線上零售商的運輸服務競爭模型

Abstract

因為無人機的技術日漸成熟，線上零售商須面臨是否要繼續與傳統貨運業者合作或投資無人機運輸，來運送消費者所購買的商品的抉擇。因此，在本篇論文中，我們提出一個雙頭壟斷的競爭模型，幫助線上零售商決定是否要開發無人機運輸服務。我們的模型能找出各個策略最有利的區域，當兩家線上零售商有相同的基本效用時，最佳的策略是同時採用或同時不採用無人機運輸服務，有趣的是，在這個情境下，並不會出現只有其中一家提供無人機運輸服務的策略；除此之外，在某些情境下，兩家線上零售商會陷入囚犯困境而使獲利下降。而當其中一家線上零售商有較高的基本效用時，則會出現只有其中一家提供無人機運輸服務的策略。本研究成果可提供線上零售商一些有價值的見解，並幫助他們根據市場情況擬定最佳的運輸策略。

With the advance of drone technology, online retailers may need to decide if they should keep cooperating with courier delivery providers or invest in drones for delivering their packages. Therefore, in this thesis, we propose a stylized model to help online retailers decide if they should deploy drone delivery services in duopoly market. The results show that our proposed model can find the optimal region for each strategy. When both online retailers have the same base utility, they are better off providing or not providing drone delivery services simultaneously. Interestingly, there is no room for just one retailer to provide drone delivery services. Also, both online retailers may confront prisoner’s dilemma and earn less profit in some conditions. However, it becomes feasible for just one retailer to provide drone delivery services when an online retailer has a higher base utility. Our analytical results can provide some valuable insights of delivery services for online retailers and help them formulate effective strategies for different market circumstances.