Article
Research on Supplier Collaboration of Daily Consumer Goods
under Uncertainty of Supply and Demand
Tianwen Song, Qiang Zhang, Junmu Ran and Wenxue Ran *
Citation: Song, T.; Zhang, Q.; Ran, J.;
Ran, W. Research on Supplier
Collaboration of Daily Consumer
Goods under Uncertainty of Supply
and Demand. Sustainability 2021, 13,
5683. https://doi.org/10.3390/
su13105683
Academic Editor: João Carlos de
Oliveira Matias
Received: 19 April 2021
Accepted: 17 May 2021
Published: 19 May 2021
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Logistics School, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming 650221, China;
13924592463@163.com (T.S.); RANJunmu@163.com (J.R.)
* Correspondence: ranwxa@ynufe.edu.cn; Tel.: +86-13608846581
Abstract:
This paper establishes the decentralized decision-making model of consumer goods, the
active collaboration model of consumer goods suppliers, and the decentralized decision-making
model of customized consumer goods. Through formula derivation and simulation, the benefit and
influence differences of the three modes are compared. This paper studies the influence of supplier’s
active collaboration on the supply and demand instability of consumer goods and discusses the ideal
value of supply chain inventory control. In China’s modern circular economy, the inventory control
of the consumer goods supply chain is unscientific and nonstandard. We discuss a new inventory
control method and study the ideal value of supply chain inventory control. It helps reduce the
inventory shortage loss caused by the uncertainty of daily consumer goods, improve the efficiency of
the supply chain, enhance the liquidity of supply chain inventory to achieve the purpose of increasing
economic value. It has reference value for the inventory control of consumer goods in other countries
and regions. The results show that under certain conditions, the horizontal collaboration between
suppliers can improve the completeness of consumer goods. The collaboration between suppliers
can reduce the hidden dangers caused by the uncertainty of supply and demand and significantly
reduce the total inventory cost of manufacturers and improve profits.
Keywords:
daily consumer goods; uncertain supply; supplier collaboration; horizontal collaboration;
inventory cost
1. Introduction
With the improvement of people’s living standards and the increasing consumption
power, the consumer goods industry has also maintained steady or rapid development.
At the same time, the large population base and stable growth provide a vast consumer
group for the consumer goods industry. Although the consumer goods industry has a vast
market space, it is still facing fierce market competition. It has become an essential factor
for industry enterprises to maintain core competitive advantage, meet the diversified needs
of consumers with low price and high quality, and realize differentiated competition.
Consumer goods have low prices, a high frequency of use, and rich functions, which
can meet the increasingly diverse needs of consumers. However, consumer demand is
affected by many factors, such as consumer preference, income, commodity price fluc-
tuation, brand effect, etc. Irresistible natural disasters will also lead to the shortage or
interruption of the supply of consumer goods. For example, with the spread of the global
pandemic, most mask suppliers lack production capacity, and there is a severe shortage of
masks in the market. In some areas, masks are out of stock or prices are soaring, resulting
in an imbalance between supply and demand. Due to the influence of some uncertain
factors, some consumer goods are unsalable or out of stock, which will not only increase
the inventory holding cost and out-of-stock cost of production enterprises based on spe-
cific common consumer goods, but also lead to the basic needs of consumers cannot be
guaranteed. Due to the uncertainty of the supply and demand of consumer goods having
a significant impact on the decision-making of the core manufacturers in the supply chain,
Sustainability 2021, 13, 5683. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105683 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
