Research on Green product R&D Strategies under Different Sales Modes

Abstract

Manufacturers faced the dilemma of independently developing green products or collaborating with e-commerce platforms for joint development. To address this, a two-level green supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single e-commerce platform was examined using game theory methods to explore the strategy selection for green product development under different sales models (distribution and consignment). The study found that under the distribution model, as the technology spillover effect of the e-commerce platform strengthens, the product wholesale price, retail price, manufacturer’s R&D effort, e-commerce platform’s R&D investment, market demand, and profits of both parties all increased monotonically. Collaborative R&D invariably represented the Pareto-optimal solution for both the manufacturer and the e-commerce platform. However, under the consignment model, although the product retail price, manufacturer’s R&D effort, e-commerce platform’s R&D investment, and market demand continued to grow in tandem with the strengthening of the technology spillover effect, the manufacturer’s profit exhibited a non-monotonic trend of “first decreasing and then increasing”. At the same time, the platform’s profit initially increased, followed by a decrease, and then another increase. In this model, collaborative R&D was the optimal strategy for both parties only when the e-commerce platform’s R&D cost coefficient was relatively high.