Analysis and selection of supply chain contracts : a supplier's perspective

Wang, H

Abstract

A supply contract, which achieves the optimal performance for the buyer or the supply chain as a whole, does not necessarily maximize the supplier’s expected profit. Therefore, it is important to understand the impacts of supply contracts and their differences from a supplier’s perspective, which is the aim of this thesis.

This thesis considers six types of supply contracts, namely, Returns Policy, Quantity Discount, Channel Rebate, Backup Agreement, Quantity Flexibility, and Quantity Commitment, in a supply chain of seasonal goods with a single selling season with a retailer and a supplier. Each contract is modelled in the framework of the interaction between the retailer’s and the supplier’s decisions. The contract parameters are optimized to maximise the supplier’s expected profit with consideration of retailer’s acceptance. Furthermore, the impacts of the demand pattern and cost structure on the performance of each contract are investigated. These contracts are then compared with each other and the best contracts are identified for various situations.
In order to facilitate the supply contract selection in practice, a rule-based decision support system has been developed using Visual Basic, for user interfaces and MATLAB for the optimization engine. The rule base embodies the outcome of the comparison of supply contracts, and therefore is able to direct the system to select the best supply contract for a particular situation.

Citation

Wang, H. Analysis and selection of supply chain contracts : a supplier's perspective. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2005