We analytically investigate a supply chain (SC) that is composed of a manufacturer and a live broadcasting platform, and examine whether the latter should adopt artificial intelligence (AI) considering sales effort. We consider several important factors that affect the SC partners’ decision-making including live broadcasting power, consumer expectations of the product, and unfit probability that the consumer is unsatisfied with the bought product. Specifically, the “live broadcasting power” refers to the power of influencers’ personal influence and fans group to enhance product sales. The results are as follows: First, the optimal production quantity of the offline channel (platform) exhibits a positive (negative) correlation with the retail price of the offline channel in the agency mode with AI. Nevertheless, in the resale mode, the retail price of the offline channel has no influence on the two channels’ optimal production quantities. Second, with low marginal cost of adopting AI, the live broadcasting platform should (not) adopt AI under high (low) live broadcasting power. With high marginal cost of adopting AI, the live broadcasting platform should (not) adopt AI under low or high (moderate) live broadcasting power. In addition, the manufacturer without AI should select the agency mode (resale mode) under high (low) live broadcasting power, while the manufacturer with AI should always collaborate with the live broadcasting platform implementing the agency mode. Finally, the agency and resale modes can achieve coordination between the two firms. We also consider the partial unfit probability, hybrid mode, and “webrooming” behavior to extend our study, and numerically demonstrate our analytical findings’ robustness.

中文翻译：

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直播平台该不该采用人工智能？销售工作视角


我们分析研究了由制造商和直播平台组成的供应链（SC），并考虑后者是否应该在考虑销售努力的情况下采用人工智能（AI）。我们考虑了影响SC合作伙伴决策的几个重要因素，包括直播能力、消费者对产品的期望以及消费者对购买的产品不满意的不合适概率。具体来说，“直播力”是指网红的个人影响力和粉丝群体提升产品销量的力量。结果如下：首先，人工智能代理模式下，线下渠道（平台）的最优生产数量与线下渠道的零售价格呈现正（负）相关关系。然而，在转售模式下，线下渠道的零售价格对两个渠道的最优生产数量没有影响。其次，由于采用人工智能的边际成本较低，直播平台在高（低）直播能力下应该（不）采用人工智能。由于采用人工智能的边际成本较高，直播平台在低或高（中等）直播能力下不应该采用人工智能。另外，没有AI的厂商应该在高（低）直播实力下选择代理模式（转售模式），而有AI的厂商应该始终与实施代理模式的直播平台合作。最后，代理和转售模式可以实现两家公司之间的协调。我们还考虑了部分不适合概率、混合模式和“网络整理”行为来扩展我们的研究，并以数字方式证明我们分析结果的稳健性。