Pub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109808
Yuan Liu , Shuaian Wang , Lu Zhen
The shipping industry is essential to global supply chain management, acting as a fundamental driver of international commerce and economic growth. However, its significant carbon emissions pose a serious threat to the environment, exacerbating climate change and necessitating immediate action to reduce its environmental impact. In this context, Onboard Carbon Capture and Storage (OCCS) has emerged as a critical solution, providing an effective measure to lower emissions and support the transition toward green supply chain in shipping industry. Considering the interdependent decisions of ports and shipping companies, our research focuses on selecting ports and timing for carbon processing systems to maximize ports revenue, identifying vessels on specific routes for OCCS installation, and determining optimal ports for offloading captured carbon to minimize processing costs. To address these problems, we develop an integer programming model to optimize the decisions of both ports and shipping companies. Furthermore, to validate the model’s effectiveness, we conduct extensive numerical experiments and perform sensitivity analyses to evaluate how parameters related to carbon processing prices and costs, influence optimal decisions. Finally, we provide valuable insights for future research on OCCS optimization and scheduling in the maritime industry.
{"title":"Strategic optimization of onboard carbon capture and storage for maritime supply chain management","authors":"Yuan Liu , Shuaian Wang , Lu Zhen","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109808","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109808","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The shipping industry is essential to global supply chain management, acting as a fundamental driver of international commerce and economic growth. However, its significant carbon emissions pose a serious threat to the environment, exacerbating climate change and necessitating immediate action to reduce its environmental impact. In this context, Onboard Carbon Capture and Storage (OCCS) has emerged as a critical solution, providing an effective measure to lower emissions and support the transition toward green supply chain in shipping industry. Considering the interdependent decisions of ports and shipping companies, our research focuses on selecting ports and timing for carbon processing systems to maximize ports revenue, identifying vessels on specific routes for OCCS installation, and determining optimal ports for offloading captured carbon to minimize processing costs. To address these problems, we develop an integer programming model to optimize the decisions of both ports and shipping companies. Furthermore, to validate the model’s effectiveness, we conduct extensive numerical experiments and perform sensitivity analyses to evaluate how parameters related to carbon processing prices and costs, influence optimal decisions. Finally, we provide valuable insights for future research on OCCS optimization and scheduling in the maritime industry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 109808"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145464964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-29DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109807
Jianyu Zhao , Yingbo Xu , Bo Zou , Xi Xi , Wei Liu
Artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the business landscape. The role of AI applications in product innovation has received much attention, yet the impact of AI technologies on the product itself remains insufficient. To address this question, we developed a theoretical framework around the resource-based view and the concept of generativity. We theorize and investigate the impact of AI application on generativity in a product architecture and whether generativity promotes product sales. Using a new energy vehicle (NEV) as a sample, we set a research context of digital manufacturing in which we argue that AI applications facilitate the generation of intelligent functions in NEVs, and intelligent functions promote vehicle sales. We further find that AI–large language model (LLM) adoption weakens the positive relationship between intelligent functions and vehicle sales. We aim to contribute to AI application and generativity studies, and we provide evidence for manufacturers to develop appropriate AI system strategies.
