Comparing the Effectiveness of Supply Chain under Two Contract Mechanisms: Buy-back and Wholesale Price
Keywords:
Supply Chain Coordination, Buy-back Contract, Wholesale Price, Contractual MechanismsAbstract
Buy-back and wholesale price contracts represent critical coordination mechanisms in supply chains, playing a significant role in enhancing supply chain effectiveness. This research, through a comparative analysis of theoretical frameworks and practical evidence, demonstrates that buy-back contracts generally outperform wholesale price contracts, particularly in reverse supply chains and for perishable products. This superiority originates from the higher flexibility of buy-back contracts in allocating risks among supply chain partners. In high-uncertainty environments, buy-back contracts exhibit stronger effectiveness through risk-sharing mechanisms, whereas in supply chains with stable demand, wholesale price contracts may be more suitable due to their simplicity in implementation. On the other hand, adopting a hybrid mechanism that combines both contract types can lead to improved coordination and greater overall effectiveness of the supply chain. Future studies may focus on behavioral factors, the influence of emerging technologies, and the adaptation of these mechanisms within more complex supply chain structures.
References
Adabi, H., & Mashreghi, H. (2019). Coordination and competition in a duopoly with two manufacturers and two retailers with a wholesale price contract and demand uncertainty. International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research, 30(4), 465-476.
Alwan, L. C., Yang, C., & Fang, W. (2023). An advanced buy-back contract and information asymmetry. Annals of Operations Research, 1-21.
Arshinder, K., Kanda, A., & Deshmukh, S. G. (2011). A review on supply chain coordination: Coordination mechanisms, managing uncertainty and research directions. In Supply Chain Coordination under Uncertainty (pp. 39-82). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19257-9_3
Basith, T. A., & Sajith, A. A. (2023). Impact of wholesale price contracts in two-echelon supply chains under production disruptions Lisbon, Portugal.
Bernstein, F., & Federgruen, A. (2005). Decentralized supply chains with competing retailers under demand uncertainty. Management Science, 51(1), 18-29. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1040.0218
Cachon, G. P. (2003). Supply chain coordination with contracts. In Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science (Vol. 11, pp. 227-339). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0927-0507(03)11006-7
Cachon, G. P., & Lariviere, M. A. (2001). Contracting to assure supply: How to share demand forecasts in a supply chain. Management Science, 47(5), 629-646. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.47.5.629.10486
Cachon, G. P., & Lariviere, M. A. (2005). Supply chain coordination with revenue-sharing contracts: Strengths and limitations. Management Science, 51(1), 30-44. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1040.0215
Canbulut, G., & Köse, E. (2025). Supply chain coordination under buyback contract in a three-stage supply chain: A game theory approach. Supply Chain Management Research.
Chaharsooghi, S. K., & Heydari, J. (2011). Supply chain coordination under demand uncertainty using credit option. In Supply Chain Coordination under Uncertainty (pp. 403-425). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19257-9_16
Chen, T., Liu, C., & Xu, X. (2022). Coordination of perishable product supply chains with a joint contract under yield and demand uncertainty. Sustainability, 14(19), 12658. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912658
Chlebicka, A. (2024). Solutions for overcoming information asymmetry and enhancing trust in supply chains. In Trust and Supply Chains (pp. 86-107). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032633725-6
Chung, Y. T., & Erhun, F. (2013). Designing supply contracts for perishable goods with two periods of shelf life. IIE Transactions, 45(1), 53-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/0740817X.2012.654847
Doganoglu, T., & Inceoglu, F. (2020). Buy-back contracts to solve upstream opportunism. European Journal of Operational Research, 287(3), 875-884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2020.05.021
Dubey, V. K. (2024). A comprehensive theoretical framework for sustainable network contracts: Contracting dimensions and contract classification. Heliyon, 10(1), e23622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23622
Emmons, H., & Gilbert, S. M. (1998). The role of returns policies in pricing and inventory decisions for catalogue goods. Management Science, 44(2), 276-283. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.44.2.276
Fang, X. (2018). Analysis of double marginalization effect on the wholesale price contract coordination. Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, 35(2), 1840005. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217595918400055
Geng, Q. (2025). Selling on a marketplace with deceptive counterfeits: Agency or wholesale? International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 18(1), 54-86. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJISM.2025.147728
Ghaffari-Hadigheh, A., & Mongeri, N. (2024). Supply chain coordination with wholesale contract in an uncertain environment. Journal of Industrial Engineering International, 5(4), 1.
