Collaborative green technology investment and production delivery policy for a dual-channel supply chain under centralized decision making

Abstract

The growing demand for environmentally responsible products has challenged dual-channel retailing and necessitates innovative policies that align economic and environmental objectives. This study introduces a coordinated production–delivery framework that optimizes green technology integration and pricing decisions to enhance supply chain profitability in a dual-channel setting. We consider a manufacturer that implements smart production and invests in greenhouse gas emissions reduction technology (GERT), while the retailer employs information disclosure technology (IDT) to share real-time information bilaterally. We demonstrate that in a decentralized setting with information asymmetry, consumer prices rise and supply chain profits decline owing to an intensified bullwhip-effect. Conversely, a centralized approach with bilateral information sharing and GERT–IDT investment delivers a win–win outcome, reducing online prices by 16.16% and offline prices by 25.67% while increasing demand by 2.16%, in support of SDG 12. Owing to the mixed-integer nonlinear nature of the integrated profit-optimization problem, a hybrid analytic–metaheuristic solution approach is applied, which reduces the bullwhip-effect by 15.62% and increases profit by 1.73%. Sensitivity analyses reveal that transparent information sharing and green investment yield economic savings of up to 20% by minimizing overproduction and inventory costs. The analysis further indicates that, without technology integration, coordination offers only marginal profit improvement.