Analysis of coordinating parameters in optimization models of supply chain coordination

The problem of optimal control in a supply chain that includes a supplier and a retailer is considered. The supply chain is presented as a model of interaction between agents, and is formally organized in the form of a supply contract. Based on the analysis of various types of contracts used in economic practice, the article obtained the following new scientific results. The concept of supply chain coordination has been formed, which defines the step-by-step process of establishing contractual relations between the supplier and the retailer based on the existence of vertical market connections of these agents through their integration and coordination of their interactions. The fundamental properties of the vertical “supplier-retailer” system are identified, which explain the need for a compromise choice of coordinating contract parameters that affect the utility functions of both the supplier and the retailer. Various types of supply contracts are formalized, the models of which are presented in the form of systems of utility functions of the participants in these relations, on the basis of which a set of coordinating parameters is determined. It is shown that the range of values of the coordinating parameters forms a Pareto set. A classification of contract optimization models with a different number and set of coordinating parameters is presented, on the basis of which a hierarchy of complication of optimization models is formed, corresponding to the degree of approximation of the models to the real processes of economic interactions in the «supplier-retailer» system. This lays the methodological basis for creating a generalized model of supply chain management, which makes it possible to develop methods for optimizing management in such chains on a unified formal basis.