Integrated inventory model with quantity discount and price-sensitive demand

Quantity discount has been a subject of study for a long time; however, little is known about its effect on integrated inventory models when price-sensitive demand is placed. The objective of this study is to find the optimal pricing and ordering strategies for an integrated inventory system when a quantity discount policy is applied. The pricing strategy discussed here is one in which the vendor offers a quantity discount to the buyer. Then, the buyer will adjust his retail price based on the purchasing cost, which will influence the customer demand as a result. Consequently, an integrated inventory model is established to find the optimal solutions for order quantity, retail price, and the number of shipments from vendor to buyer in one production run, so that the joint total profit incurred has the maximum value. Also, numerical examples and a sensitivity analysis are given to illustrate the results of the model.     

Managing a dual-channel supply chain under price and delivery-time dependent stochastic demand

Several leading manufacturers recently combined the traditional retail channel with a direct online channel to reach a wider range of customers. We examine such a dual-channel supply chain under price and delivery-time dependent stochastic customer demand. We consider five decision variables, the price and order quantity for both the retail and the online channels and the delivery time for the online channel. Uncertainty frequently arises in both retail and online channels and so additional inventory management is required to control shortage or overstock and that has an effect on the optimal order quantity, price, and lead time. We developed mathematical models with the profit maximization motive. We analyze both centralized and decentralized systems for unknown distribution function of the random variables through a distribution-free approach and also for known distribution function. We examine the effect of delivery lead time and customers’ channel preference on the optimal operation. For supply chain coordination a hybrid all-unit quantity discount along a franchise fee contract is used. Moreover, we use the generalized asymmetric Nash bargaining for surplus profit distribution. A numerical example illustrates the findings of the model and the managerial insights are summarized for centralized, decentralized, and coordinated scenarios.     

A two-stage supply chain coordination mechanism considering price sensitive demand and quantity discounts

This paper explores the coordination between a supplier and a buyer within a decentralized supply chain, through the use of quantity discounts in a game theoretic model. Within this model, the players face inventory and pricing decisions. We propose both cooperative and non-cooperative approaches considering that the product traded experiences a price sensitive demand. In the first case, we study the dynamics of the game from the supplier's side as the leader in the negotiation obtaining a Stackelberg equilibrium, and then show how the payoff of this player could still improve from this point. In the second case, a cooperative model is formulated, where decisions are taken simultaneously, emulating a centralized firm, showing the benefits of the cooperation between the players. We further formulate a pricing game, where the buyer is allowed to set different prices to the final customer as a reaction to the supplier's discount decisions. For the latter we investigate the difference between feasibility of implementing a retail discount given a current coordination mechanism and without it. Finally the implications of transportation costs are analyzed in the quantity discount schedule. Our findings are illustrated with a numerical example showing the difference in the players’ payoff in each case and the optimal strategies, comparing in each case our results with existing work.     

时间约束下鲜活农产品供应链应急协调数量折扣契约研究

本文的目的就是针对一个由生产商和一个零售商构成的鲜活农产品供应链,在考虑损耗和新鲜度的影响下,研究数量折扣契约如何协调供应链应对突发事件。 首先,给出了正常情况下供应链协调模型;然后,在突发事件引起市场需求、零售商订货成本和产品运输时间同时扰动情况下,讨论了突发事件对集权、分权供应链的影响。 研究表明,集权供应链具有一定的鲁棒性,当突发事件造成市场需求、零售商订货成本和产品运输时间在一定范围内同时发生扰动时,其生产计划不需要调整,只需通过调整产品价格即可使集权供应链达到协调;对于分权供应链,根据三因素同时扰动的不同程度,通过调整数量折扣契约参数,可以实现对供应链的协调。 最后给出数值算例验证了相关结论。     

基于人体营养健康角度的中国果蔬发展建模

我国食物生产在一定程度上依然不能适应营养需求,居民营养不足与过剩并存。为了解决这个问题,本文将数据范围定位在常见的果蔬品种上,对其所含营养成分进行主成分分析和聚类,选择主要的蔬菜水果。利用损耗率和马尔可夫链,用线性回归的方法,通过对以往数据的分析,构建模型预测果蔬的消费量。进一步地,构建线性最优化模型来确定不同经济区域、不同季度的主要蔬菜水果的最合理消费量和购买成本。基于居民人体的营养均衡、购买成本、种植者收益、进出口贸易以及土地面积等多方面因素的考虑,构建多目标规划模型,寻找最优的产量和消费量。从种植产量、价格、国民营养摄入等方面向有关部门提出合理化建议。     

