Fresh produce price-setting newsvendor with bidirectional option contracts

This paper examines a newsvendor problem for fresh produce with bidirectional option contracts, in which the stochastic demand is price-dependent. The bidirectional option, which may be exercised as either a call or put option, provides the newsvendor the flexibility to increase or decrease the initial order after real demand is realized, respectively. The condition of the fresh produce may deteriorate during circulation. The optimal order and pricing decisions for the newsvendor are analytically derived with the bidirectional option and circulation loss. Comparative statics analysis show that the optimal total order quantity and optimal retail price of the newsvendor decrease with the option price but increase with the exercise price. In addition, numerical examples show that the optimal total order quantity and optimal retail price of the newsvendor increase with the circulation loss. The optimal option order quantity first decreases then increases with the exercise price. The optimal firm order quantity first increases then decreases with the circulation loss. The maximum profit of the newsvendor decreases with the option price and circulation loss but increases with the exercise price. Furthermore, the values of bidirectional option contracts are more significant when the demand uncertainty and the circulation loss become more volatile.