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Packaging has become an important concern of fresh food supply chains and will exert a growing influence under environmental policies. In this paper, we have discussed three specific issues to investigate fresh food supply chains' packaging strategy, that is, whether to use disposable packaging containers (DPCs) or reusable packaging containers (RPCs), whether to purchase or rent RPCs, and the influences of environmental policies. Our research has generated some key findings. First, we find that penalty (such as taxes) and reward (such as subsidies) are simultaneously needed to motivate supply chains to choose RPCs. In terms of the "purchasing or renting" choice, it highly depends on the relative magnitude of the purchase and rental subsidies, along with the number of uses of RPCs and the perishability of fresh food. We also conclude that reusing RPCs for more times has two‐sided effects, that is, the effect of cost saving and the effect of accelerated deterioration. Thus, it is not recommended to excessively reuse RPCs. In addition, we make two extensions. First, we consider endogenous tax rate and subsidy rates and discuss from the perspective of social welfare. Second, we consider endogenous sales price and rental price of RPCs and study the optimal decisions of the RPC operator. Results show that the government should establish a classified tax and subsidy system for packaging containers, and meanwhile benchmarking prices for RPC services should be set to curb the RPC operator's free‐riding behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold chains play an important role in reducing food spoilage, attracting food safety sensitive consumers, and guaranteeing food safety. Despite these advantages, the implementation of cold chains also calls for massive investment. Considering both costs and benefits of cold chains, our research established an optimization model for a fresh food supply chain to maximize its members' profits. Optimal investment levels of cold chain construction and advertisement, along with optimal pricing, were determined. The analysis shows that collaborative cold chain investment and collaborative pricing are superior strategies for the supply chain. Furthermore, we discuss the role of consumer food safety awareness and observe relatively high levels of cold chain investments and the mutually reinforcing effect of supply chain members' cold chain investments in a food safety sensitive market. Therefore, we suggest that governments should encourage improved food safety awareness among consumers to motivate cold chain investment and thus guarantee food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines contingent rerouting strategy for enhancing supply chain resilience taking a supplier's point of view. We consider a supply chain with multiple suppliers at each stage and establish a mathematical model for product allocation behavior among different suppliers. The allocation model is based on each supplier's production capacity, product quality, production cost, as well as possible decision maker's preferences. As a performance measure for rerouting strategy, we use the total outflow of the supply chain. We propose an optimization model and its solution determines the rerouting strategy for product flow through the supply chain under disruptions. Numerical examples demonstrate the effect of the rerouting strategy and show the resilience of the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]