基于Internet的供应链选择.docxVIP

基于Internet的供应链选择Serguei Netessine费城，宾夕法尼亚州19104号，宾夕法尼亚大学，沃顿商学院netessine@Nils Rudi欧洲工商管理学院，法国枫丹白露77305号，mailto:nils.rudi@nils.rudi@Internet companies extensively use the practice of Drop-shipping, where the wholesaler stocks and owns the inventory and ships products directly to customers at retailers’ request. Under the Drop-shipping arrangement, the supply chain bene?ts from risk pooling because the inventory for multiple retailers is stocked at the same location, the wholesaler’ s. Another more traditional channel alternative on the Internet is one in which retailers stock and own the inventory. These two supply chain structures, which predominate on the Internet,result in different inventory risk allocation, stocking decisions, and pro?ts for channel members. Moreover, the two channel alternatives can be combined into a dual strategy whereby the retailer uses local inventory as a primary source and relies on Drop-shipping as a backup.We model the dual strategy as a noncooperative game among the retailers and the wholesaler, analyze it, and obtain insights into the structural properties of the equilibrium solution to facilitate development of recommendations for practicing managers. Finally, we characterize situations in which each of three channels is preferable by specifying appropriate ranges of critical parameters, including demand variability, the number of retailers in the channel, wholesale prices, and transportation costs. Key words: supply chain; Drop-shipping; e-commerce; ful?llment; equilibrium; competitionHistory: Accepted by Fangruo Chen, supply chain management; received December 11, 2001. This paper was with the authors 1 year and 10 months for 4 revisions.Alliance Entertainment Corporation, Ingram Entertainment, and Baker and Taylor are major players in the business of distributing home entertainment products—including CDs, videos, games, and books—to Internet, as well as to brick-and-mortar, retailers. One of the services they offer is Drop-shippin