Preserving relational contract stability of fresh agricultural product supply chains

Abstract

Since agricultural cooperatives have developed rapidly under the farmland transfer policy in China, they play an important role in the new operation pattern for China's fresh agricultural product supply chains. To enhance current agricultural supply chains' stability, we consider a three-level (farmercooperative-retailer) fresh agricultural product supply chain, conduct quantitative analysis of the impact of the quantity flexibility contract, and compare the impact of the relational contract with that of the quantity flexibility contract on the freshness and the profit. Our results show that a suitable relational contract can improve the freshness and increase the profit of the three-level supply chain, but cannot fully guarantee its stability. Furthermore, the government's subsidy policy can improve the relational contract stability of the fresh agricultural product supply chain by providing the protection price contract mechanism of the agricultural product and the cold chain facility subsidy contract.