{"title":"From invisible to visible: How artificial intelligence facilitates generativity in product architecture","authors":"Jianyu Zhao , Yingbo Xu , Bo Zou , Xi Xi , Wei Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109807","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109807","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the business landscape. The role of AI applications in product innovation has received much attention, yet the impact of AI technologies on the product itself remains insufficient. To address this question, we developed a theoretical framework around the resource-based view and the concept of generativity. We theorize and investigate the impact of AI application on generativity in a product architecture and whether generativity promotes product sales. Using a new energy vehicle (NEV) as a sample, we set a research context of digital manufacturing in which we argue that AI applications facilitate the generation of intelligent functions in NEVs, and intelligent functions promote vehicle sales. We further find that AI–large language model (LLM) adoption weakens the positive relationship between intelligent functions and vehicle sales. We aim to contribute to AI application and generativity studies, and we provide evidence for manufacturers to develop appropriate AI system strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 109807"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145465069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109805
Chaorui Huang, Xin Wen, Sai-Ho Chung
Some third-party logistics (3 PL) companies recently take on a new role to help achieve advance payment. Specifically, 3 PL helps pay supplier soon after receiving the logistics fee and order payment from retailer. However, the retailer may incur opportunity cost via paying earlier to the 3 PL if considering the time value of cash. In contrast to the current literature that demonstrates possible advantages brought by 3 PLs, we instead find that when supply chain players face a homogeneous time value of cash, the 3 PL's advance payment brings no profit growth for all players under the 3 PL's leadership. The supplier cannot enjoy a profit increase as the retailer reduces the wholesale price to compensate for the opportunity cost loss. The 3 PL has to lower the service fee to attract the retailer to join the game, thus weakening its profitability. Furthermore, we extend our study to two scenarios. The first is when the retailer dominates the supply chain and the second is when the 3 PL offers discount coupons to the retailer. In the first extension, we identify that the merit of the 3 PL's new role only exists for the 3 PL when players face a heterogeneous time value of cash under certain conditions. Alternatively, the second extension illustrates that only a small-scale coupon creates a triple-win situation and facilitates flexibility in making decisions. In summary, based on the 3 PL's existing practice, this study points out its potential limitations when involved in supply chain cash flows.
{"title":"Evaluating the efficacy of emerging third-party logistics role: An examination of potential limitations","authors":"Chaorui Huang, Xin Wen, Sai-Ho Chung","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109805","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109805","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Some third-party logistics (3 PL) companies recently take on a new role to help achieve advance payment. Specifically, 3 PL helps pay supplier soon after receiving the logistics fee and order payment from retailer. However, the retailer may incur opportunity cost via paying earlier to the 3 PL if considering the time value of cash. In contrast to the current literature that demonstrates possible advantages brought by 3 PLs, we instead find that when supply chain players face a homogeneous time value of cash, the 3 PL's advance payment brings no profit growth for all players under the 3 PL's leadership. The supplier cannot enjoy a profit increase as the retailer reduces the wholesale price to compensate for the opportunity cost loss. The 3 PL has to lower the service fee to attract the retailer to join the game, thus weakening its profitability. Furthermore, we extend our study to two scenarios. The first is when the retailer dominates the supply chain and the second is when the 3 PL offers discount coupons to the retailer. In the first extension, we identify that the merit of the 3 PL's new role only exists for the 3 PL when players face a heterogeneous time value of cash under certain conditions. Alternatively, the second extension illustrates that only a small-scale coupon creates a triple-win situation and facilitates flexibility in making decisions. In summary, based on the 3 PL's existing practice, this study points out its potential limitations when involved in supply chain cash flows.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"289 ","pages":"Article 109805"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145264771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-23DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109794
Jinyi Chen, ChenGuang Liu, Yongjie Dong
An innovative non-ownership business model, per-use rental, has emerged, in which consumers use products through renting and pay based on usage frequency. Although existing literature examines manufacturer encroachment in decentralized supply chains, recent practices demonstrate increasing partial vertical integration via shareholding among members. This paper investigates a supply chain consisting an upstream manufacturer and a downstream per-use rental platform, analyzing the manufacturer’s encroachment strategies under three scenarios: no partial integration, partial forward integration (PFI), and partial backward integration (PBI). Some important findings and managerial insights are obtained. First, we find that different partial integration scenarios may bring different impacts on the manufacturer’s encroachment strategies. Under no partial integration and PFI, the manufacturer will encroach when the fixed investment cost of a direct per-use rental channel is low. However, under PBI, additional factors, such as the maintenance cost and platform’s shareholding ratio, also influence the equilibrium strategies. In each scenario, encroachment can result in win-win, win-lose, lose-win, and lose-lose outcomes for the manufacturer and the platform. Second, the manufacturer’s wholesale price decreases with the shareholding ratio under PFI but increases under PBI, reflecting the impact of equity ownership, and the platform’s rental price follows a similar trend. These conclusions suggest that members can adapt to the impact of different equity structures and encroachment by adjusting prices, and the platform with more equity is more likely to benefit from manufacturer encroachment. Finally, two extensions, including different maintenance costs borne by the manufacturer and the platform, and the validity of partial integration, are considered to further verify the robustness of the proposed models.
