Joint procurement and pricing of fresh produce for multiple retailers with a quantity discount contract

This study considers a fresh produce supply chain consisting of one supplier and multiple retailers with a quantity discount contract in two scenarios—independent procurement and joint procurement. The supplier’s optimal pricing decision and the retailers’ optimal procurement decisions under the quantity discount contract are investigated. Furthermore, the impact of the deterioration rate on the profit of supply chains is examined. The results show that joint procurement is more profitable than independent procurement and guarantees a win-win outcome. More importantly, retailers will be motivated to form a grand coalition when the total profit can be rationally allocated among them

Coordinating the Optimal Discount Schedules of Supplier and Carrier

Transportation is important in making supply chain decisions. With the careful consideration of transportation expenses, the performance of each supply chain member, as well as the entire supply chain, could be improved significantly. The purpose of this research is: 1) to explore and identify the various situations that relate to replenishment and transportation activities; and 2) to reveal the strength of the connection between purchase quantity and transportation discounts, and integrate the two discounts to enhance supply-chain coordination. The problem is analyzed and categorized into four representative cases, depending on transportation. To aid the supplier or the carrier to determine the discount that should be offered, in light of the buyer's reaction to that discount, decision models are proposed under three different circumstances. First, assuming a single product, we investigate the quantity discounts from the supplier's perspective, via a noncooperative game-theoretical approach and also a joint decision model. Taking into account the price elasticity of demand, this analysis aids a sole supplier in establishing an all-unit quantity discount policy in light of the buyer's best reaction. The Stackelberg equilibrium and the Pareto-optimal solution set are derived for the noncooperative and joint-decision cases, respectively. Our research indicates that channel efficiency can be improved significantly if the quantity discount decision is made jointly rather than noncooperatively. Moreover, we extend our model in several directions: (a) the product is transported by a private fleet; (b) the buyer may choose to offer her customers a different percentage discount than that she obtained from the supplier; and (c) the case of multiple (heterogeneous) buyers. Numerical examples are employed, here and throughout the thesis, to illustrate the practical applications of the models presented and the sensitivity to model parameters. Secondly, we consider a situation with a family of SKUs for which the supplier will offer a quantity discount, according to the aggregate purchases of the product group. Management of those items is based on the modified periodic policy. From the supplier's point of view, what are the optimal parameters (breakpoint and discount percentage)? For deterministic demand, we discuss the cases in which demand is both constant and price-sensitive. First as a noncooperative Stackelberg game, and then when the two parties make the discount and replenishment decisions jointly, we illustrate the impact of price-sensitivity and joint decision making on the supplier's discount policy. The third approach studies the case in which transportation of the goods by a common carrier (a public, for-hire trucking company) is integrated in the quantity discount decisions. In reality, it is quite difficult for the carrier to determine the proper transportation discount, especially in the case of LTL (less-than-truckload) trucking. This is not only because of the "phantom freight" phenomenon, caused by possible over-declaration of the weight by the shipper, but also due to the fact that the discount relates to both transportation and inventory issues. In this research, we study the problem of coordinating the transportation and quantity discount decisions from the perspectives of the parties who offer the discounts, rather than the ones that take them. By comparison of the noncooperative and cooperative models, we show that cooperation provides better overall results, not only to each party, but also to the entire supply chain. To divide the extra payoffs gained from that cooperation, we further conduct a coalition analysis, based upon the concept of "Shapley Value." A detailed algorithm and numerical examples are provided to illustrate the solution procedure. Finally, the thesis concludes with comprehensive remarks. We summarize the contributions of this thesis, show the overall results obtained here, and present the directions that our research may take in the future

Horizontal Cooperation in Transport and Logistics.

This thesis deals with horizontal cooperation in transport and logistics. It contains a comprehensive discussion of the available academic literature on this topic, many practical examples, and an empirical investigation of opportunities and impediments. Furthermore, three enabling concepts for horizontal cooperation in transport and logistics are developed. The analysis is practice oriented in the sense that most of the results are based on real-life datasets. In case studies conducted, the most important goal is to learn lessons that are also applicable to other cases or industries. By contrast, in chapters that have a more theoretical point of departure, efforts are made to draw conclusions that are directly applicable in practice. Many different research techniques are used in this thesis. They include case study analysis, surveys, exploratory factor analysis, regression, game theory, vehicle routing heuristics, and facility location heuristics.

Supply Chain

Traditionally supply chain management has meant factories, assembly lines, warehouses, transportation vehicles, and time sheets. Modern supply chain management is a highly complex, multidimensional problem set with virtually endless number of variables for optimization. An Internet enabled supply chain may have just-in-time delivery, precise inventory visibility, and up-to-the-minute distribution-tracking capabilities. Technology advances have enabled supply chains to become strategic weapons that can help avoid disasters, lower costs, and make money. From internal enterprise processes to external business transactions with suppliers, transporters, channels and end-users marks the wide range of challenges researchers have to handle. The aim of this book is at revealing and illustrating this diversity in terms of scientific and theoretical fundamentals, prevailing concepts as well as current practical applications

