The Effect of Acceptance Sampling and Risk Aversion on the Quality Delivered by Suppliers
用数值方法研究风险规避型供应商如何响应客户的验收抽样计划，发现风险规避会促使供应商提高交付质量，且客户即使无统计理由也有经济动机采用验收抽样。
Firms often use acceptance sampling to monitor the quality of the raw materials and components delivered by suppliers. In this paper, we use numerical methods to examine how a risk averse supplier reacts to the acceptance sampling plan used by a customer. We assume that the supplier produces and delivers a quality level that maximizes the supplier's expected utility. We examine the sensitivity of the optimal delivered quality to changes in the price, to changes in the supplier's level of risk aversion, and to changes in the parameters of the customer's sampling plan. We conclude that risk averse suppliers deliver higher quality, that higher capability suppliers do not necessarily deliver higher quality, and that the optimal quality is sensitive to the lot size. We also conclude that since the risk of rejection motivates suppliers to improve quality, customers have an economic justification for using acceptance sampling even when there is no statistical justification.