The rapid development of green products, such as electric vehicle (EV) batteries, has brought about challenges in recycling and remanufacturing. To help tackle these challenges, in this research, we investigate how process innovation affects green product remanufacturing. Specifically, using game-theoretic models, we analyze process innovation strategies for green product remanufacturing in a closed-loop supply chain consisting of an upstream supplier and a downstream manufacturer. In these models, process innovation is implemented individually (i.e., non-cooperative mechanisms) by either the supplier or the manufacturer, or jointly (i.e., cooperative mechanism) by both firms. Our main findings are threefold. Firstly, process innovation can effectively improve remanufacturing performance while increasing the recovery rate of the manufacturer. Secondly, although the cooperative mechanism is always beneficial to the supplier, the supply chain and the environment, it may not be favourable by the manufacturer. Lastly, by extending the main models, we show that government subsidies can incentivise the manufacturer to adopt the cooperative mechanism, thereby achieving a win–win situation.

电动汽车（EV）电池等绿色产品的快速发展给回收和再制造带来了挑战。为了帮助应对这些挑战，在这项研究中，我们研究了过程创新如何影响绿色产品再制造。具体来说，我们使用博弈论模型分析由上游供应商和下游制造商组成的闭环供应链中绿色产品再制造的过程创新策略。在这些模型中，过程创新是由供应商或制造商单独（即，非合作机制）实施的，或者由两家公司共同实施（即，合作机制）。我们的主要发现有三点。首先，工艺创新可以有效地提高再制造性能，同时提高制造商的回收率。其次，尽管合作机制始终对供应商，供应链和环境都有利，但制造商可能对此不利。最后，通过扩展主要模型，我们表明，政府补贴可以激励制造商采用合作机制，从而实现双赢。