Complexity and Control of Multichannel Supply Chain Under Carbon Tax Policy

Considering the trends of the carbon tax and online retail market, a comparative study on the order quantity strategy of supply chain under two carbon tax policies are conducted. A multichannel supply chain model is constructed in this work under the flat carbon tax policy and progressive carbon tax policy. The complexity of the supply chain under the channel heterogeneity expectations is studied. The impacts of consumers’ dual preferences and the free-riding of each channel on the system complexity, profits, carbon emissions and social welfare are explored. This study indicates that the supply chain order quantity system under the two types of carbon tax policies will enter into an unstable state with changes in consumers’ preferences and free-riding parameters. In order to positively impact on the profits of all parties, government revenue, consumer surplus, and the environment, the system should be kept in stable region. Consumers’ preferences and free-riding have more obvious influence on the social welfare under the progressive emission carbon tax policy than the flat carbon tax policy. In contrast to the flat carbon tax policy, the progressive carbon tax policy can delay or even prevent the order quantity system from entering into the bifurcation and chaos area, and the chaos control effect under the progressive carbon tax policy is better. The present work expands the practical application scenarios of complex system theory and thereby has an important theoretical and practical value.