Sequential vs simultaneous pricing in two-echelon service-dominant supply chains

Service-dominant (S-D) supply chains contain multiple independent companies, each of which is responsible for one part of the entire service and sets the price of its service according to its own objective. This paper studies a two-echelon S-D chain and compares the performance of different pricing processes - sequential price-setting (Stackelberg equilibrium) and simultaneous price-setting processes (Nash equilibrium). The main finding indicates that the performance of simultaneous pricing scheme is close to the centralized pricing and better than sequential pricing scheme. Furthermore, the pricing decisions of the firms on the S-D chain interact with each other to guarantee the demand of the end customers.