{"title":"Manufacturer encroachment in car per-use rental: The role of partial integration of supply chain","authors":"Jinyi Chen, ChenGuang Liu, Yongjie Dong","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109794","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109794","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>An innovative non-ownership business model, per-use rental, has emerged, in which consumers use products through renting and pay based on usage frequency. Although existing literature examines manufacturer encroachment in decentralized supply chains, recent practices demonstrate increasing partial vertical integration via shareholding among members. This paper investigates a supply chain consisting an upstream manufacturer and a downstream per-use rental platform, analyzing the manufacturer’s encroachment strategies under three scenarios: no partial integration, partial forward integration (PFI), and partial backward integration (PBI). Some important findings and managerial insights are obtained. First, we find that different partial integration scenarios may bring different impacts on the manufacturer’s encroachment strategies. Under no partial integration and PFI, the manufacturer will encroach when the fixed investment cost of a direct per-use rental channel is low. However, under PBI, additional factors, such as the maintenance cost and platform’s shareholding ratio, also influence the equilibrium strategies. In each scenario, encroachment can result in win-win, win-lose, lose-win, and lose-lose outcomes for the manufacturer and the platform. Second, the manufacturer’s wholesale price decreases with the shareholding ratio under PFI but increases under PBI, reflecting the impact of equity ownership, and the platform’s rental price follows a similar trend. These conclusions suggest that members can adapt to the impact of different equity structures and encroachment by adjusting prices, and the platform with more equity is more likely to benefit from manufacturer encroachment. Finally, two extensions, including different maintenance costs borne by the manufacturer and the platform, and the validity of partial integration, are considered to further verify the robustness of the proposed models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"289 ","pages":"Article 109794"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145265210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-22DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109795
Yoo Seok Seo, JeongWook Lim, Byeong Kwon Lee, Kun Soo Park
The recent proliferation of food delivery services with crowdsourced couriers (delivery workers) has introduced new problems in the operations of on-demand food delivery platforms. An increase in crowdsourced couriers has diversified delivery transportation modes such as motorcycle, bike, and walk, which results in mode-specific maximum delivery distances according to their speeds. In addition, it is necessary to manage various customer classes with specific delivery distances between restaurants and customers. For a food delivery platform with multiple customer classes and courier pools, it is essential to optimize the delivery price charged to each customer, the wage paid to couriers, and matching between them to complete the food delivery within a reasonable amount of time. Hence, we study the operations decisions for the online food delivery platform that faces price- and time-sensitive customers with heterogeneous delivery distances and earning-sensitive couriers with heterogeneous transportation speeds. We formulate this problem as a multi-class multi-pool queueing and allocation problem. We find that the objective function of this optimization problem is inherently complex with respect to the number of customer classes and courier pools, making it unsuitable for standard convex optimization techniques. Hence, we propose a new Utilization-Based Multipoint (UBM) heuristic that exploits multiple initial points to derive near-optimal results efficiently. Our numerical experiments on both generated instances and real delivery data demonstrate that the proposed heuristic algorithm significantly outperforms the benchmark for all experiments.
