Manufacturer's Alliance Strategy Selection in an Online Co-opetitive Supply Chain
With the intensification of competition and changes in the market environment,many e-commerce plat-forms,such as Amazon and JD.com,have gradually switched from the pure mode of distributing manufacturers'products(i.e.,reselling mode)or providing a marketplace to sellers(i.e.,agency selling mode)to a hybrid mode.The platform not only provides marketplaces for retailers to connect with consumers,but also acts as e-retailers to distribute manufacturers'products.Meanwhile,some supply chain enterprises are facing the severe situation of withdrawing from the market or being merged with the increasingly fierce competition.Firms gradual-ly realize the importance of alliance.In some fields or markets,long-term and stable profits can be obtained by allying with other supply chain members.For example,P&G allied with Walmart and reduced the operating cost of the whole supply chain.Midea and Gree reached a strategic alliance with JD.However,an improper choice of the alliance strategy will also harm the profits of both members and eventually lead to the rupture of the alliance relationship.For example,Nike Group terminated its alliance with the online retailer Zappos.Therefore,it is of great significance to characterize the manufacturer's alliance strategy in an online retailing supply chain.In this paper,we construct an online retailing co-opetitive supply chain consisting of one manufacturer,one retailer,and one platform.The manufacturer sells products to the retailer and platform at wholesale prices.The retailer opens a franchise store to sell products on the marketplace of the platform by paying a commission fee.The platform not only provides a marketplace to the retailer,but also builds a self-operated flagship store to resell the manufacturer's products.Hence,the revenue of the platform comes from the commission fee paid by the retailer and the profit from reselling products.It is worth noting that,on the one hand,the retailer and platform distribute the manufacturer's products and compete horizontally in the terminal market.On the other hand,the retailer sells products on the marketplace by paying a commission fee and cooperates vertically with the platform.Thus,there is a co-opetitive relationship between the retailer and platform.In this online retailing co-opetitive supply chain,the manufacturer has three alliance models:having no alliance,allying with the retailer,and allying with the platform.Considering the differences in sales entities and channels,the retailer and platform have different initial market demands.Based on the above analysis,this paper examines the impact of different initial market demands on the manufacturer's alliance strategy choice in an online co-opetitive supply chain.The main research is arranged as follows:Firstly,we take the no alliance model as a benchmark to explore whether the manufacturer has an incentive to ally with the retailer or platform,and analyze the impact of the alliance on the third-party member's profit.Secondly,we compare and analyze which member the manufacturer is more inclined to ally with.Then,we study the influence of different alliance strategies on the whole supply chain profits,social welfare,and consumer surplus.Finally,we relax the assumptions and expand the discussion on the manufacturer's alliance strategy choice in two situations,i.e.,quantity competition,and the platform as the channel leader.The results show that:(1)The manufacturer always has incentives to ally with the retailer or platform.However,which member the manufacturer is more motivated to ally with is related to the platform's commission rate and the initial market demand ratio of different channels.Specifically,when the commission rate is low and the initial market demand ratio is large,the manufacturer is more inclined to ally with the retailer;otherwise,he prefers to ally with the platform.(2)The profit of the platform(retailer)will not always decrease when the man-ufacturer allies with the retailer(platform).Specifically,when the commission rate is within the appropriate range,the platform(retailer)will benefit from the alliance between the manufacturer and retailer(platform)if the initial market demand ratio is large.(3)When the initial market demand ratio is small,the manufacturer all-ying with the platform can achieve a win-win-win situation for the whole supply chain,consumer surplus,and social welfare.When the initial market demand ratio is large,the manufacturer allying with the retailer can achieve a win-win-win situation.
万方数据
维普
