This paper considers a two-echelon distribution system which consists of a single warehouse serving N (possibly non-identical) retailers that face discrete stochastic demand of the customers. The warehouse orders from an exogenous supplier with ample stock. Orders arrive at the warehouse after a fixed leadtime. The warehouse satisfies, if possible, the replenishment requests from the retailers....

Multi-periodic inventory control problems are mainly studied employing one of two assumptions. The first is the continuous review, where depending on the inventory level orders can be placed at any time, and the other is the periodic review, where orders can be placed only at the beginning of each period. In this paper, we relax these assumptions and assume that the time-periods between two rep...

This paper considers a concurrent pricing and inventory control problem in a stochastic and periodic review setting. Demand in a period is random and depends on the posted price. Other than holding and backlogging costs, the system incurs stock-replenishment costs that consist of both variable and fixed components. At the beginning of each period, a simultaneous decision has to be made on stock...

Emergency orders have shorter lead times but incur extra costs compared to normal orders. We present a discrete-time Markov decision model where normal orders are issued according to a reorder point policy with a fixed order quantity, whereas emergency orders are controlled by a state-dependent reorder point policy with a target stock level. A rapid policy iteration algorithm is used to find an...

We consider the periodic review inventory control problem in which the purchasing cost of the product changes, in a Markovian fashion, from one period to the next. After establishing (with and without the non-speculation assumption) that an order upto policy is optimal, we develop an efficient recursive solution procedure to compute the optimal levels. In addition, we propose a measure for the ...

In this paper, we study a single-product inventory system which involves a supplier, a retailer, and differentiated customers. The supplier provides products to the retailer which in turn sells products to its customers. The supplier is unreliable and is subject to random disruptions. The retailer adopts a periodic-review inventory policy, under which the retailer reviews its inventory position...