Buyer–supplier collaborative cost sharing and the performance of fresh agricultural produce cold chains: a retailer fairness concern perspective
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
ISSN: 1355-5855
Article publication date: 19 October 2021
Issue publication date: 6 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores how collaborative cost sharing between the buyer and the supplier in cold chain equipment and marketing and advertising affects the performance of a fresh agricultural produce supply chain (FAP-SC).
Design/methodology/approach
We use a contingency approach to modeling different scenarios and analyzing how fairness perception, interplaying with corporative–retailer cost sharing., influences the performance of fresh agricultural produce cold chains.
Findings
The findings of the research highlight the crucial role of the retailer's fairness concern. When the retailer's fairness concern is absent, cost sharing (in cold chain equipment and marketing and advertising) is found to help boost demand and enhance the profits of members of the supply chain; bilateral cost sharing is found to have a more significant impact than unilateral cost sharing. When the retailer's fairness concern is taken into account, however, cost sharing is found to reduce demand at a lower level of fairness coefficient but increases demand at a higher level of fairness coefficient; bilateral cost sharing boosts both demand and profit of the supply chain when the retailer is in a “high concern, high anger” state.
Originality/value
The findings of the research highlight the important role of the buyer's farness perception when supply chain partners adopt collaborative cost sharing programs. This study contributes significantly to research and practice in supply chain collaboration and agricultural cold chain performance.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: The study was funded by the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of Ministry of Education of China, Award Number: 19A10542003 and Hunan Key Laboratory of Macroeconomic Big Data Mining and its Application.
Citation
Zi, W., Li, G., Li, X. and Zhou, J. (2022), "Buyer–supplier collaborative cost sharing and the performance of fresh agricultural produce cold chains: a retailer fairness concern perspective", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 34 No. 6, pp. 1178-1202. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-04-2021-0266
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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