Abstract: With the development of information technology and the gradual implementation of digital technology application scenarios, the form of competition is evolving from competition between enterprises to one between supply chains. In addition, facing the complex market environment, in order to achieve better development, enterprises from different supply chains have also begun to seek cooperation. Therefore, in an era of digital economy, competition and cooperation among enterprises have been transformed into competition and cooperation among supply chains. Price is the main factor in the supply chain. However, with the continuous transformation of consumers’ consumption concept, service has gradually become an important factor affecting consumers’ decisions. Thus, it is important to study the price and service level strategies simultaneously in the supply chain.
This paper considers two supply chains, each consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, the retailers determine prices and service levels, and manufacturers determine wholesale prices. To explore the price and service strategies of retailers in various supply chain structures, as well as the optimal profits of the supply chains, this paper constructs four models of the total integration (TI), the horizontal competition and vertical integration (HCVI), the horizontal integration and vertical competition (HIVC), and the total competition (TC) structures. Firstly, the manufacturers determine the wholesale prices as leaders, and the retailers decide the prices and service levels as followers. Then, the optimal price, service level, market demand, and supply chain profit are obtained by using backward induction for four supply chain structures. Secondly, the optimal strategies in the four supply chain structures are compared, to find the optimal supply chain structure. Finally, the paper investigates the relationship between the optimal price and service level of different supply chain structures in the symmetric market and asymmetric market. These findings will provide a decision-making basis for strategy selection.
Furthermore, this paper investigates how the intensity of price competition and service competition affects the optimal price, service level, demand and supply chain profit. The findings include: (1)Of the four supply chain structures, the TI structure makes the highest profits. In the HIVC structure, retailers have the highest decision-making efficiency and respond quickly to the market. As price competition is fiercer, the retailers have begun to shift from price competition to service competition. The TC structure makes higher profits than the partial competition structures (i.e., HCVI, HIVC), which indicates that supply chain profits in the total competition situation are not always the worst. (2)In the HIVC structure, the less intense price competition leads to a higher price and lower service level. Although this may increase supply chain profits, it has a detrimental effect on consumers. Therefore, the collusion between retailers will decrease supply chain profits. (3)In the HCVI structure, vertical integration reduces the impact of double marginalization, which leads to lower price, and lower supply chain profit. In addition, the optimal strategies of manufacturers and retailers are analyzed through numerical examples in the asymmetrical market, and the effects of the intensity of price and service competition on the optimal price, service level and supply chain profit are explored.
This paper mainly studies price and service level strategies of retailer in different supply chain structures. In this study, the manufacturer is the leader, and the retailer is the follower in the supply chain. However, retailers such as Suning, Walmart, and JD are often the leaders in the supply chain. Furthermore, this paper does not consider the effect of consumers’ preferences. For instance, some consumers may pay more attention to the cost-effectiveness of products, while others may pay more attention to the value-added services of products. These are all issues that we will study in the future.

Key words: supply chain, competition and cooperation structure, service level, price competition

摘要： 本文考虑两条供应链的竞争与合作并存结构,每条供应链由一个制造商和一个零售商组成,制造商决定批发价格,零售商决定零售价和服务水平。研究了集中结构(TI)、纵向合作横向竞争(HCVI)、横向合作纵向竞争(HIVC)和完全竞争(TC)四种供应链结构,求解得到每种结构下的均衡策略和供应链系统利润,分析了价格和服务竞争程度对均衡解和供应链系统利润的影响。研究发现:(1)四种供应链结构中TI结构下的价格和供应链系统利润最高。(2)较弱的市场竞争会使HIVC结构下的零售商采取高价和低服务水平策略,虽然该策略可能会增加供应链系统的利润,但会损害消费者利益;而HCVI结构下,零售商的策略为低价和高服务水平,说明外部竞争更能激励零售商提高服务水平。(3)随着价格竞争的加剧,零售商开始从价格竞争转移到服务竞争时,完全竞争结构(TC)优于部分竞争结构(HCVI,HIVC)。

关键词: 供应链, 竞争与合作, 服务水平, 价格竞争