Are smart contracts too smart for Supply Chain 4.0? A blockchain framework to mitigate challenges

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Grida ◽  
Noha A. Mostafa
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Scenario Planning ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Smart Systems ◽  
The Game Theory

PurposeSmart contracts are self-executing computer programmes that have the potential to be used in several applications instead of traditional written contracts. With the recent rise of smart systems (e.g. Internet of things) and digital platforms (e.g. blockchain), smart contracts are gaining high interest in both business and academia. In this work, a framework for smart contracts was proposed with using reputation as the system currency, and conducts currency mining through fulfilling the physical commitments that are agreed upon.Design/methodology/approachA game theory model is developed to represent the proposed system, and then a system dynamics simulator is used to check the response of the blockchain with different sizes.FindingsThe numerical results showed that the proposed system could identify the takeover attacks and protect the blockchain from being controlled by an outsider. Another important finding is that careful setting of the maximum currency amount can improve the scalability of the blockchain and prevent the currency inflation.Research limitations/implicationsThis work is proposed as a conceptual framework for supply chain 4.0. Future work will be dedicated to implement and experiment the proposed framework for other characteristics that may be encountered in the context of supply chain 4.0, such as different suppliers' tiers, different customer typologies and smart logistics applications, which may reveal other challenges and provide additional interesting insights.Practical implicationsBy using the proposed framework, smart contracts and blockchains can be implemented to handle many issues in the context of operations and supply chain 4.0, especially in times of turbulence such as the COVID-19 global pandemic crisis.Originality/valueThis work emphasizes that smart contracts are not too smart to be applied in the context of supply chain 4.0. The proposed framework of smart contracts is expected to serve supply chain 4.0 by automating the knowledge work and enabling scenario planning through the game theory model. It will also improve online transparency and order processing in real-time through secured multitier connectivity. This can be applied in global supply chain functions backed with digitization, notably during the time of the pandemic, in which e-commerce and online shopping have changed the rules of the game.

scholarly journals Strategy Analysis of Promoting Pollution Control of SMEs

2021 ◽  
Vol 237 ◽  
pp. 01025
Author(s):  
Yanying Zhang ◽  
Gui Jiang ◽  
Ziwei Yu
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Strategy Analysis ◽  
Pollution Problem ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
The Government ◽  
Two Sides

The pollution problem of SMEs is an important problem to be solved in the process of China’s economic development. Based on the game theory, this paper takes the government and SMEs as the two sides of the game, constructing the game theory model of pollution control of SMEs, putting forward the strategies to promote the pollution control of SMEs according to the analysis results of the model.

Lean resilience: AURA (Active Usage of Resilience Assets) framework for post-COVID-19 supply chain management

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Ivanov
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Supply Chain Resilience ◽  
Resilience Capabilities

PurposeSupply chain resilience capabilities are usually considered in light of some anticipated events and are as passive assets, which are “waiting” for use in case of an emergency. This, however, can be inefficient. Moreover, the current COVID-19 pandemic has revealed difficulties in the timely deployments of resilience assets and their utilization for value creation. We present a framework that consolidates different angles of efficient resilience and renders utilization of resilience capabilities for creation of value.Design/methodology/approachWe conceptualise the design of the AURA (Active Usage of Resilience Assets) framework for post-COVID-19 supply chain management through collating the extant literature on value creation-oriented resilience and practical examples and complementing our analysis with a discussion of practical implementations.FindingsBuilding upon and integrating the existing frameworks of VSC (Viable Supply Chain), RSC (Reconfigurable Supply Chain) and LCNSC (Low-Certainty-Need Supply Chain), we elaborate on a new idea in the AURA approach – to consider resilience as an inherent, active and value-creating component of operations management decisions, rather than as a passive “shield” to protect against rare, severe events. We identify 10 future research areas for lean resilience integrating management and digital platforms and technology.Practical implicationsThe outcomes of our study can be used by supply chain and operations managers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness by turning resilience from passive, cost-driving assets into a value-creating, inclusive decision-making paradigm.Originality/valueWe propose a novel approach to bring more dynamics to the notion of supply chain resilience. We name our approach AURA and articulate its two major advantages as follows: (1) reduction of disruption prediction efforts and (2) value creation from resilience assets. We offer a discussion on ten future research directions towards a lean resilience.

A Game Theory Coopetitive Perspective for Sustainability of Global Feeding

2017 ◽  
pp. 100-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Carfì ◽  
Alessia Donato ◽  
Dania Panuccio
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Food Producer ◽  
Mathematical Game ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Game Theory

Throughout this study, the authors propose possible agreements among different food producers, in order to develop a new better conceived diet for the future generations, by using a coopetitive approach and game theory. Specifically, the authors shall consider food producers and sellers of vegan (respectively, vegetarian) and non-vegan (or non-vegetarian) food. The coopetitive approach used by the authors provides a mathematical game theory model, which could help producers of vegan food a simpler entry in the market and free significant publicity. Meanwhile, the model could allow producers of non-vegetarian food a smooth transaction to vegetarian and vegan production. In particular, authors propose an agreement setting among McDonald's and Muscle of Wheat, because they think that Muscle of Wheat cannot enter a global market without the help of a large food producer already in the market. The game theory model represents an asymmetric R&D alliance between McDonald's and Muscle of Wheat.

