Forms of Interaction of Participants in Supply Chains: Full Integration Versus Autonomous Functioning

Abstract

The restoration of the production and economic potential of Russian enterprises in the conditions of an economic war necessitates the search for the most effective forms of organizing the activities of firms in supply chains, which make it possible to increase their degree of competitiveness in the markets. The urgency of this task has increased in the context of diplomatic isolation and the imposition of economic sanctions that have affected the collapse of the main technological and logistics chains. In these circumstances, the need to understand which industry structure will give the largest increment in production volumes and the lowest prices while maintaining the stability of supply chains is of particular importance. The purpose of the study is to determine the principles and optimal forms of organizing the activities of firms in supply chains from the standpoint of market efficiency and profitability of the participants themselves. The set goal predetermined the solution of the following tasks: a comparative analysis of two options for the interaction of chain participants was carried out – autonomous functioning and full vertical integration; the model of contractual relations of firms is identified, which allows them to receive maximum profit; the most attractive variant of the chain organization from the position of the consumer (output volumes and prices) was determined; an economic-mathematical model has been developed for calculating the optimal parameters of activity in the supply chain of an industrial enterprise for two opposite models of firms’ behavior. The methodological basis of the study is a synthesis of theoretical, methodological and applied research of foreign and domestic specialists in the field of supply chain management theory, as well as the theory of industry markets. The scientific novelty of the study is a methodical approach to considering the supply chain as a system oriented to the market function of demand, i.e. the activities of all participants in the chain are set up to produce and sell such a volume of goods for which demand is presented. The article proposes a formal model that allows one to analyze the incentives for vertical integration and evaluate the results of alternative strategies for the behavior of firms in the supply chain.