灰色市场条件下基于收益共享契约的供应链协调

考虑灰色市场条件下由一个制造商和两个分别处于不同国家的分销商构成的供应链,分别分析了完全分散化、部分分散化和集中化决策下的供应链定价策略。考察了各种决策模式下,消费者对灰市产品价值的认可程度对制造商定价策略的影响。通过比较得出分散化和部分分散化决策下的最优定价策略偏离集中化决策下的最优定价策略。并以供应链集中化决策下的利润为基准,通过引入收益共享契约针对灰色市场条件下的完全分散化和部分分散化供应链进行协调,并给出保证供应链节点企业达到帕累托改进的收益分享系数取值范围。最后通过数值分析给出了消费者对灰市产品价值的认可程度与供应链利润、灰市产品销量及收益分享系数之间的关系。     

Responsive pricing under supply uncertainty

Consider a retailer orders a seasonal product from a supplier and sells the product over a selling season. While the product demand is known to be a linear function of price, the supply yield is uncertain and is distributed according to a general discrete probability distribution. This paper presents a two-stage stochastic model for analyzing two pricing policies: No Responsive Pricing and Responsive Pricing. Under the No Responsive Pricing policy, the retailer would determine the order quantity and the retail price before the supply yield is realized. Under the Responsive Pricing policy, the retailer would specify the order quantity first and then decide on the retail price after observing the realized supply yield. Therefore, the Responsive Pricing policy enables the retailer to use pricing as a response mechanism for managing uncertain supply. Our analysis suggests that the retailer would always obtain a higher expected profit under the Responsive Pricing policy. In addition to examining the impact of yield distribution and system parameters on the optimal order quantities, retail prices, and profits under these two pricing policies, we analyze two issues arising from responsive pricing. The first issue deals with the case in which the retailer can place an emergency order with an alternative source after observing the realized yield, while the second issue deals with a situation in which the retailer has to allocate his order among multiple suppliers.     

供应中断下具有随机需求的闭环供应链最优差别定价模型

研究了在供应中断下具有随机需求的闭环供应链系统的最优差别定价模型.基于博弈论的理论和方法分别在集中式和分散式决策情形下,确定了最优批发价、最优销售价、最优订购量及系统利润.最后通过数值例子对最优差别定价模型进行了实证分析.     

Optimal order lot sizing and pricing with free shipping

Companies, especially those in e-business, are increasingly offering free shipping to buyers whose order sizes exceed the free shipping quantity. In this paper, given that the supplier offers free shipping, we determine the retailer’s optimal order lot size and the optimal retail price. We explicitly incorporate the supplier’s quantity discount, and transportation cost into the model. We analytically and numerically examine the impacts of free shipping, quantity discount and transportation cost on the retailer’s optimal lot sizing and pricing decisions. We find that free shipping can benefit the supplier, the retailer, and the end customers, and can effectively encourage the retailer to order more of the good, to the extent of ordering a few times of the optimal order lot size without free shipping. The order lot size will increase and the retail price will decrease if the supplier offers proper free shipping.     

带有提前购买价格折扣的易逝品库存模型

经典Newsboy模型是在购买价格不变的情形下去确定最优进货批量．然而,对于一些具有特定的消费时间的商品（如中秋节的月饼等）,生产厂家为了更好地安排生产,通常提供提前购买价格折扣．这样确定何时进货、进多少货的问题对经销商来说就显得非常重要．本文研究了该问题,并建立了带有提前购买价格折扣的易逝品的一个库存模型,同时也给出了应用实例与参数的灵敏度分析．     

The impact of dynamic pricing on the economic order decision

This paper analyzes the impact of dynamic pricing on the single product economic order decision of a monopolist retailer. Items are procured from an external supplier according to the economic order quantity (EOQ) model and are sold to customers on a single market without competition following the simple monopolist pricing problem. Coordinated decision making of optimal pricing and ordering is influenced by operating costs – including ordering and inventory holding costs – and the demand rate obtained from a price response function. The retailer is allowed to vary the selling price, either in a fixed number of discrete points in time or continuously. While constant and continuous pricing have received much attention in the literature, problems with a limited number of price changes are rather rare. This paper illustrates the benefit of dynamically changing prices to achieve operational efficiency in the EOQ model, that is to trigger high demand rates when inventories are high. We provide structural properties of the optimal time instants when the price should be changed. Taking into account costs for changes in price, it provides numerical guidance on number, timing, and size of price changes during an order cycle. Numerical examples show that the benefits of dynamic pricing in an EOQ framework can be achieved with only a few price changes and that products being unprofitable under static pricing may become profitable under dynamic pricing.     