Glasmeier, A. K., & Kibler, J. (1996). Power shift: The rising control of distributors and retailers in the supply chain for manufactured goods. Urban Geography, 17(8), 740-757. https://doi.org/10.2747/0272-3638.17.8.740
Govindan, K., Popiuc, M. N., & Diabat, A. (2013). Overview of coordination contracts within forward and reverse supply chains. Journal of Cleaner Production, 47, 319-334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.02.001
Hariga, M., Ben-Daya, M., As'ad, R., & Saihi, A. (2025). Coordination of closed loop supply chains through buyback contract. Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, 26(3), 271-291. https://doi.org/10.1080/16258312.2023.2204992
He, Y., & Zhao, X. (2012). Coordination in multi-echelon supply chain under supply and demand uncertainty. International Journal of Production Economics, 139(1), 106-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2011.04.021
He, Y., & Zhao, X. (2016). Contracts and coordination: Supply chains with uncertain demand and supply. Naval Research Logistics, 63(4), 305-319. https://doi.org/10.1002/nav.21695
He, Y., Zhao, X., Zhao, L., & He, J. (2009). Coordinating a supply chain with effort and price dependent stochastic demand. Applied Mathematical Modelling, 33(6), 2777-2790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2008.08.016
Höhn, M. I. (2009). Literature review on supply chain contracts. In Relational Supply Contracts: Optimal Concessions in Return Policies for Continuous Quality Improvements (pp. 19-34). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02791-8_2
Hojjatimanesh, F., & Mahmoodi, A. (2025). Information sharing decisions in a Manufacturer-Stackelberg supply chain under different contracts. Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 17(2), 166-195.
Hosseini-Motlagh, S. M., Nouri-Harzvili, M., & Zirakpourdehkordi, R. (2019). Two-level supply chain quality improvement through a wholesale price coordination contract on pricing, quality and services. International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research, 30(3), 287-312.
Hu, B., Meng, C., Xu, D., & Son, Y. J. (2018). Supply chain coordination under vendor managed inventory-consignment stocking contracts with wholesale price constraint and fairness. International Journal of Production Economics, 202, 21-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.05.009
Hu, S., Dai, Y., Ma, Z. J., & Ye, Y. S. (2016). Designing contracts for a reverse supply chain with strategic recycling behavior of consumers. International Journal of Production Economics, 180, 16-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.06.015
Hu, S., Liu, L., & Liu, X. (2024). Wholesale price contract or mixed wholesale-option-contract? Procurement strategy for a contract farming supply chain under flexible supply. Sustainability, 16(10), 4029. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16104029
Hwang, W., Bakshi, N., & DeMiguel, V. (2018). Wholesale price contracts for reliable supply. Production and Operations Management, 27(6), 1021-1037. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12848
Jammernegg, W., Kischka, P., & Silbermayr, L. (2025). Supply chain coordination with a wholesale price contract for behavioral decision-makers. European Journal of Operational Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.06.029
Ji, C., & Liu, X. (2022). Design of risk sharing and coordination mechanism in supply chain under demand and supply uncertainty. Rairo - Operations Research, 56(1), 123-143. https://doi.org/10.1051/ro/2021186
Jiang, Z. Z., Lu, Z., & Wang, Z. (2025). The impact of contract types on carbon-capped food supply chains: Options versus wholesale. International Journal of Production Research, 1-30.
Kanda, A., & Deshmukh, S. G. (2008). Supply chain coordination: Perspectives, empirical studies and research directions. International Journal of Production Economics, 115(2), 316-335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2008.05.011
Ketokivi, M., & Mahoney, J. T. (2020). Transaction cost economics as a theory of supply chain efficiency. Production and Operations Management, 29(4), 1011-1031. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13148
Krapp, M., & Kraus, J. B. (2019). Coordination contracts for reverse supply chains: A state-of-the-art review. Journal of Business Economics, 89, 747-792. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-017-0887-z
Lariviere, M. A. (1999). Supply chain contracting and coordination with stochastic demand. In Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management (pp. 233-268). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4949-9_8
Lewis, M. A., & Roehrich, J. K. (2009). Contracts, relationships and integration: Towards a model of the procurement of complex performance. International Journal of Procurement Management, 2(2), 125-142. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPM.2009.023403
Li, G., Fan, H., Lee, P. K., & Cheng, T. C. (2015). Joint supply chain risk management: An agency and collaboration perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 164, 83-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2015.02.021
Li, J., Luo, X., Wang, Q., & Zhou, W. (2021). Supply chain coordination through capacity reservation contract and quantity flexibility contract. Omega, 99, 102195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2020.102195
