Decarbonization investment in a supply chain with a retail platform based on blockchain technology

This study considers a manufacturer that invests in decarbonization and sells a product to consumers through a direct channel and an online retail platform. The platform decides to operate in either an agency selling or a reselling mode, and apply blockchain technology to improve its performance. The selected selling mode determines the market power wielded by the platform and the manufacturer. A five-stage game is constructed to examine the interplay between the manufacturer's decarbonized investment decision and the platform's decisions on blockchain application and selling mode selection. Results imply that the retail platform benefits from the manufacturer's investment while the latter gains from the former's blockchain application hinge on its selling mode selection. Specifically, the manufacturer benefits from blockchain application in an agency mode but is disadvantaged under a reselling mode. Besides, the blockchain application and the manufacturer's investment have diametrically opposing influences on the platform's selling mode selection. As the efficiency of the manufacturer's investment increases, blockchain application becomes more favorable to the platform, particularly in a reselling mode. Furthermore, applying blockchain is not always conducive to social welfare, but the platform can increase the utility of blockchain application to consumers or reduce the commission rate to improve social welfare. Finally, switching the order of decarbonization investment and blockchain application does not affect their optimal operational decisions.