A supplier makes a product sold during the winter season at a unit production cost of $5.
Question:
A supplier makes a product sold during the winter season at a unit production cost of $5. A retailer sells the product for $30 to the end customer. The supplier currently charges a wholesale price of $20 to the retailer, who places a committed order quantity with the manufacturer before the selling season (i.e., the retailer orders and pays the wholesale price up-front, with no other payments after sales are realized). Demand for the product during the selling season is forecasted to be uniformly distributed between 5,000 and 10,000 units. The supplier would like to propose a buy-back contract that maximizes supply chain profits and achieves the same percentage split of total supply chain profit between the two parties as the current status quo (i.e., under the current wholesale price of $20 with retailer committed order). What wholesale price and buy-back price should they propose? What expected profit would the supplier make under this proposed contract? If the retailer prefers a revenue-sharing contract, what terms (i.e., wholesale price and revenue sharing percentage) should they counter-offer to achieve the same profit split?