Liu, K., Li, Q., Zhang, H., & Dong, Z. (2025). Trade-in strategies in closed-loop supply chain when considering manufacturer entrustment behavior and wholesale price contract. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 76(2), 210-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2024.2338845
Liu, Y. (2015). Buy-back and revenue-sharing contracts in global supply chain. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 8(4), 447-464. https://doi.org/10.3926/jiem.1391
Luo, C., Tian, X., Mao, X., & Cai, Q. (2018). Coordinating supply chain with buy-back contracts in the presence of risk aversion. Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, 35(2), 1840008. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217595918400080
Meng, Q., Li, Z., Liu, H., & Chen, J. (2017). Agent-based simulation of competitive performance for supply chains based on combined contracts. International Journal of Production Economics, 193, 663-676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.08.031
Milner, J. M., & Rosenblatt, M. J. (2002). Flexible supply contracts for short life-cycle goods: The buyer's perspective. Naval Research Logistics, 49(1), 25-45. https://doi.org/10.1002/nav.10002
Momeni, M. A., Jain, V., Govindan, K., Mostofi, A., & Fazel, S. J. (2022). A novel buy-back contract coordination mechanism for a manufacturer-retailer circular supply chain regenerating expired products. Journal of Cleaner Production, 375, 133319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133319
Nakhaeinejad, M., Dehghan, A., & Vaziri, N. S. (2025). Developing a supply chain coordination model through a revised revenue sharing contract: Incorporating sales efforts and green quality considerations. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering, 13(1), 102-121. https://doi.org/10.4995/ijpme.2025.20402
Nouri, M., Hosseini-Motlagh, S. M., Nematollahi, M., & Sarker, B. R. (2018). Coordinating manufacturer's innovation and retailer's promotion and replenishment using a compensation-based wholesale price contract. International Journal of Production Economics, 198, 11-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2018.01.023
Nzuva, S. M. (2019). Smart contracts implementation, applications, benefits, and limitations. Journal of Information Engineering and Applications.
Panjehfouladgaran, H., & Lim, S. F. (2020). Reverse logistics risk management: Identification, clustering and risk mitigation strategies. Management Decision, 58(7), 1449-1474. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-01-2018-0010
Pasternack, B. A. (1985). Optimal pricing and return policies for perishable commodities. Marketing Science, 4(2), 166-176. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.4.2.166
Ren, F., & Hu, B. (2024). Decisions and coordination in low-carbon supply chains with a wholesale price constraint under government subsidies. International Journal of Production Economics, 277, 109407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2024.109407
Rius-Sorolla, G., Maheut, J., Estellés-Miguel, S., & Garcia-Sabater, J. P. (2020). Coordination mechanisms with mathematical programming models for decentralized decision-making: A literature review. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 28(1), 61-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10100-018-0594-z
Salami, M. S., Eslamipirharati, M., Bakhshi, A., Aghsami, A., Jolai, F., & Yazdani, M. (2022). Does a buy-back contract coordinate a reverse supply chain facing remanufacturing capacity disruption and returned product quality uncertainty? Sustainability, 14(23), 15939. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315939
Sarkar, S., & Bhala, S. (2021). Coordinating a closed loop supply chain with fairness concern by a constant wholesale price contract. European Journal of Operational Research, 295(1), 140-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2021.02.052
Schiffels, S., & Voigt, G. (2021). Capacity reservation and wholesale price contracts under forecast sharing: A behavioral assessment. Production and Operations Management, 30(10), 3579-3598. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13451
Sharifi, R., Razavi, H., & Elahi, E. (2023). Investigation of the ordering behavior of a retailer in the revenue sharing and buy-back contracts considering round number bias. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 73, 103361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103361
Shekasteband, P., Ahmadirad, M., & Asadzadeh, S. (2024). Wholesale price and buy-back contracts under fairness concerns and asymmetric information: A case study of Kalleh Dairy Company, Khuzestan Province Branch. International Journal of Industrial Engineering: Theory, Applications and Practice, 31(5).
Shi, J., Du, Q., Lin, F., Li, Y., Bai, L., Fung, R. Y., & Lai, K. K. (2020). Coordinating the supply chain finance system with buy-back contract: A capital-constrained newsvendor problem. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 146, 106587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2020.106587
Smith, R., & Hawkins, B. (2004). Lean maintenance: Reduce costs, improve quality, and increase market share. Elsevier.
