Optimal dynamic pricing and replenishment policies for deteriorating items

Marketing strategies and proper inventory replenishment policies are often incorporated by enterprises to stimulate demand and maximize profit. The aim of this paper is to represent an integrated model for dynamic pricing and inventory control of deteriorating items. To reflect the dynamic characteristic of the problem, the selling price is defined as a time-dependent function of the initial selling price and the discount rate. In this regard, the price is exponentially discounted to compensate negative impact of the deterioration. The planning horizon is assumed to be infinite and the deterioration rate is time-dependent. In addition to price, the demand rate is dependent on advertisement as a powerful marketing tool. Several theoretical results and an iterative solution algorithm are developed to provide the optimal solution. Finally, to show validity of the model and illustrate the solution procedure, numerical results are presented

Joint pricing and ordering policies for deteriorating item with retail price-dependent demand in response to announced supply price increase

[[abstract]]Recently, due to rapid economic development in emerging nations, the world's raw material prices have been rising. In today's unrestricted information environment, suppliers typically announce impending supply price increases at specific times. This allows retailers to replenish their stock at the present price, before the price increase takes effect. The supplier, however, will generally offer only limited quantities prior to the price increase, so as to avoid excessive orders. The retail price will usually reflect any supply price increases, as market demand is dependent on retail price. This paper considers deteriorating items and investigates (1) the possible effects of a supply price increase on retail pricing, and (2) ordering policies under the conditions that special order quantities are limited and demand is dependent on retail price. The purpose of this paper is to determine the optimal special order quantity and retail price to maximize profit. Our theoretical analysis examines the necessary and sufficient conditions for an optimal solution, and an algorithm is established to obtain the optimal solution. Furthermore, several numerical examples are given to illustrate the developed model and the solution procedure. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted on the optimal solutions with respect to major parameters.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙

Optimal replenishment and sales team initiatives for pharmaceutical products – A mathematical model

AbstractThe paper addresses an inventory model of pharmaceutical products where the demand rate of the customers increases with the volume of the initiatives of the sales team. In this model, the deterioration of the product varies depending on on-hand inventory. The volume of sales team initiatives is a control variable. It is dependent on on-hand inventory and vice versa. The profit function of the farm is formulated by the trading of inventory costs, purchasing costs, losses due to deterioration and sales team initiative costs, considering inflation and the time value of the monetary cost and profit parameters. Finally, the profit function is maximized by a variation of the calculus method. A numerical example is given to justify our model

Quality and Operations Management in Food Supply Chains: A Literature Review

We present a literature review on quality and operations management problems in food supply chains. In food industry, the quality of the food products declines over time and should be addressed in the supply chain operations management. Managing food supply chains with operations management methods not only generates economic benefit, but also contributes to environmental and social benefits. The literature on this topic has been burgeoning in the past few years. Since 2005, more than 100 articles have been published on this topic in major operations research and management science journals. In this literature review, we concentrate on the quantitative models in this research field and classify the related articles into four categories, that is, storage problems, distribution problems, marketing problems, and food traceability and safety problems. We hope that this review serves as a reference for interested researchers and a starting point for those who wish to explore it further

Supply chain finance for ameliorating and deteriorating products: a systematic literature review

Ameliorating and deteriorating products, or, more generally, items that change value over time, present a high sensitiveness to the surrounding environment (e.g., temperature, humidity, and light intensity). For this reason, they should be properly stored along the supply chain to guarantee the desired quality to the consumers. Specifically, ameliorating items face an increase in value if there are stored for longer periods, which can lead to higher selling price. At the same time, the costumers’ demand is sensitive to the price (i.e., the higher the selling price the lower the final demand), sensitiveness that is related to the quality of the products (i.e., lower sensitiveness for high-quality products). On the contrary, deteriorating items lose quality and value over time which result in revenue losses due to lost sales or reduced selling price. Since these products need to be properly stored (i.e., usually in temperature- and humidity-controlled warehouses) the holding costs, which comprise also the energy costs, may be particularly relevant impacting on the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the supply chain. Furthermore, due to the recent economic crisis, companies (especially, small and medium enterprises) face payment difficulties of customers and high volatility of resources prices. This increases the risk of insolvency and on the other hand the financing needs. In this context, supply chain finance emerged as a mean for efficiency by coordinating the financial flow and providing a set of financial schemes aiming at optimizing accounts payable and receivable along the supply chain. The aim of the present study is thus to investigate through a systematic literature review the two main themes presented (i.e., inventory management models for products that change value over time, and financial techniques and strategies to support companies in inventory management) to understand if any financial technique has been studied for supporting the management of this class of products and to verify the existing literature gap

Modelos de Inventarios con Productos Perecederos: Revisión de la Literatura

This paper presents a review of the main characteristics of the mathematical modelsdeveloped by the scientific community in order to determine an optimal inventory policyfor deteriorating items. Thus, a classified bibliography of 390 articles published from2001 to 2014 in high-impact journals is submitted while considering the type of demandand deterioration, the integration of inventory and pricing decisions, the inclusionof shortage and/or the time value of money, the consideration of multiple items and/ormulti-echelon systems, and the incorporation of uncertain parameters other than demand.Finally, research questions not yet addressed by the research community in the field ofinventory control for deteriorating items are pointed out.En el presente artículo se lleva a cabo una revisión de las principales características estudiadas por la comunidad científica en el desarrollo de modelos matemáticos que buscan definir una política de inventario óptima para productos que se deterioran. De este modo, se referencian 390 artículos publicados a partir del año 2001 en revistas de gran impacto, teniendo en cuenta: el tipo de demanda y deterioro representado en los modelos matemáticos, el estudio de una política de precio óptima, la inclusión de faltantes y/o valor del dinero en el tiempo, el estudio de múltiples productos y/o dos o más eslabones de la cadena de suministro, y la utilización de parámetros o variables difusas. Finalmente, se identifican oportunidades de investigación que a la fecha no han sido abordadas por la comunidad científica en este campo del conocimiento