Research on Green Supply Chain Formation and Government Subsidy Pricing Strategy Considering an Online Trading Platform

Low-carbon production is currently the development direction of enterprises. The government provides low-carbon subsidies to low-carbon manufacturing enterprises to promote the formation of a green supply chain. To better encourage the development of the green supply chain by determining government subsidies and platform authentication fees, this paper constructs a Stackelberg game model that consists of a supplier and a manufacturer, and solves the optimal decisions of each entity using the backward induction method. This study uses the matching method to analyze the payoff matrix for supply chain members when choosing between low-carbon and traditional production. After introducing the online trading platform, the impact of the platform on the profit of supply chain members is studied, considering whether the authentication service provided by the platform is completely accurate. The results show that (1) in the green supply chain, there is a relationship between the enterprises' profit and the level of emissions reduction, which increases first and then decreases. (2) The online trading platform is conducive to achieving green supply chain coordination. The government can pay fewer subsidies to prompt the formation of a green supply chain and the optimal emissions reduction level of the enterprise is higher. (3) When the authentication mechanism of the platform is imperfect, the authentication fee of the platform and the subsidy coefficient of the government need to be set within a reasonable range to avoid the enterprise adopting traditional production pretending to be the low-carbon type. This study contributes to research on the green supply chain and provides insights into pricing strategies for governments and platforms.