Sales effort and pricing decisions for closed-loop supply chain with corporate social responsibility

To study the sales effort and pricing decisions for closed-loop supply chain with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the influence of CSR behavior on pricing strategies was researched when the retailer and manufacturer were responsible for sales effort, respectively. It showed that whether retailer or manufacturer was responsible for sales effort, the manufacturer's CSR behavior was beneficial to increase the social welfare, the profits of retailer, third-party and whole systems. The manufacturer's pure profit was greater than the retailer when manufacturer undertook less CSR, the retailer's profit would exceed the manufacturer on the contrary, and the profit of third-party was always the smallest. The social welfare and the profits of closed-loop supply chain members and whole systems were greater under the retailer was responsible for sales effort when manufacturer undertook CSR. Moreover, the recycling rate and the profits of third-party and whole systems were greater under the retailer was responsible for CSR when retailer was responsible for sales effort. © 2020, Editorial Department of CIMS. All right reserved.