碳排放交易机制下的供应链运作策略及协调研究

碳排放权交易是控制和减少碳排放的有效工具,同时也使得企业的运作成本增加,供应链的决策管理更复杂。考虑由零售商和制造商组成的二阶段供应链,研究不同碳排放权交易政策(供应链成员内部碳排放权交易、外部市场碳排放权交易)下基于数量折扣契约的供应链协调问题,并与无碳排放约束的情形进行比较。研究结果表明:在不同碳排放权交易政策下,数量折扣契约能够实现供应链的协调;无碳排放约束的供应链最优订货量大于外部碳排放权交易的供应链最优订货量,成员内部碳排放交易下的供应链最优订货量和供应链期望利润随着碳排放配额的增加最终等于无碳排放约束下的供应链最优订货量和供应链期望利润;外部市场碳排放交易政策下供应链的期望利润随着碳排放配额的增加而增加。     

面向战略型消费者的产品创新与定价策略

考虑垄断制造商面向战略型消费者时的产品创新与定价问题。运用消费者效用理论和博弈论等方法,构建静态和动态定价下制造商和消费者两期决策模型并求解分析。结果表明,消费者是否购买以及何时购买产品取决于升级换代产品的价格阈值。与静态定价相比较,动态定价能使制造商获得更多期望收益,但会降低消费者剩余、弱化制造商的产品创新积极性,并且这种弱化现象在产品价值折扣系数较高的情况下尤为明显。战略消费者购买行为对制造商的产品创新、期望收益和消费者剩余的影响,不仅依赖于制造商选择何种定价策略,还取决于产品价值折扣系数的大小。研究结论为消费者的产品购买和升级换代提供了理论建议,为企业的产品创新和定价提供了决策参考。     

Heuristics for sourcing from multiple suppliers with alternative quantity discounts

In this paper, we analyze the impact of supplier pricing schemes and supplier capacity limitations on the optimal sourcing policy for a single firm. We consider the situation where the total quantity to be procured for a single period is known by the firm and communicated to the supplier set. In response to this communication, each supplier quotes a price and a capacity limit in terms of a maximum quantity that can be supplied to the buyer. Based on this information, the buyer makes a quantity allocation decision among the suppliers and corresponding to this decision is the choice of a subset of suppliers who will receive an order. Based on industry observations, a variety of supplier pricing schemes from the constituent group of suppliers are analyzed, including linear discounts, incremental units discounts, and all units discounts. Given the complexity of the optimization problem for certain types of pricing schemes, heuristic solution methodologies are developed to identify a quantity allocation decision for the firm. Through an extensive computational comparison, we find that these heuristics generate near-optimal solutions very quickly. Data from a major office products retailer is used to illustrate the resulting sourcing strategies given different pricing schemes and capacity limitations of suppliers in this industry. We find for the case of capacity constrained suppliers, the optimal quantity allocations for two complex pricing schemes (linear discount, and incremental units discount) are such that at most one selected supplier will receive an order quantity that is less than its capacity.     

A simulation of the impacts of dynamic price management for perishable foods on retailer performance in the presence of need-driven purchasing consumers

Numerous studies have investigated dynamic pricing for perishable products. The models have been designed to determine an optimal pricing structure and improve retailer performance. Previous studies on pricing models for perishable products have considered various assumptions of consumer demand and purchasing behaviour from deterministic and stochastic price-dependent demands to myopic and strategic consumer purchasing behaviour. They have not, however, considered consumer demand in reaction to a situation where the display stock of a particular product has different qualities (such as shelf-life) and prices available at the same time. This is particularly applicable in the analysis of dynamic pricing models for perishable foods. In this paper, we investigate the impact of frequency of discount during a product’s selling period on retailer performance, by considering changes in consumer purchasing behaviour in response to the display stock of a particular food product having different remaining shelf-life and prices. On the basis of a literature review and data obtained from interviews with food retailers, a simulation study is performed to compare the performance of different pricing policies. The results demonstrate the benefits gained by adopting more dynamic price policies.     

