Closed-loop supply chain network equilibrium under legislation

This paper expands previous work dealing with oligopolistic supply chains to the field of closed-loop supply chains. The model presented has been formulated with the intent of examining issues surrounding the recent European Union directive regarding waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). The network modelled consists of manufacturers and consumer markets engaged in a Cournot pricing game with perfect information. Closed-loop supply chain network equilibrium occurs when all players agree on volumes shipped and prices charged. Certain properties of the model are examined analytically. Numeric examples are included and have been solved using an extragradient method with constant step size. The equilibrium solution obtained provide interesting insights that lead into a number of areas for future research. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.