This article addresses the development of an integrated supplier selection and inventory control problems in supply chain management by developing a mathematical model for a multi-echelon system. In particular, a buyer firm that consists of one warehouse and N identical retailers wants to procure a product from a group of potential suppliers, which may require different price, ordering cost, le...

We consider a periodic-review, serial inventory system, in which each stage replenishes inventory according to an echelon-stock (r, nQ, T ) policy – a standard echelon-stock (r, nQ) policy executed every T periods. Demands are independent, identically distributed in different periods and occur at the most downstream stage. Two types of fixed costs are considered: setup cost and replenishment co...