{"title":"Pricing and wage decisions for on-demand food delivery platforms with multiple customer classes and courier pools","authors":"Yoo Seok Seo, JeongWook Lim, Byeong Kwon Lee, Kun Soo Park","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109795","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109795","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The recent proliferation of food delivery services with crowdsourced couriers (delivery workers) has introduced new problems in the operations of on-demand food delivery platforms. An increase in crowdsourced couriers has diversified delivery transportation modes such as motorcycle, bike, and walk, which results in mode-specific maximum delivery distances according to their speeds. In addition, it is necessary to manage various customer classes with specific delivery distances between restaurants and customers. For a food delivery platform with multiple customer classes and courier pools, it is essential to optimize the delivery price charged to each customer, the wage paid to couriers, and matching between them to complete the food delivery within a reasonable amount of time. Hence, we study the operations decisions for the online food delivery platform that faces price- and time-sensitive customers with heterogeneous delivery distances and earning-sensitive couriers with heterogeneous transportation speeds. We formulate this problem as a multi-class multi-pool queueing and allocation problem. We find that the objective function of this optimization problem is inherently complex with respect to the number of customer classes and courier pools, making it unsuitable for standard convex optimization techniques. Hence, we propose a new Utilization-Based Multipoint (UBM) heuristic that exploits multiple initial points to derive near-optimal results efficiently. Our numerical experiments on both generated instances and real delivery data demonstrate that the proposed heuristic algorithm significantly outperforms the benchmark for all experiments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"289 ","pages":"Article 109795"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145264770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-21DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109801
Fei Cheng , Qiao Chen , Xiaoxi Liu , Yimeng Zhang
This study investigates the transformative role of equity participation in remanufacturing supply chains, where shareholding has emerged as a strategic complement to conventional authorization frameworks between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent remanufacturers (IRs). By integrating shareholding into the remanufacturing supply chain, we focus on the impact of different remanufacturing modes on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for remanufactured products, and further discussing how these effects shape the cooperation choices of supply chain members. Using a game-theoretic model, we analyze three scenarios: competition, shareholding, and authorization. We reveal that shareholding incentivizes full remanufacturing engagement by the IR, whereas authorization suppresses such initiatives. This divergence stems from the structural capacity of equity participation while mitigating product cannibalization risks. When considering environmental impact, both shareholding and authorization can achieve a win-win-win situation on the triple bottom line under certain conditions. In addition, despite the potential for enhanced systemic efficiency under shareholding, persistent preference conflicts between the OEM (favoring the authorization mode) and the IR (preferring the shareholding mode) preclude Pareto-optimal outcomes. The OEM's active strategic behavior can solve this negotiation dilemma, including choosing to implement cost reduction strategy and equity structure adjustment strategy.
{"title":"Shareholding or authorization? The choice of cooperation between original equipment manufacturers and independent remanufacturers","authors":"Fei Cheng , Qiao Chen , Xiaoxi Liu , Yimeng Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109801","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109801","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the transformative role of equity participation in remanufacturing supply chains, where shareholding has emerged as a strategic complement to conventional authorization frameworks between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent remanufacturers (IRs). By integrating shareholding into the remanufacturing supply chain, we focus on the impact of different remanufacturing modes on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for remanufactured products, and further discussing how these effects shape the cooperation choices of supply chain members. Using a game-theoretic model, we analyze three scenarios: competition, shareholding, and authorization. We reveal that shareholding incentivizes full remanufacturing engagement by the IR, whereas authorization suppresses such initiatives. This divergence stems from the structural capacity of equity participation while mitigating product cannibalization risks. When considering environmental impact, both shareholding and authorization can achieve a win-win-win situation on the triple bottom line under certain conditions. In addition, despite the potential for enhanced systemic efficiency under shareholding, persistent preference conflicts between the OEM (favoring the authorization mode) and the IR (preferring the shareholding mode) preclude Pareto-optimal outcomes. The OEM's active strategic behavior can solve this negotiation dilemma, including choosing to implement cost reduction strategy and equity structure adjustment strategy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"289 ","pages":"Article 109801"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145216506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-21DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109799
Mohammad Reza Khodoomi , Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani , Eric Ping Hung Li
Concerns about the environment have led to an increase in the number of electric vehicles, which has heightened the dependency on batteries. However, this dependence has also brought about issues such as environmental pollution and resource depletion. Therefore, addressing the battery life cycle and recycling is crucial. As electric vehicle battery capabilities gradually decrease over time, they can be repurposed for second-life usage in applications, such as energy-sharing systems, or recycled when their capacity is low. In line with sustainability goals, carbon emissions from battery production, remanufacturing, and recycling must also be considered. This research examines strategic decisions related to pricing, battery quality, and carbon emissions in a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) for batteries. Notably, a holistic supply chain perspective is adopted to optimize both sustainability and economic performance across manufacturers, remanufacturers, and retailers within the CLSC. The study compares different scenarios, including carbon tax policies and carbon trading markets, while focusing on optimizing three dimensions of sustainability, namely economic, social, and environmental aspects. Since battery manufacturers are responsible for the life cycle of their products, this study introduces a hierarchical cost-sharing contract to establish a holding company for life cycle management and to improve coordination among supply chain entities. Thus, the models are analyzed in centralized, Stackelberg game decision-making structures, and a newly introduced contract is developed to improve coordination among supply chain members. Moreover, this study introduces a novel integration of a game theory model with a data-driven framework to address uncertainties in input parameters. The results indicate that the carbon trading market can be more profitable for supply chain members than the carbon tax policy, with the new contract further enhancing profitability.
