Coordinating a Three-Echelon Fresh Product Supply Chain with Freshness-keeping Effort under a Wholesale and Maintenance Price Agreement

Coordinating a Three-Echelon Fresh Product Supply Chain with Freshness-keeping Effort under a Wholesale and Maintenance Price Agreement | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Coordinating a Three-Echelon Fresh Product Supply Chain with Freshness-keeping Effort under a Wholesale and Maintenance Price Agreement Abolfazl Shayesteh, Hossein Mohammadi Dolat-Abadi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5710240/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper investigates a three-echelon fresh product supply chain (FPSC) that includes the retailer, supplier, and logistics service provider in two decision-making structures including decentralized and centralized with an integrated sales approach and considering changes in consumer buying behavior allowing products to be sold through online and offline channels. In a decentralized decision-making approach, FPSC members individually and independently optimize their decision variables (retailer’s selling price and sales effort level, the supplier’s wholesale price, and the service price and freshness-keeping effort offered by the logistics service provider), while in a centralized approach, the FPSC decision variables are optimized from an overall and holistic perspective. To move from a decentralized to a centralized decision-making structure, this paper proposes a new coordination approach using wholesale and maintenance price agreements to coordinate decision variables in the investigated FPSC. After, numerical results for decision variables of the proposed FPSC members and the overall profit in two decision-making structures, decentralized and centralized decision-making, are examined and compared to analyze the performance of the models. The results show that the proposed mechanism for achieving the coordinated model not only improves the overall profit of the FPSC but also improves the service level, freshness level of products, and profit of the FPSC members. Sensitivity results show that reducing storage and supply prices for fresh products increases the attractiveness of the retail sector for investment, leading to the adoption of broader product sales policies and boosting overall FPSC profitability. Fresh products Freshness-keeping effort supply chain coordination Logistics service provider Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5710240","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":395099322,"identity":"6e3d85d7-1ed5-4f13-b00d-90f5c06c08f2","order_by":0,"name":"Abolfazl Shayesteh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Iran University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abolfazl","middleName":"","lastName":"Shayesteh","suffix":""},{"id":395099323,"identity":"855c21ec-35e5-4cff-a1dd-209f0d04ed30","order_by":1,"name":"Hossein Mohammadi Dolat-Abadi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwYGNgjrMPMBCIOZeC1sCQwHSNNygMeA4QAxDjMXO3zswc+cbfJ8x3m+SX9gsJNnYOd9gFeL5ey0dMPebbcNZx7m3SZxgCHZsIGZ3QC/w27nmEnwbrvNuAGihTmBgZmNgF+AWiT/brttv+EwzzOglnritEgDbUkEamEDajlMjJa0NGnZbbeTZx5mM7Y4Y3DcsI2wluRjkm+33bbtO3/44Y2Kimp5fv5j+LWgmwCPplEwCkbBKBgFlAAAxw9CG7jgI1gAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Farabi College, University of Tehran","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hossein","middleName":"Mohammadi","lastName":"Dolat-Abadi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-25 08:53:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5710240/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5710240/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":72707470,"identity":"2ecefdae-a9dc-4fc4-b0f8-71a60af566a2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-31 14:16:51","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":643909,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5710240/v1_covered_e6c7602b-01a4-45bc-8542-beb7b5d46c3c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Coordinating a Three-Echelon Fresh Product Supply Chain with Freshness-keeping Effort under a Wholesale and Maintenance Price Agreement","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Fresh products, Freshness-keeping effort, supply chain coordination, Logistics service provider","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5710240/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5710240/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis paper investigates a three-echelon fresh product supply chain (FPSC) that includes the retailer, supplier, and logistics service provider in two decision-making structures including decentralized and centralized with an integrated sales approach and considering changes in consumer buying behavior allowing products to be sold through online and offline channels. In a decentralized decision-making approach, FPSC members individually and independently optimize their decision variables (retailer\u0026rsquo;s selling price and sales effort level, the supplier\u0026rsquo;s wholesale price, and the service price and freshness-keeping effort offered by the logistics service provider), while in a centralized approach, the FPSC decision variables are optimized from an overall and holistic perspective. To move from a decentralized to a centralized decision-making structure, this paper proposes a new coordination approach using wholesale and maintenance price agreements to coordinate decision variables in the investigated FPSC. After, numerical results for decision variables of the proposed FPSC members and the overall profit in two decision-making structures, decentralized and centralized decision-making, are examined and compared to analyze the performance of the models. The results show that the proposed mechanism for achieving the coordinated model not only improves the overall profit of the FPSC but also improves the service level, freshness level of products, and profit of the FPSC members. Sensitivity results show that reducing storage and supply prices for fresh products increases the attractiveness of the retail sector for investment, leading to the adoption of broader product sales policies and boosting overall FPSC profitability.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Coordinating a Three-Echelon Fresh Product Supply Chain with Freshness-keeping Effort under a Wholesale and Maintenance Price Agreement","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-12-30 15:21:54","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5710240/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b6090ef8-0cba-4a7e-89d6-d988737f5689","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 30th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-12-31T14:08:42+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-12-30 15:21:54","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5710240","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5710240","identity":"rs-5710240","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}