Modeling coordinated contracts for a supply chain consisting of normal and markdown sale markets

The results of a study of the coordination effect in stocking and promotional markdown policies for a supply chain consisting of a retailer and a discount outlet (DCO) are reported here. We assume that the product is sold in two consecutive periods: the Normal Sales Period (NSP) and the subsequent Promotional Markdown Sales Period (PSP). We first study an integrated supply chain in which managers in the two periods design a common system so as to jointly decide the stocking quantities, markdown time schedule, and markdown price to maximize mutual profit. Next, we consider a decentralized supply chain. An uncoordinated contract is designed in which decisions are decentralized to optimize the individual party's objective function. Here, three sources of system inefficiencies cause the decentralized system to earn a lower expected system profit than that in the integrated supply chain. The three sources are as follows: in the decentralized system the retailer tends to (1) stock less, and (2) keep a longer sales period, and the DCO tends to (3) stock fewer leftovers inventories and charge a higher markdown price. Finally, a numerical experiment is provided to compare the coordinated model with the uncoordinated model to explore factors that make coordination an effective approach.