The impact of three-dimensional printing technology investment on a low-carbon manufacturing supply chain, investigated through the Stackelberg game

This paper investigates three-dimensional printing technology (3DPT) investment strategies promoting low-carbon supply chain development. A theoretical model is built in which either the manufacturer or retailer can lead an investment in 3DPT. The main results are as follows: 1) the manufacturer always benefits from investing in 3DPT and is willing to lead the investment, while the retailer also benefits but is only willing to lead the investment with a large cost coefficient of 3DPT investment; 2) investing in 3DPT always raises consumers' demands and reduces units of carbon emissions. Counterintuitively, implementing 3DPT may decrease the optimal prices and research and development investment (R&D), but increase total carbon emissions; 3) the optimal 3DPT investment is decreasing in terms of cost coefficient (CC); interestingly, CC had positive and negative impacts on wholesale and retail prices.