自产;而当企业的单位生产成本低于外包成本时,企业也可能选择产品外包。并对模型进行进一步的拓展,比较了下游企业作顺序和同时外包决策两种情景的异同。

关键词: 外包决策, 替代性, 规模效应

CLC Number:

C939

WU Jiang-hua, HUANG Qiu-ai, LI Xian-guo. Outsourcing Decisions under Scale Effect for Competitive Firms with Product Substitutability[J]. Operations Research and Management Science, 2018, 27(3): 184-190.

吴江华, 黄秋爱, 李先国. 规模效应下产品具有可替代性的竞争企业的外包决策[J]. 运筹与管理, 2018, 27(3): 184-190.

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