Inter-firm collaboration in transportation

Dans la littérature académique et professionnelle relative au transport de marchandise, il y a longtemps que les méthodes de planification avancées ont été identifiées comme un moyen de dégager des économies grâce à une efficacité accrue des opérations de transport. Plus récemment, la collaboration interentreprises dans la planification du transport a été étudiée comme une source de gain supplémentaire en efficacité et, par conséquent, une opportunité pour dégager de nouvelles économies pour les collaborateurs. Cependant, la mise en œuvre d'une collaboration interentreprises en transports soulève un certain nombre d’enjeux. Cette thèse aborde trois thèmes centraux de la collaboration interentreprises et démontre les contributions via des études de cas dans l’industrie forestière et du meuble. Premièrement, les moyens technologiques pour soutenir une collaboration en planification du transport sont étudiés. Un système d’aide à la décision supportant la collaboration en transport forestier est présenté. Deuxièmement, le partage entre les collaborateurs du coût commun en transport est étudié. Une méthode de répartition du coût de transport tenant compte de l'impact - l’augmentation du coût de transport - des exigences inégales entre des collaborateurs est proposée. Troisièmement, la création de groupes collaboratifs - des coalitions - dans un ensemble de collaborateurs potentiel est étudiée. Un modèle réseau pour la formation d’une coalition selon les intérêts d’un sous-ensemble de collaborateurs adoptant ou pas un comportement opportuniste est détaillé. De plus, pour soutenir l'étude des thèmes précédents, la thèse comprend deux revues de la littérature. Premièrement, une revue sur les méthodes de planification et les systèmes d’aide à la décision en transport forestier est présenté. Deuxièmement, à travers la proposition d'un cadre pour créer et gérer une collaboration en transport et, plus généralement en logistique, une revue de travaux sur le transport et la logistique collaborative est offerte.In the academic and professional literature on freight transportation, computer-based planning methods have a long time ago been identified as a means to achieve cost reduction through enhanced transportation operations efficiency. More recently, inter-firm collaboration in transportation planning has been investigated as a means to provide further gains in efficiency and, in turn, to achieve additional cost reduction for the collaborators. However, implementation of inter-firm collaboration in transportation raises a number of issues. This thesis addresses three central themes in inter-firm collaboration and exemplifies the contributions in case studies involving collaboration in furniture and forest transportation. First, technological means to enable collaboration in transportation planning are studied. Embedding a computer-based planning method for truck routing, a decision support system enabling collaborative transportation is presented. Second, sharing the common transportation cost among collaborators is studied. A cost allocation method taking into account the impact – an increase of the transportation cost – of uneven requirements among collaborators is proposed. Third, building collaborating groups (i.e. coalitions) among a set of potential collaborators is studied. A network model for coalition formation by a subset of self-interested collaborators adopting or not an opportunistic behaviour is detailed. Moreover, to support the study of the aforementioned themes, the thesis includes two literature reviews. First, a survey on planning methods and decision support systems for vehicle routing problem in forest transportation is presented. Second, through the proposition of a framework for building and managing collaboration in transportation and, more generally in logistics, a survey of works on collaborative transportation and logistics is given

Northeast Asian containerised maritime logistics: supply chain collaboration, collaborative advantage and performance

This thesis aims to develop and validate the dimensions of supply chain collaboration and collaborative advantage in the containerised maritime industry and explores the impact of supply chain collaboration on collaborative advantage and port performance. Additionally, this thesis tests a mediation effect of collaborative advantage on the relationship between supply chain collaboration and port performance. This thesis employs a quantitative method. A theoretical model is built based on thorough literature reviews of supply chain management and maritime studies, in-depth discussions with experts, item review and Q-sorting techniques to signify ambiguity or misunderstanding with the scales and to suggest modifications. The proposed model is empirically tested with survey data using 178 responses from terminal operators, shipping lines, inland transport companies, freight forwarders, ship management companies and third-party logistics providers involved in maritime logistics in the major containers ports of Busan, Gwangyang and Incheon for a comprehensive and balanced view by using structural equation modelling. With regard to the findings of the empirical research, three main constructs were successfully validated as multi-dimensional constructs. The structural paths support hypotheses that supply chain collaboration has a positive influence on collaborative advantage, and collaborative advantage has a strong contribution to port performance. However, the direct impact of supply chain collaboration on port performance is insignificant. A hierarchical approach of the mediation test and bootstrapping test found that the association between supply chain collaboration and port performance is fully mediated by collaborative advantage. In other words, the greater degree of supply chain collaboration between the port and port user enables them to gain a higher degree of collaborative advantage, and, in turn, this collaborative advantage can contribute to augmenting port performance. This thesis synthesises transaction cost theory, resource based theory and a relational view to explain how supply chain collaboration influences collaborative advantage and port performance. Its theoretical contribution expands the concept of supply chain collaboration and collaborative advantage into containerised maritime contexts, capturing the perspective of the ports and port users. Further, despite numerous maritime studies which extol the importance of collaboration between the ports and port users, no systematic approach has previously developed and validated those constructs and relationships. The various maritime logistics organisations would benefit from applying the results of this study to their supply chain collaboration practices when seeking greater collaborative advantage. The results heed practitioners in containerised maritime logistics organisations to focus on balancing the facets of supply chain collaboration to transport flows of containers seamlessly and efficiently from door-to-door, as supply chain management philosophy drives the maritim

Collaboration modes and advantages in supply chain

This research aims to address supply chain collaboration with a perspective of broader three-dimensional relationship, not a linear two-dimensional relationship discussed broadly in previous research. Case study was adopted for this research, and data collection was mainly conducted via interview. The research results highlighted that supply chain collaborations are common practice across all levels of the pharmaceutical supply chain. The results also indicated that the different strengthen levels of barging power among collaborative partners will influence the achieved advantages at different supply chain levels, including strategic, operational and political levels

Smart manufacturing and supply chain management

In the fourth industrial revolution, smart manufacturing will be characterized by adaptability, resource efficiency and ergonomics as well as the integration of customers and business partners in business and value processes. Business model, operations management, workforce and manufacturing process all face substantial transformations to reasoning the manufacturing process. This paper explores the impacts of smart manufacturing on supply chain management, and develops several propositions to improve supply chain performance under the context of smart manufacturing