Single-period inventory model with a delayed incentive option for selling excess inventory

The single‐period problem (SPP) is to find the order quantity which maximizes the expected profit in a single period probabilistic demand framework. We extend the SPP to a case where a retailer uses delayed incentives in the form of cash mail‐in rebates to sell remaining inventory that did not sell at the regular price. The advantage of cash mail‐in rebates is that not all consumers will redeem them. We address three cases: (1) rebate value is predetermined and the order quantity is a decision variable; (2) order quantity is a decision variable and rebate value is set to the value needed to sell all excess inventory, and (3) order quantity is a decision variable and the rebate may be used to sell part of or all excess inventory. In the third case, any inventory remaining after the rebate offer is salvaged at reduced price. We provide analytical solutions for uniform and exponential demand distributions. In all cases, rebates can lead to significant increases in expected profit. We first maximize the expected profit. We then maximize the probability of achieving a target profit and show that the use of rebates can lead to a substantial increase in that probability.     

风险度量模型在单期发电权交易中的应用

为了研究电力市场环境下发电量在发电权交易市场中的分配比例问题,以条件风险价值(CVaR)为风险计量指标,把发电权交易市场分配的电量作为一种无风险资产,建立了带有CVaR约束的期望收益最大化的投标组合模型,讨论发电商的单期发电权交易量分配策略。仿真结果显示,发电权交易的引入,可以使发电商在获得更大收益的同时,规避其他市场中可能存在的风险。该算法对于发电商参与发电权交易具有一定的参考价值和指导作用。     

Time-bound product returns and optimal order quantities for mass merchandisers

The return guidelines for a mass merchandiser usually entail a grace period, a markdown on the original price and the condition of the returned items. This research utilises eight scenarios formed from the variation of possible return guidelines to model the cost functions of single-product categories for a typical mass merchandiser. Models for the eight scenarios are developed and solved with the objective of maximising the expected profit so as to obtain closed form solutions for the associated optimal order quantity. An illustrative example and sensitivity analysis are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the model. Our results show that merchandisers who allow for returns within a time window, albeit with a penalty cost imposed and the returned products being recoverable, should plan for larger order amounts as such products do not affect the business. Similarly, the merchandisers who allow for returns beyond a grace period and without any penalty charges, but where the returned products are irrecoverable, should manage their stocks in this category more judiciously by ordering as little as possible so as to limit the number of returns and carefully consider the effects of their customer satisfaction-guaranteed policies, if any.     

单周期随机需求下供应链库存协调机制设计

研究了单周期随机需求条件下两级供应链的库存协调机制设计问题.建立了基于弹性订货策略的供应链库存风险共担机制,并通过算例验证了弹性订货策略在供应链库存协调中的有效性.研究结果表明,在供应链上下游无合作时,需方承担全部库存风险,其个体理性的决策无法实现供应链的整体优化,而如果双方实施弹性订货策略,分担库存风险,则可以实现供应链的Pareto优化.