Evolution of the Behavioural Strategies of Stakeholders in Green Supply within Government Compensation Mechanisms

Abstract

Since economic development and environmental protection constitute a multidimensional and complex interaction process, government regulatory mechanisms, as policy tools for green development, have become significant means for environmental conservation. The motivation of this paper is to reveal the government’s promotion mechanism for the green development of the supply chain. To achieve this objective, an evolutionary game model (EGM) method is applied in this paper. The specific steps of this method include the following: a unified theoretical analysis framework was first developed in which integrated suppliers (ISs), government agencies (GAs), and financial institutions (FIs) were integrated into the EGM. Second, on the basis of dynamic evolution and differential equations, the evolution and stabilisation strategies of the stakeholders were examined separately. Finally, adopting a supply chain that includes ISs, GAs, and FIs as a case study, stability strategies under changes in various parameters were investigated. The research results indicated that the behavioural strategies of GAs could serve as a weathervane for ISs and FIs. Within a certain range, government compensation mechanisms could positively impact product R&D, as well as IS green development, while the government subsidy phase-out system could be more suitable at the maturity stage. The contribution of this paper is to provide methodological support for the operational decision-making of GAs, FIs, and ISs.