Pricing Policies of a Dual-Channel Supply Chain Considering Channel Environmental Sustainability

This paper examines the dual-channel supply chain in which the differentiation of the environmental sustainability of channels is considered. We analyze the influences of the level of environmental sustainability of channels on the pricing policies for the supply chain members in both centralized and decentralized models using the Stackelberg game model under inconsistent price policy. We obtain the optimal level of environmental sustainability of channels and pricing decisions for the players in the centralized and decentralized dual-channel supply chains. Results show that the influence mechanisms of the level of environmental sustainability of channels on the pricing decisions are different in the centralized and decentralized models. Furthermore, numerical analysis has been conducted to investigate the effects of the cross-environmental-sustainability sensitivity factor and the initial proportion of consumers who prefer the retail channel on the level of environmental sustainability of channels, pricing policies and players' profits.