A multi-product and multi-period supply chain network design problem with price-sensitive demand and incremental quantity discount

Abstract

Demand is an important factor in supply chain network design (SCND). Among the many factors that affect demand, the impact of price cannot be underestimated. This study, for the first time, provides enterprises with direct multi-period pricing and demand decision solutions in SCND by simultaneously considering the impact of price-sensitive demand and incremental quantity discounts on the network. In this way, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is established based on the relationships between price and demand functions to maximize the overall profit of the supply chain. Due to the nonlinear characteristics of the model, this study proves the existence of the optimal solution of the problem and the feasibility of implementing the following two algorithms by analyzing the nature of the problem. The first algorithm is based on the second-order cone programming (SOCP) method, and the second algorithm is based on the outer-approximation method. The results of numerical experiments at different scales show that the SOCP method can obtain the optimal solution for small and medium-scale experiments. In contrast, the outer-approximation method can find approximate optimal solutions within a reasonable time for large-scale experiments. The results confirm that considering incremental quantity discount can significantly enhance the profitability of supply chain networks in long-term planning. Finally, some future research directions in the field of SCND are discussed.