The impact of after‐sales value‐added service through insurance collaboration on UAV supply chain decisions: coordination mechanisms under supply uncertainty and power asymmetry

Abstract The civilian drone industry faces significant challenges, including high maintenance and replacement costs, prolonged service durations, and supply chain uncertainties. In response, an increasing number of drone manufacturers are engaging in cross‐industry collaborations with insurance firms to offer after‐sales value‐added service (AVS) aimed at enhancing consumer appeal. This paper examines a two‐tier supply chain consisting of one retailer and two manufacturers and investigates how cross‐industry collaboration between civilian unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers and insurance companies influences supply chain decisions under supply uncertainty. The findings reveal that (1) an increase in the unit profit of AVS generally leads to a decline in both wholesale and retail prices; interestingly, within certain intervals, such an increase may instead drive up the retail price; (2) when the supply reliability coefficient, after‐sales sensitivity, and unit profit of AVS are sufficiently high, the retail price of the product without AVS reaches its peak in a market dominated by the manufacturer with AVS; (3) supply uncertainty tends to diminish after‐sales service level, while high‐quality after‐sales services can effectively mitigate the negative impacts caused by supply uncertainty.