Inventory Coordination Based on Standard Container under Asymmetric Information

摘要

In a supply chain system with one supplier and one retailer, the information about the retailer’s storage cost is usually asymmetric. This paper studies inventory control in the system and presents a method for inventory coordination based on standard container, which is the transport tool from supplier to retailer with a fixed size. First, it investigates inventory model under full information. Before inventory coordination, the supplier and the retailer choose their lot sizes alone. But it’s not optimal decision for whole system. Then, it presents an incentive scheme, an inventory coordination model under asymmetric information from the point of view of maximizing the supplier’s profits. R also discusses the distribution of the incremental profit after the incentive scheme is adopted by both the supplier and the retailer. Finally, an example illustrates the application of the model, and the result shows that both the supplier and the retailer have a positive incremental profit after coordination.