Dynamic Adjustment Mechanism and Differential Game Model Construction of Mask Emergency Supply Chain Cooperation Based on COVID-19 Outbreak

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper focuses on mask emergency supply chain design by using game theory approaches. The paper reads nicely. The methodology is sound. Yet there are some required changes;

Comments on writing of the manuscript:

1) Section 3 line 210-217 is taken from template seemingly. It needs to be deleted.

2) Line 580-582 seems to be wrongly written, figures present impact of alpha and mu on production. It is written the way around. Line 586-591 can be rewritten to improve readability.

3) Delete many 0s at the end of sentences (e.g. line 156)

Comments on results:

1) Line 596 claims that an increasing mask production investment cost negatively impacts and decreases mask production capacity. This sounds odd and not accurate. It need better explanation and reasoning.

2) Epsilon and gamma is only tested in the case of joint contract in figure 5 and 6. Why do authors omit the decentralised case?

3) Line 634, authors claim "Therefore, government subsidies can assist in supply chain coordination", but I cannot see any relationship with the sentence before. It needs better reasoning.

4) Section 5.3. is not well explained. Figure 12 should be better explained.

5) A sensitivity analysis on numerical analysis parameters (line 566-567) might be required.

Comments on literature review;

1) Literature review can be enhanced by noting collaborative problems from other supply chain examples. Please note that collaboration is commonly used in many logisitcs networks and give/cite following examples

-- Collaborative logistics from the perspective of road transportation companies. Transport Reviews, 33(6), pp.700-719.

-- The multi-port berth allocation problem with speed optimization and emission considerations. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 54, pp.142-159.

-- Mechanism design for collaborative production-distribution planning with shipment consolidation. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 106, pp.137-159.

-- Flexible ship loading problem with transfer vehicle assignment and scheduling. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 111, pp.113-134.

2) Literature review can be enhanced on COVID-19 relevant supply chain problems and cite following studies;

-- Game theory to enhance stock management of personal protective equipment (PPE) supply during the COVID-19 outbreak. arXiv preprint arXiv:2009.11838.

-- Optimising the assignment of swabs and reagents for PCR testing during a viral epidemic

 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

In the presented article, the authors took up a very important and current topic related to the partnership in the supply chain of masks, necessary during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study is based on a good literature review. The authors indicated a gap in the research on the possibility of using decision-making games in the production of articles necessary in the fight against a pandemic. The authors focus mainly on the analysis of the impact of contractual cooperation on the production process of face masks and the effects of supply chain coordination. At the same time, they indicate the importance of government subsidies in the development of cooperation. The key drawback of the study is the failure to take into account the relationship between demand, supply and price. The authors themselves consider this a significant limitation. One should consider whether not taking into account these factors makes the model useless? This requires justification. Even in epidemic emergency situations, the market regulates supply and demand. Moreover, public health is an overarching category, and government subsidies are a significant stimulator of production and cooperation processes. Thanks to subsidies, interested entities can achieve a competitive advantage. The question then arises, what would be the willingness of suppliers and producers to cooperate in the absence of government support? It is a pity that the authors did not analyze such a situation. This is because government support may constitute an element of speculation and increased interest in the production of products helpful in combating the pandemic, but not having the appropriate potentials and competences.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper has been significantly improved from previous round. The paper will be ready to be published after a very minor revision which is mainly about small rewrites, corrections and additions.

• Line 15, "and supply chain system effectively increase", this seems problematic. What do you mean by supply chain increase? It needs better rewrite.
• Red numbers at the end of each in-text citation can be in brackets, e.g. [11].
• Line 181, "In addition, Some scholars" could be "In addition, some scholars"
• Line 484, "It is indicated that for the mask sale ? price is higher in the decentralized decision scenario than that in the centralized decision scenario for any given ? from Theorem 1 and Theorem 2" is badly written. It needs a rewrite.
• Line 607, "The production technology investment efforts of Supplier and Manufacturer, " this seems no proper sentence. This should be carefully rewritten.
• Line 619, decreased
• Line 630, in the case..
• Line 633, change "have all been mentioned" to ""tend to"
• Line 643, "joint contract can achieve Pareto improvements." I missed why it is pareto?
• Line 705, "we can obtain " to "we obtain"
• Line 712-724 should not be italic.
• Line 831, you can add shipment planning for valuable items as a future research direction as in "Cold chain shipping mode choice with environmental and financial perspectives". 
• Some equations seem to be changed please check that all are accurate before publication.

Author Response

Thank you for the reviewer’s comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Adjustment Mechanism and Differential Game Model Construction

of Mask Emergency Supply Chain Cooperation Based on COVID-19 Outbreak” (ID: sustainability-1076236). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper and use the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer’s comments are as follows:

 

We apologize for our negligence and incorrect writing.

Point 1:Line 15, "and supply chain system effectively increase", this seems problematic. What do you mean by supply chain increase? It needs better rewrite.

Response 1: We have changed into “A relatively low wholesale price can effectively increase the profits of supply chain members and supply chain system.” in Line 14-15.

 

Point2:Red numbers at the end of each in-text citation can be in brackets, e.g. [11].

Response 2: We have checked the paper and have put the numbers at the end of each in-text citation in brackets.

 

Point 3:Line 181, "In addition, Some scholars" could be "In addition, some scholars"

Response 3: We are very sorry for our negligence and we have changed into the lowercase letter in Line 181.

 

Point 4:Line 484, "It is indicated that for the mask sale ? price is higher in the decentralized decision scenario than that in the centralized decision scenario for any given ? from Theorem 1 and Theorem 2" is badly written. It needs a rewrite.

Response 4: We have changed into “It is indicated that the mask sale price ? is constantly greater in the decentralized decision scenario than in the centralized decision scenario regardless of the price ?.” In Line 483-484.

 

Point 5:Line 607, "The production technology investment efforts of Supplier and Manufacturer, " this seems no proper sentence. This should be carefully rewritten.

Response 5: We have changed into “The production technology investment efforts, the mask production and product demand under the joint contract decision scenario have reached the level of centralized decision scenario.” in Line 604-606.

 

Point 6:Line 619, decreased

Response 6: We have changed de-creased to decreased in Line 617.

 

Point 7:Line 630, in the case..

Response 7: We have changed “In the case” to “in the case” in Line 628.

 

Point 8:Line 633, change "have all been mentioned" to ""tend to"

Response 8: We are very sorry for our negligence and we have changed “have all been mentioned” to “tend to” in Line 635.

 

Point 9:Line 643, "joint contract can achieve Pareto improvements." I missed why it is pareto?

Response 9: We have changed into “the joint contract achieve supply chain coordination.” in Line 639-640.

 

Point 10:Line 705, "we can obtain " to "we obtain"

Response 10: We have changed “we can obtain” to “we obtain” in Line 702.

 

Point 11:Line 712-724 should not be italic.

Response 11: We have changed into normal font.

 

Point 12:Line 831, you can add shipment planning for valuable items as a future research direction as in "Cold chain shipping mode choice with environmental and financial perspectives". 

Response 12: We have added “Additionally, considering the particularity of emergency medical supplies, choosing a cold chain transportation mode from an environmental and financial perspective may be a future research direction.” in Line 830-832.

 

Some equations seem to be changed please check that all are accurate before publication.

We have rederived all equations to ensure their accuracy.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf