Research of Return Supply Chain Supernetwork Model Based on Variational Inequalities

In this paper, we present a return supply chain super- network model, which consists of
m
manufacturers,
n
distributors, and
o
markets. Manufacturers are assumed to produce homogeneous products; the distributors can return exceed products to manufacturers and the consumers may purchase the products from the distributors according to their economic status. In the model, the members of the supply chain compete within a tier and cooperate between tiers to optimize the whole supply chain. Hereon this base, the optimality conditions for the manufacturers, distributors and the consumers are established respectively using the variational inequalities. Then we describe the optimization situation for the supply chain supernetwork model and get the stationary points for this situation. An example is illustrated to validate the utility of the supply chain supernetwork model in the last part.