{"title":"Sustainable life cycle management of batteries in a closed-loop supply chain under hierarchical cost-sharing contracts and carbon policies","authors":"Mohammad Reza Khodoomi , Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani , Eric Ping Hung Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109799","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109799","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Concerns about the environment have led to an increase in the number of electric vehicles, which has heightened the dependency on batteries. However, this dependence has also brought about issues such as environmental pollution and resource depletion. Therefore, addressing the battery life cycle and recycling is crucial. As electric vehicle battery capabilities gradually decrease over time, they can be repurposed for second-life usage in applications, such as energy-sharing systems, or recycled when their capacity is low. In line with sustainability goals, carbon emissions from battery production, remanufacturing, and recycling must also be considered. This research examines strategic decisions related to pricing, battery quality, and carbon emissions in a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) for batteries. Notably, a holistic supply chain perspective is adopted to optimize both sustainability and economic performance across manufacturers, remanufacturers, and retailers within the CLSC. The study compares different scenarios, including carbon tax policies and carbon trading markets, while focusing on optimizing three dimensions of sustainability, namely economic, social, and environmental aspects. Since battery manufacturers are responsible for the life cycle of their products, this study introduces a hierarchical cost-sharing contract to establish a holding company for life cycle management and to improve coordination among supply chain entities. Thus, the models are analyzed in centralized, Stackelberg game decision-making structures, and a newly introduced contract is developed to improve coordination among supply chain members. Moreover, this study introduces a novel integration of a game theory model with a data-driven framework to address uncertainties in input parameters. The results indicate that the carbon trading market can be more profitable for supply chain members than the carbon tax policy, with the new contract further enhancing profitability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 109799"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145464963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-20DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109798
Yuhang Gao , Mimi Zhang , Muhammad Ali Nasir , Yan Hao , Jinghui Wu , Lixiao Zhang
This study explores the governance of greenwashing behaviour within the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework of the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) supply chain. Employing an evolutionary game theory model, we examine the strategic interactions between NEV Components Suppliers (NEVSs), NEV Manufacturers (NEVMs), and Government Regulatory Agencies (GRAs). We derive the conditions for evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) and conduct sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of key factors on the evolution of optimal strategies. Our findings reveal the dynamic changes in ESG practices and greenwashing of supply chain enterprises under different market and regulatory environments. The results demonstrate that ESG practices in the supply chain exhibit distinct phased characteristics, transitioning from greenwashing behaviour in the initial stages to proactive ESG practices in the maturity stage. This research highlights the significant influence of market forces on companies' ESG strategic choices, suggesting that the government should implement appropriate regulatory and incentive strategies at different stages to guide enterprises from greenwashing towards authentic ESG practices. This study provides theoretical insights and practical guidance for policymakers and corporate strategists to promote sustainable development in the NEV industry.