Benefit Analysis about Parts Supplier and Bus Factory as Well as Users Based on Game Theory

2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 202-205
Author(s):  
Liang Han ◽  
Xiang Mei Si
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Perfect Information ◽  
Game Model ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Static Game ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Voluntary Cooperation

This thesis analyzes the benefit produced by the cooperation or non-cooperation of parts supplier and bus factory as well as users by use of the perfect-information static game model of the game theory in connection with the current situation of China's bus market supply chain. Conclusions are drawn from the analysis that good after-sales service not only brings benefits to users but also can efficiently promote the voluntary cooperation between a parts supplier and a bus factory, so that the individual benefit and the overall benefit are both increased, and a win-win situation is finally achieved.

scholarly journals THE ANALYSIS OF BOT STRATEGIES BASED ON GAME THEORY – CASE STUDY ON TAIWAN'S HIGH SPEED RAILWAY PROJECT

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 662-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tien-Chien Chen ◽  
Yu-Cheng Lin ◽  
Lung-Chuang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Competition And Cooperation ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
The Government ◽  
High Speed Railroad

Uncertainty in a contract for some BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) projects may allow an opportunistic developer to take advantage of information asymmetrical factors, long-term external changes, and agency dilemma to request renegotiation and to alter the contact after it has been awarded. Such requests often entrap the government in hold-up problems and result in improper payments to the developers and may even create general public dissatisfaction with a project. In this paper, the Game Theory model is used to analyze the Taiwan High Speed Railroad project to examine how developers implement different strategies at the various stages of a project to alter the contract's conditions in order to continually creating competitive advantage after they have been awarded the contract. This project developer is now facing serious financial difficulties. In this study, the financial information on the Taiwan High Speed Railroad operations was used as the foundation for conducting a simulation to calculate the project's value after this project began operation. The results will serve as reference to the best decision-making strategy for renegotiating costs in competition and cooperation so that a developer can select the optimum project offering the maximum reward. Also, the result will be offered to industries involved in market competition or act as an approach to establish future BOT policies on renegotiation.

scholarly journals Research on the Selection of Supply Chain Marketing Models Based on E-commerce Service Levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 197-207
Author(s):  
Weijia Ding ◽  
Liyun Wu
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Sensitivity Coefficient ◽  
Service Levels ◽  
Direct Sales ◽  
Sales Channels ◽  
Marketing Model ◽  
Marketing Models ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
Selection Of

Based on the game theory, the service sensitivity coefficient is introduced to construct four marketing game models, which include a single flagship store, a single self-operated store, a direct sales-flagship store, and a direct sales-self-operated store, in combination with numerical analysis methods to analyze manufacturers and e-commerce platforms in different situations. The study found that the service levels affected the profit of each entity in the supply chain. The service levels of self-operated stores were higher than those of the flagship stores, and the opening of direct sales channels had a stimulating effect on the service levels of e-commerce platforms to a certain extent. In consideration of the service levels and the ability to build direct sales channels, the direct sales-flagship store marketing model is the best choice for manufacturers whereas e-commerce platforms are more inclined to open self-operated stores. However, the opening of manufacturers’ direct sales channels is not necessarily beneficial to e-commerce platforms.

Bundling strategies for complementary products in a horizontal supply chain

Kybernetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1158-1177
Author(s):  
Qingyun Xu ◽  
Bing Xu ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Yi He
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Profit Sharing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cooperative Program ◽  
Mixed Bundling ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
The One ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Advertising And Promotion

Purpose This paper aims to address the following problems: What are the firms’ optimal pricing and quality policies under three scenarios (no bundling, pure bundling and mixed bundling)? In what condition will one bundling strategy dominate the others? How does the degree of complementarity affect the firms’ decision? Design/methodology/approach Using the game theory, this study first establishes three models of bundling strategies: no bundling, pure bundling and mixed bundling and then obtains the optimal prices and quality decisions. This study uses numerical analysis to explore the relationships between the prices (demands and profits) and some key parameters and to obtain some valuable management complications. Findings Some interesting and valuable management implications are established: regardless of the degree of complementarity, adopting a pure bundling or mixed bundling strategy is better than separately selling an individual product; a high degree of complementarity leads to reduced profit in the no bundling and mixed bundling scenarios, whereas the condition in the pure bundling strategy is the opposite; and when the degree of complementarity is adequately large, choosing pure bundling strategy is more profitable. Research limitations/implications On the one hand, this study does not calculate the profit sharing ratio, and hence, the equilibrium profit sharing ratio can be explored in future work. On the other hand, marketing efforts (e.g. advertising and promotion) can be included in the study. Practical implications This study derives the necessary conditions for the most effective bundling strategy that maximizes firm’s profits, and these conclusions can provide a decision reference to the bundling decisions of firms. Originality/value First, the optimal bundling strategies in a horizontal supply chain consisting of two firms is considered. Under the pure and mixed bundling strategies, the two firms sell the bundled product by building a cooperative program. Second, both the pricing policies and quality decisions of supply chain members under the different bundling strategies are studied.

