Optimal Pricing, Warranty, and Quality Level Decisions in a Competing Dual-channel Supply Chain

The globalization of the economy and the improvement of data innovation has caused the supply-oriented market to alter to the demand-oriented market. Furthermore, organizations ought to prioritize the desires of clients to proceed and survive in the competitive market, which requires the presence of supply chain management. Considering the wide assortment of products and today's competitive market, choosing the correct strategies to provide the required services according to a few primary components such as price, quality level, and the warranty period is one of the most concerns of company managers and dealers. This study sought to consider the increase in the profit of each part of the chain along with providing appropriate services and keeping up product quality, extracting and applying suitable implementation strategies. It also tried to present pricing strategies in a two-echelon supply chain comprised of one manufacturer and two competing retailers, with warranty period, quality, and price-dependent demands.
The strategies presented and discussed in this research have several implications; in addition; their improvements are practical. The profit functions of the manufacturer and the retailers were maximized under centralized and decentralized approaches. Mathematical models were developed in four distinctive cases (i) two non-cooperative frameworks, (ii) a channel-cooperative framework, and (iii) a global-cooperative framework. The producer intended to maximize his benefit by setting a diverse wholesale price for each of the retailers and the length of the common warranty period. On the other hand, retailers maximized their profit by setting the selling price for consumers. This can be explained through the models related to general cooperation strategies, cooperation within the channel, and non-cooperation (Stackelberg of the leading producer and Stackelberg of the leader retailers), furthermore; the profit function of each case and its formula is presented.
For each case, the values of the main decision variables and the profit of each member of the supply chain were calculated and appeared in a numerical case. Moreover, the total profit was compared with each other through two solution methods i.e., the Mathematica computer program and the Championship Algorithm in sports leagues (LCA). The championship algorithm in sports leagues was presented as a population-based algorithm for worldwide search in continuous space and inspired by sports competitions within the real world. During this algorithm, distinctive solutions that can be given to a problem were compared and each one was improved based on its suitability, last; a solution close to the optimum was selected.
A research gap was recognized by studying the research conducted within the field of pricing, warranty, and product quality using the game theory approach. On the other hand, the models were developed by considering all decision variables at the same time as well as between a manufacturer and two competitive retailers deciding on the retail price to maximize their profit. In this regard, four models of Stackelberg manufacturer leader, Stackelberg retailer leader, participation within the channel, and overall cooperation were considered. In all models, the LCA algorithm resulted in better answers compared with Mathematica software. In this study by investigating four techniques, we realized that the best reply can be achieved through the cooperation strategy which is more profitable than the others. Finally, sensitivity analyses were also performed on various model parameters.