Song, C. J., Xu, B. J., & Xu, L. (2023). Dual-channel supply chain pricing decisions for low-carbon consumers: A review. Journal of intelligent management decision, 2(2), 57-65. https://doi.org/10.56578/jimd020202
Toyasaki, F., Wakolbinger, T., & Kettinger, W. J. (2013). The value of information systems for product recovery management. International Journal of Production Research, 51(4), 1214-1235. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2012.695090
Tsay, A. A., Nahmias, S., & Agrawal, N. (1999). Modeling supply chain contracts: A review. In Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management (pp. 299-336). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4949-9_10
Tseng, M. L., Chiang, J. H., & Lan, L. W. (2009). Selection of optimal supplier in supply chain management strategy with analytic network process and Choquet integral. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 57(1), 330-340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2008.12.001
Vipin, B., & Amit, R. K. (2021). Wholesale price versus buy-back: A comparison of contracts in a supply chain with a behavioral retailer. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 162, 107689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2021.107689
Vivaldini, M., & Carli, E. (2025). Behavioral intelligence in supply chains: Review, reflection and recommendations for future research. Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 18(3), 367-378. https://doi.org/10.31387/oscm0620479
Vosooghidizaji, M., Taghipour, A., & Canel-Depitre, B. (2020). Supply chain coordination under information asymmetry: A review. International Journal of Production Research, 58(6), 1805-1834. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1685702
Wang, C., Chen, J., Wang, L., & Luo, J. (2020). Supply chain coordination with put option contracts and customer returns. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 71(6), 1003-1019. https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2019.1599703
Wang, D., Wang, Z., Zhang, B., & Zhu, L. (2022). Vendor-managed inventory supply chain coordination based on commitment-penalty contracts with bilateral asymmetric information. Enterprise Information Systems, 16(3), 508-525. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2020.1827300
Wang, J., Fan, X., & Zhang, T. (2021). Behaviour-based pricing and wholesaling contracting under supply chain competition. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 72(9), 1943-1959. https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2020.1750310
Wang, X., & Yin, F. (2025). Supply chain coordination with buyback contract under uncertain demand and salvage value differentiation environments. Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making, 24(3), 563-588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10700-025-09457-x
Wu, D. (2013). Coordination of competing supply chains with news-vendor and buy-back contract. International Journal of Production Economics, 144(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2011.11.032
Xie, X., Zhang, F., Liu, L., Yang, Y., & Hu, X. (2023). Assessment of associated credit risk in the supply chain based on trade credit risk contagion. PLoS One, 18(2), e0281616. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281616
Xin, C., Chen, X., Chen, H., Chen, S., & Zhang, M. (2020). Green product supply chain coordination under demand uncertainty. IEEE Access, 8, 25877-25891. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2963944
Xu, M., Bao, W., & Yang, D. (2025). Behavior-based pricing and wholesale contracting in competing supply chains with informative advertising. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 76(6), 1140-1155. https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2024.2415129
Yan, X. (2025). Coordination of the supply chain with quality improvement and customer returns. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 203, 111057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cie.2025.111057
Yang, H., Cao, E., Lu, K. J., & Zhang, G. (2017). Optimal contract design for dual-channel supply chains under information asymmetry. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32(8), 1087-1097. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-01-2016-0007
Yin, L., & Xu, Q. (2011). Combined contract of buyback and pricing flexibility to coordinating supply chain under price updating. In International Conference on Computer Science and Information Engineering (pp. 73-79). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21411-0_12
Yoon, S. W., & Jeong, S. J. (2016). Implementing coordinative contracts between manufacturer and retailer in a reverse supply chain. Sustainability, 8(9), 913. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090913
Yu, H., Yang, W., Xu, N., & Du, Y. (2023). Advertising strategy and contract coordination for a supply chain system: Immediate and delayed effects. Kybernetes, 52(1), 235-261. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-03-2021-0185
Yue, X., & Raghunathan, S. (2007). The impacts of the full returns policy on a supply chain with information asymmetry. European Journal of Operational Research, 180(2), 630-647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2006.04.032
Zhang, C., & Wu, J. (2025). Wholesale price confidentiality under demand uncertainty in competing supply chains. International Journal of Production Economics, 109804. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109804
Zhang, J., Sethi, S. P., Choi, T. M., & Cheng, T. C. (2022). Pareto optimality and contract dependence in supply chain coordination with risk-averse agents. Production and Operations Management, 31(6), 2557-2570. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13701
Zhang, S., Tong, X., & Jin, X. (2023). Contract design and comparison under the opportunity cost of working capital: Buy-back vs. revenue sharing. European Journal of Operational Research, 309(2), 845-856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2023.01.051
Zhang, Y., Yu, P., & Feng, T. (2024). Full quantity or full credit? Choosing the right buyback policy for a behavioral retailer. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 26(6), 2212-2230. https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.0574
Zhao, H., Song, S., Zhang, Y., Gupta, J. N., Devlin, A. G., & Chiong, R. (2019). Supply chain coordination with a risk-averse retailer and a combined buy-back and revenue sharing contract. Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, 36(5), 1950028. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217595919500283
Zhou, Y., Liu, J., & Wu, X. (2022). How to implement the wholesale price contract: Considering competition between supply chains. Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering, 31(2), 150-173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-022-5522-z
Zhu, X., Song, Y., Lin, G., & Xu, W. (2023). Pricing decisions and coordination in E-commerce supply chain with wholesale price contract considering focus preferences. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 18(2), 1041-1068. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer18020053
Downloads
Published
Submitted
Revised
Accepted
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Pooria Shekasteband (Author); Mona Ahmadi rad; Shervin Asadzadeh (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

