Abstract: Based on the product life cycle， the mean-variance method was adopted to investigate the supply chain pricing strategy. According to the demands in different periods of product life cycle， different decision-making functions were firstly constructed， then the pricing strategies of supply chain in different periods were analyzed， and finally the optimal retail price， wholesale price and operating performance were provided. It was revealed that the retailer price becomes lower and the wholesale price is higher when retailers’ risk aversion increases; the retail price and wholesale price become lower when manufacturers’ risk aversion increases; and the market position becomes more stable and the price of manufacturers and retailers becomes higher when the product life cycle is longer.

Key words: supply chain, mean-variance, risk attitude, product life cycle, pricing strategy, operating performance