In this paper, we consider a two-retailer and one-supplier supply chain in which retailers make an extra effort to satisfy demand from customers who experience stockouts — retailers offer to direct-ship out-of-stock items on an expedited basis at no extra cost to customers. This practice is referred to as the fast-ship option. By supporting the fast-ship option, retailers and suppliers can redu...

The stochastic location-inventory network design model with risk pooling considers the distribution network design problem in which all the retailers face uncertain demand. The riskpooling benefits can be achieved by allowing some of the retailers to operate as distribution centers (DCs) for other retailers to commit a given service level. The target is to minimize the expected total cost of DC...

In this study, we consider a two-level supply chain in which a supplier serves a group of retailers in a given geographic region and determines a replenishment plan for each retailer by using the information on demands of final customers and inventory levels of the retailers. Deliveries are carried out by homogeneous vehicles with a finite capacity, and each vehicle can visit multiple retailers...

We study the information asymmetry issues in a decentralized inventory sharing system consisting of a manufacturer and two independent retailers, who privately hold demand information, non-cooperatively place their orders, but cooperatively share inventories with each other. We find that while the manufacturer needs retailers’ mean demand and standard deviation for her wholesale price decision,...

We consider distribution systems with a depot and many geographically dispersed retailers each of which faces external demands occurring at constant, deterministic but retailer specific rates. All stock enters the system through the depot from where it is distributed to the retailers by a fleet of capacitated vehicles combining deliveries into efficient routes. Inventories are kept at the retai...

We consider the Inventory-Routing Problem where n geographically dispersed retailers must be supplied by a central 9 facility. The retailers experience demand for a product at a deterministic rate and incur holding costs for keeping inventory. Distribution is performed by a eet of capacitated vehicles. The objective is to minimize the average transportation and 11 inventory costs per unit time ...

Although take-it-or-leave-it pricing is the main mode of operation for many retailers, a number of retailers discreetly allow price negotiation when some haggle-prone customers ask for a bargain. At these retailers, the posted price, which itself is subject to dynamic adjustments in response to the pace of sales during the selling season, serves two important roles: (i) it is the take-it-or-lea...

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a widely used collaborative inventory management policy in which manufacturers manages the inventory of retailers and takes responsibility for making decisions related to the timing and extent of inventory replenishment. VMI partnerships help organizations to reduce demand variability, inventory holding and distribution costs. This study provides empirical evid...

Today’s global economy relies heavily on transportation and warehousing to deliver goods. Outsourcing has made the distribution networks complex with several layers of national (import) distribution centers (NDCs) and regional distribution centers (RDCs) between suppliers and retailers. More distribution nodes in the supply chain also means more inventory stockpiles. We present an integrated fa...

We examine the trade-offs between demand information and inventory in a distribution channel. While better demand information has a positive direct effect for the manufacturer of improving the efficiency of holding inventory in a channel, it can also have the strategic effect of increasing retail prices and limiting the extraction of retail profits. Having inventory in the channel can help the ...