Nonlinear bilevel programming approach for decentralized supply chain using a hybrid state transition algorithm

摘要

This paper investigates a decentralized supply chain that is composed of one manufacturer and multiple distributors. The manufacturer produces goods and wholesales them to multiple distributors and then the distributors sell products to various markets. The entire production period of the manufacturer is divided into several intervals. The decision-making problem of the entire decentralized supply chain is presented as a two-echelon coordination game network, in which each decision-maker can influence decision-making of other levels. A Stackelberg game framework is proposed to coordinate the decision-making process. And then two nonlinear bi-level programming (BLP) models are developed to find the optimal equilibrium decision scheme by switching the leader and follower roles between the manufacturer and the distributors. The models consider the manufacturer’s budget constraints in each interval and the market demands are affected by distributors’ selling price and advertising strategies. According to the hierarchy and complexity of bi-level programming problem (BLPP), a nested bi-level method based on hybrid state transition algorithm is proposed to address the BLP models, and mapping approximation strategy is utilized to improve computational efficiency. Finally, the numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency.