7 Conclusions
1) Liability period has an important impact on the supplier’s optimal decision and the total cost. With the increase of the liability period, the manufacturer’s total cost has been reduced and service level drops quickly though components inventory cost is transferred to the supplier.
2) Components inventory lower bound I also affects the level of service significantly. When components inventory lower bound I increases, the increasing rate of the supplier’s cost is smaller than that with T, and the service levels boost with the increase of I. Therefore, as for the manufacturer, after liability period is determined by consultations and power game between the supplier and manufacturer, a reasonable decision of components inventory lower bound can be obtained by our study to ensure service level of components supply. And there are still some important issues which need further research in the future, such as expanding the number of suppliers of the supply-hub, setting different liability periods in
different occasions, and so on.