The biomass supplier selection problem is characterized by a high degree of uncertainty because of subjective preferences/evaluations of decision makers, raw material cost fluctuations, variations in biomass seasonality and the dynamics of biomass demand. Designing a biomass supply chain often becomes a time-dependent problem that should be addressed by examining adequate supply schemes in diff...

This paper presents an analytical model for computing the stationary distribution of the on-hand inventory in a continuous-review inventory system with compound Poisson demand, Erlang distributed lead time, and lost sales, where the supplier can assume one of the two “available” and “unavailable” states at any point in time according to a continuous-time Markov chain. Exact analytical expressio...

In this commentary, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the following incentive-based remuneration systems in dentistry: fee-for-service remuneration, per capita remuneration, a mixed payment system (a combination of fee-for-service remuneration and per capita remuneration) and pay-for-performance. The two latter schemes are fairly new in dentistry. Fee-for-service payments secure hi...

The scenario considered in this paper is a supply chain with multiple suppliers, all of whom have limited capacity. The demand over a finite planning horizon is known, and an optimal procurement strategy for this multiperiod horizon is to be determined. We supplement this scenario with the entry of a new supplier who is looking to price their products competitively. A single pricing decision is...

‎this paper proposes a multi-supplier multi-product inventory model in which the suppliers have unlimited production capacity, allow delayed payment, and offer either an all-unit or incremental discount. the retailer can delay payment until after they have sold all the units of the purchased product. the retailer’s warehouse is limited, but the surplus can be stored in a rented warehouse at a...

We investigate an electronic marketplace driven by suppliers that survey customer responses, determine market values of products, and sell products. A supplier creates and dispatches a mobile agent to potential buyers. The mobile agent carries with it information about the available stock and the residual price of the product. The objective is to maximize the gross returns to the supplier. The ...

The present paper examines whether supplier inducement exists for primary physicians' services in Norway. Our model assumes optimization behavior of the physician. The research design is adapted to the institutional setting of Norwegian primary physician services, where there is a fixed fee schedule. According to our model, the physician has three choices: to rational services, to supply an opt...

This paper develops a model for illustrating how to use quantity discount policy to achieve supply chain coordination. A supplier–buyer system selling one type of product with multi-period and probabilistic customer demand is considered. We first show that if both the buyer and supplier can find a coordination mechanism to make joint decisions, the joint profit in this situation is more than th...

We analyze a problem where a market maker on behalf of buyers allocates a given amount of order among N suppliers each with finite capacity. Specifically, we analyze a situation in which suppliers have the option of going to open market and selling their capacity at a market price. However, the supplier will incur search costs. Moreover, the demand for the supplier capacity in the open market i...

When demand exceeds supply, retailers hedge against shortages by placing multiple orders with multiple suppliers. This artificial growth in orders can severely affect suppliers, creating excess capacity, excess inventory, low capacity utilization, financial and reputation losses. This paper contributes to the understanding of order amplification caused by shortages, by providing a comprehensive...