{"title":"ESG greenwashing behaviour in the electric vehicle supply chain: Insights from evolutionary game theory","authors":"Yuhang Gao , Mimi Zhang , Muhammad Ali Nasir , Yan Hao , Jinghui Wu , Lixiao Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109798","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109798","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the governance of greenwashing behaviour within the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework of the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) supply chain. Employing an evolutionary game theory model, we examine the strategic interactions between NEV Components Suppliers (NEVSs), NEV Manufacturers (NEVMs), and Government Regulatory Agencies (GRAs). We derive the conditions for evolutionarily stable strategies (ESS) and conduct sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of key factors on the evolution of optimal strategies. Our findings reveal the dynamic changes in ESG practices and greenwashing of supply chain enterprises under different market and regulatory environments. The results demonstrate that ESG practices in the supply chain exhibit distinct phased characteristics, transitioning from greenwashing behaviour in the initial stages to proactive ESG practices in the maturity stage. This research highlights the significant influence of market forces on companies' ESG strategic choices, suggesting that the government should implement appropriate regulatory and incentive strategies at different stages to guide enterprises from greenwashing towards authentic ESG practices. This study provides theoretical insights and practical guidance for policymakers and corporate strategists to promote sustainable development in the NEV industry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"289 ","pages":"Article 109798"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145264767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109791
Yujie Ma, Xin Xia, Peiyao Liu, Chen Zhang
High-tech supply chains are complex and capital-intensive, making them highly vulnerable to disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions. Traditional risk management strategies — such as securing backup suppliers and stockpiling inventory — have revealed their limitations. In contrast, integrating product design change (PDC) strategies enables supply chains to adapt and restructure more flexibly, thereby enhancing resilience. This study emphasizes the critical interplay between PDC and resilient supply chains (RSC), proposing a design scheme that integrates both. Because PDC and RSC involve distinct decision-makers with hierarchical decision structures, we further construct a bilevel joint optimization (BJO) framework grounded in a Stackelberg game. To capture this dynamic, a novel bilevel 0–1 nonlinear programming model is formulated, and a bilevel deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm is developed to solve it. The proposed DRL approach effectively handles multi-dimensional discrete decision variables and complex constraints. We conduct case studies on the smartphone industry. Comparative experiments reveal that the proposed BJO framework significantly outperforms traditional approaches. Moreover, our bilevel DRL algorithm achieves better results than conventional DRL and heuristic methods. Results from resilience-oriented experiments confirm that integrating both resilience and product design into supply chain activities significantly influences RSC decisions, thereby contributing to enterprise risk mitigation. We further conduct a sensitivity analysis on composite utility, design tolerance, and manufacturing adaptability tolerance parameters. The results show that changes in these parameters substantially affect the objectives of the decision-makers. Based on these findings, we offer practical managerial insights to guide real-world implementation.
{"title":"Bilevel joint optimization for product design changes with a resilient supply chain based on deep reinforcement learning","authors":"Yujie Ma, Xin Xia, Peiyao Liu, Chen Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109791","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109791","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-tech supply chains are complex and capital-intensive, making them highly vulnerable to disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic and rising geopolitical tensions. Traditional risk management strategies — such as securing backup suppliers and stockpiling inventory — have revealed their limitations. In contrast, integrating product design change (PDC) strategies enables supply chains to adapt and restructure more flexibly, thereby enhancing resilience. This study emphasizes the critical interplay between PDC and resilient supply chains (RSC), proposing a design scheme that integrates both. Because PDC and RSC involve distinct decision-makers with hierarchical decision structures, we further construct a bilevel joint optimization (BJO) framework grounded in a Stackelberg game. To capture this dynamic, a novel bilevel 0–1 nonlinear programming model is formulated, and a bilevel deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm is developed to solve it. The proposed DRL approach effectively handles multi-dimensional discrete decision variables and complex constraints. We conduct case studies on the smartphone industry. Comparative experiments reveal that the proposed BJO framework significantly outperforms traditional approaches. Moreover, our bilevel DRL algorithm achieves better results than conventional DRL and heuristic methods. Results from resilience-oriented experiments confirm that integrating both resilience and product design into supply chain activities significantly influences RSC decisions, thereby contributing to enterprise risk mitigation. We further conduct a sensitivity analysis on composite utility, design tolerance, and manufacturing adaptability tolerance parameters. The results show that changes in these parameters substantially affect the objectives of the decision-makers. Based on these findings, we offer practical managerial insights to guide real-world implementation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 109791"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145464996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109800
Zishun Qian , Tingting Yan , Jianbin Li
When a firm and its suppliers engage in similar process innovation, does this affect the firm's operational performance? Although the economic value of process innovation is widely recognized, it remains unclear how process innovation similarity between a firm and its suppliers affects a firm's operational performance. Drawing on organizational learning theory, this study proposes a potential benefit of process innovation similarity in reducing the intra-firm bullwhip effect, defined as the deviation in production variability within a firm in response to demand variability. Using a two-way fixed effect model to analyze a secondary dataset, we find that process innovation similarity with suppliers reduces intra-firm bullwhip, particularly in firms with higher supply base complexity. Moreover, enhanced process integration and improved operational efficiency are likely underlying mechanisms through which process innovation similarity mitigates the intra-firm bullwhip. Our study offers new insights into how firms can benefit from process innovation similarity with the supply base in reducing the bullwhip effect.
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