In this paper, we develop a supply chain network game theory model consisting of retailers and demand markets with retailers competing noncooperatively in order to maximize their expected profits by determining their optimal product transactions as well as cybersecurity investments subject to nonlinear budget constraints that include the cybersecurity investment cost functions. The consumers at the demand markets reflect their preferences through the demand price functions, which depend on the product demands and on the average level of cybersecurity in the supply chain network. We identify the supply chain network vulnerability to cyberattacks as well as that of the individual retailers. We demonstrate that the governing Nash equilibrium conditions can be formulated as a variational inequality problem and we provide a novel alternative formulation, along with the accompanying theory. We also propose an algorithm for the alternative formulation, which yields, at each iteration, closed form expressions in product transactions, security levels, and Lagrange multipliers associated with the budget constraints. We then apply the algorithm to compute solutions to a spectrum of numerical supply chain network cybersecurity investment examples. The examples broaden our understanding of the impacts of the addition of retailers, changes in budgets, demand price functions, and financial damages, on equilibrium product transactions and cybersecurity investments, as well as on the supply chain network vulnerability and retailer vulnerability under budget constraints.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to outline the socio‐economic and environmental implications of the informal sector engaged in waste recycling in the city of Kanpur, with special emphasis on the lives of lowest group of people, i.e. waste‐pickers, and to discuss various possible scenarios to integrate them with the formal sector.Design/methodology/approachThe study involved field survey of secondary material markets, followed by the administration of questionnaires to 40 respondents belonging to various segments of the informal sector. The questionnaires were designed to elicit information on the socio‐economic characteristics of the respondents. The study was conducted in 2004.FindingsThe study has attempted to delve into the socio‐economic conditions of the waste and dump‐pickers, the lowest segment of the informal recycling sector. The study of the status of existing alliances of formal‐informal sector and the community shows that there is a lot of scope for improvement in the management of solid waste and the condition of the informal waste‐recycling sector. Stronger alliances have the potential to improve the services as well as the socio‐economic condition of the informal waste‐recycling sector.Research limitations/implicationsA very small sample size was selected for this study in the absence of any prior database pertaining to the size, socio‐economic conditions of the informal waste‐recycling sector.Originality/valueThe paper attempts to understand the important role played by the informal sector engaged in waste recycling. This work is original, as no such analysis has been carried out in the study area. This study could be further extended.

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