Xiao-Qi Sheng, Jun Shao
Online reviews are one of the main channels for consumers to obtain product information when they make online purchases. To well describe and analyze the influence of online reviews and different power structures on the online dual channel supply chain consisting of a platform and a manufacturer, we construct some basic models considering online reviews and different power structures, and exploit them to explore the optimal decisions under different power structures and analyze the influence of online reviews on the supply chain. The results indicate that (1) the manufacturer is always constrained by decisions, and the constraints on the manufacturer are minimized only when the manufacturer is dominant; (2) online reviews play an important role in increasing the price of the product and expanding the demand of the market; and (3) the supply chain members can gain the highest profit under a single dominant position, but the lowest profit under the same level of power under the influence of the online reviews.