Optimal trade-in and refurbishment strategies for durable goods
研究了制造商在面临策略型消费者时，何时应提供以旧换新和翻新计划，发现利润取决于新产品生产成本的高低。
Many manufacturers in the automobile industry accommodate the huge number of used cars by offering trade-in programs. In addition, some manufacturers have begun considering product refurbishment, a policy that is widely adopted in the electronics industry. Therefore, we are motivated to explore the reasons behind different practices in the automobile industry. We propose an analytical framework to identify when a manufacturer facing strategic consumers should offer trade-in (and refurbishment) programs. For that purpose, we analyze and compare the results of three models: no program, trade-in program only, and trade-in and refurbishment programs. This study establishes that the manufacturer can always increase his profit by improving the quality of new products and reducing the quality depreciation rate. Yet when the manufacturer does not (resp., does) offer a refurbishment program, his profit must (resp., need not) decrease with any increase in the production cost of new products. Finally, the manufacturer prefers to offer (a) trade-in programs only when the production cost of new products is low, (b) both trade-in and refurbishment programs when that cost is moderate, and (c) neither program when the cost to produce new products is high. Our numerical study reveals more management implications for the manufacturer’s preferred decision.