Analysis of a two-stage telecommunication supply chain with technology dependent demand

We analyze a two-stage telecommunication supply chain consisting of one operator and one vendor under a multiple period setting. The operator faces a stochastic market demand which depends on technology investment level. The decision variables for the operator are the initial technology investment level and the capacity of the network for each period. The capacity that the operator installs in one period also remains available in subsequent periods. The operator can increase or decrease the available capacity at each period. For this model, an algorithm to find the centralized optimal solution is proposed. A profit sharing contract where firms share both the revenue and operating costs generated throughout the periods along with initial technology investment is suggested. Also a coordinating quantity discount contract where the discount on the price depends on the total installed capacity is designed. The case where the vendor decides on the technology investment level and the operator decides on the capacity of the network is also analyzed and it is shown that this game has a unique Nash equilibrium.     

随机需求下竞争零售商的定价策略研究

本文研究了随机需求下两竞争零售商的定价策略选择(响应性定价或清仓定价)、产品订货量及响应性价格的联合决策问题。通过将问题转化为一个三阶段的博弈模型,基于Kuhn-Tucker条件求解了两零售商不同定价策略子博弈下的均衡产品订货量及响应性定价决策,分析了不同定价策略子博弈下产品订货量及价格决策的差别以及潜在市场需求不确定(期望和方差变动)对订货量和定价策略的影响。数值分析结果表明,当潜在市场需求服从均匀分布时,响应性定价子博弈是帕累托最优策略,清仓定价子博弈是零售商的均衡策略,混合定价子博弈下两零售商的收益差距较大。     

考虑消费者从众特性的动态定价研究

面对掌握大量信息的消费者,厂商需考虑多方因素制定价格策略。研究运用经典的博弈模型,讨论不同消费者特性情况下厂商的定价机制。模型按从众特性和等待特性将消费者分为六类,并引入一个价格偏差变量,分析各类型消费者比例变化对厂商定价和利润的影响。结果显示,一般情况下降价幅度、消费者期望购买总数量和期望销售利润都随着反从众消费者比例的增大而增加。最后扩展分析了效益贴现率,反从众消费者比例和短视型消费者比例三因素对厂商总利润的影响,研究认为效益贴现率和从众消费者比例较高时,厂商利润会随着短视型消费者比例的降低而有所提高。因此,为使收益最大化,厂商在制定定价策略时需同时考虑贴现因素和消费者行为特性。     

面向制造商资金约束的绿色供应链融资策略研究

考虑了生产绿色产品供应链中,由于制造商由于加大绿色产品投入而面临资金约束时,零售商是否应该参与融资的问题。分别研究了在分散决策和集中决策下,存在资金约束的制造商采用预付款融资策略和银行贷款融资策略对供应链中企业最优决策的影响。给出了不同融资策略下,制造商和零售商的最佳决策。研究表明,在制造商存在资金约束的绿色产品供应链中,在集中决策和分散决策的情况下,零售商都应该采取提前付款折扣为0的融资策略参与制造商融资。同时,对于生产绿色产品的供应链,零售商应对制造商采取激励措施,促使制造商进行绿色技术创新生产绿色度更高的产品,从而扩大市场提高竞争力。最后,应用数值模拟对结论进行进一步验证。     

一种电子商务环境下耐用品的动态定价模型与策略

针对电子商务环境下消费者对价格歧视的抗拒问题,以及耐用品生命周期长、产品需求依赖于时间、价格等特点,提出了一种动态定价模型与策略。该模型通过构造转移概率矩阵,推导出在线消费者浏览到耐用品的不同价格状态下的概率,接着根据消费者多阶段效用函数分析消费者的购买决策行为,进而给出零售商利润达到最大化时的最优定价策略集合。为了验证模型与策略的有效性,通过数值模拟实验,分析模型主要参数变化对最优定价策略的影响。研究发现当效用折扣因子越高,零售商应该降低促销频率和高价格并且提高低价格,从而诱导高端消费者在高价格购买产品。折扣效用因子大小还决定了网上零售商是否要隐藏自己的促销概率。