Assembly supply chain decision-making: Manufacturers' emission reduction strategies under mixed carbon policies

The growing concerns over environmental sustainability have compelled, firms within assembly supply chains to balance cost efficiency with effective carbon emission mitigation. This study examines the optimal emission reduction strategies that manufacturers adopt under a mixed carbon policy regime to maximize their expected returns. By constructing a decision-making model encompassing four scenarios involving manufacturers, assemblers, and consumers, we analyze the influence of consumer demand for low-carbon products, carbon pricing, tax rates, and the costs associated with emission reduction R&D. The results indicate that centralized decision-making yields superior performance relative to decentralized approaches under baseline conditions. Moreover, both decision frameworks reveal that collaborative emission reduction efforts outperform isolated initiatives when the unit cost of joint R&D remains below a critical threshold. Finally, while higher carbon trading prices and carbon tax rates incentivize greater emission reduction efforts, the imposition of carbon taxes may adversely affect economic performance.