Coordination in a composite green-product supply chain under different power structures

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 1101-1123
Author(s):  
Gaoxiang Lou ◽  
Zhixuan Lai ◽  
Haicheng Ma ◽  
Tijun Fan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Cost Sharing ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Green Practices ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
Green Investment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find the optimal power structure that drives green practices in the supply chain and coordinate the costs and benefits of green practices in supply chain under different power structures.Design/methodology/approachThis paper developed a supply chain of one supplier and one manufacturer, in which the supplier and the manufacturer are responsible for the “greening” of products. Then, the game theory modeling method is used to explore the influence of different power structures on green practices in the supply chain. Finally, the authors developed a green cost-sharing contract made by the leader; regarding optimal supply chain profits and green performance, the proposed contracts and the non-coordination situation are compared and tested by a numerical simulation.FindingsThe increase of the green practice difficulty of any member in the supply chain will not only reduce the greenness of products at that stage but will also reduce the green investment of the supply chain partner. Becoming a channel leader does not necessarily mean being more profitable than being a follower, and when the green practice difficulty of the leader is less than a certain threshold, ceding dominant power to the follower may benefit both sides. A green cost-sharing contract made by the leader is not necessarily beneficial to all enterprises.Originality/valueThis paper helps to better understand the role of the power relation in realizing the industry's green goals and helps decision-makers to achieve win-win cooperation by adjusting power relations and optimizing green cost-sharing contracts.

Socio-economic and technological new normal in supply chain management: lessons from COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mian M. Ajmal ◽  
Mehmood Khan ◽  
Muhammad Kashif Shad ◽  
Haseena AlKatheeri ◽  
Fauzia Jabeen
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Measurement Scale ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
New Normal ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Platforms

PurposeThis paper explores the new normal activities and strategic responses of the service industry towards the challenges created by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and other constructs and validates the measurement scale for socio-economic and technological new normal activities following lockdown and social distancing practices.Design/methodology/approachFirst, structured interviews with 28 participants helped us generate items and develop survey instruments for cross-sectional data collection in the second phase. So, the authors received 256 complete responses from the top and middle management of the services industry. Exploratory factor analysis helped us explore the factors and reliability of the items. Confirmatory factor analysis aided us in generating and confirming the factorial structure of the constructs.FindingsResults indicated that amid COVID-19's pandemic, new normal activities are emerging in which organizations are deploying crisis strategies to safeguard their business and stakeholders. Organizations are re-opening swiftly, focusing on digital transformation, developing digital platforms for ease in working and improved consumer services, to name a few operational changes.Practical implicationsDiscussion on empirical analysis revolves around the guidelines to service industry's managers and top management to improve shortcomings in combating the challenges they face in their operations.Originality/valuePrior studies have provided substantial insights on the COVID-19 pandemic, but relatively little research exists on new normal activities in the supply chain network of the service industry. Among other reasons for such less empirical evidence on new normal activities is the unavailability of a comprehensive tool for measuring the socio-economic and technological new normal activities. This paper is a contribution to bridging this knowledge gap.

A game theory approach to selecting marketing-mix strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansour Abedian ◽  
Atefeh Amindoust ◽  
Reza Maddahi ◽  
Javid Jouzdani
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Nash Equilibrium ◽  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
Equilibrium Model ◽  
Marketing Mix ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Game Theory

PurposeAdopting efficient marketing strategies is a challenging task in a competitive market place involving complex marketing planning, techniques and mechanisms to identify the best course of action under these circumstances and finding optimal solutions or stable outcomes. Decisions and strategies of competitors in the market influence the selection of the appropriate marketing strategy. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a mathematical methodology based on the game theory approach for planning optimal marketing-mix strategies in dynamic competitive markets, taking into account strategic foresight and interaction effects.Design/methodology/approachThe game theory approach, as a decision-making tool in conflict situations, is suggested for planning and adopting optimal marketing strategy. The main intellectual attraction of the game theory is essentially a question of how to act in gaming situations against highly rational opponents A kind of static, finite and non-cooperative game analytics approach has been developed for this issue, and the proposed model has been implemented to design optimal marketing strategies for two top brands of the automotive parts market in Iran.FindingsThe findings of this study show that the optimal marketing-mix strategy for brand A is pricing and for brand B is the product strategy.Practical implicationsGame theory and the Nash equilibrium model can provide a practical approach to find and adopt the right strategy, know competitors' movements and strategies and get more profit.Originality/valueThe integration of the game theory approach into the marketing mix framework has been adopted as a generalized model for marketing strategy planning and analysis as well as to resolve some shortcomings of the marketing mix framework. The Nash equilibrium model has been used to analyze the results. The incorporation of game theory into marketing models has the potential to enrich the scope of marketing modeling.

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