Supplier development or supplier switching?

We study a firm's cost-based sourcing decision of whether to invest in an incumbent supplier or switch to an alternative supplier in order to realise lower purchasing costs. In isolation, it can be shown that the development of an incumbent supplier (i.e., a cooperative investment) becomes more attractive, the higher the uncertainty about the price the buying firm can realise on the market and the incumbent supplier's cost. Likewise, switching to an alternative supplier becomes more attractive, the higher the expected value of and the uncertainty about the buying firm's market price. For comparing these two sourcing strategies simultaneously we provide a profit-maximising framework for the buying firm that shows that switching is less recommendable the higher the variance of the incumbent's cost and if the uncertain maximum demand is negatively correlated with the uncertain incumbent supplier's cost. Overall, our study substantially expands the frequently followed approach of basing supplier development versus supplier switching decisions merely on strategic and qualitative considerations.     

Monopoly pricing when customers queue

It takes time to process purchases and as a result a queue of customers may form. The pricing and capacity (service rate) decision of a monopolist who must take this into account are characterized. We find that an increase in the average number of customers arriving in the market either has no effect on the price, or else causes the firm to reduce the price in the short run. In the long run the firm will increase capacity and raise the price. When customer preferences are linear, the equilibrium is socially efficient. When preferences are not linear, the equilibrium will not normally be socially efficient.     

Cost strategy for product planning under competition

This study proposes a manufacturing system for the production of a new product, which is achieved by optimum collaboration between members of the supply chain. From the perspective of an incumbent firm, the behaviours of randomly occurring competitors could significantly affect order quantities, and the resultant profitability could diminish competitiveness in the product market. An effective method is therefore required to quantitatively evaluate the influence of competitive companies on the incumbent’s profitability. The objective of this study is to minimise the incumbent’s cost for a new product under competition through an economical cost distribution. Considering the whole life of a product in the market, the Bayesian approach is used to analyse the behaviours of competitors, the work efficiency of employees, in addition to the related costs of the incumbent firm. The adequate cost strategy for manufacturing a new product under competition can be then available.     

Price Competition of Make-to-Order Firms

In recent years, there has been considerable research on price competition in a market where customers are sensitive to production or service delays. Most of these works assume identical firms with only different service speeds (capacities), and find that the firm with the higher speed can usually charge a premium price and take a larger market share. We consider the (non-cooperative) competition of two make-to-order firms. In addition to different service capacities, the competing firms may provide different values of service, and have firm-dependent unit costs of waiting. We obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of a Nash equilibrium, and we characterize the equilibrium analytically for some cases and numerically for some other cases. Our results confirm that the firm with the higher speed of service can usually charge a premium price and does take a larger market share. In addition, we find that the firm with the higher value of service and lower cost of waiting can usually charge a premium price and also take a larger market share. However, we do find cases where the faster (while otherwise identical) firm may charge a lower price, or take a smaller market share, or even generate less profit. In response to an increase in its service capacity, a firm may either raise or cut its optimal price, even though a higher service capacity always leads to a shorter expected waiting time. The firm may either raise or cut its price in response to a hike in its unit waiting cost.     

Factors influencing the effects of the Starlink Satellite Project on the internet service provider market in Thailand

This quantitative study explores the impact of the Starlink project on the internet service provider market in Thailand. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit 617 participants, who completed an online questionnaire. The study examined several independent variables, including demographic factors, such as gender, age, education, status and income, and user behaviour, such as devices used for internet access, time spent online and social media platforms used. Binary regression was used to analyse the data. The results showed that the Starlink project had a significant impact on the competitive structure of the internet service provider market in Thailand. This impact was influenced by factors such as age, education, income, internet duration, mobile internet use, Facebook and TikTok. The study recommends that businesses develop effective strategies to meet the needs and expectations of their customers. Organisations with internet access have the opportunity to collect data to develop new products, which can give them a competitive edge. It is important to maintain a competitive environment to prevent artificially low collection rates or exorbitant prices due to collusion or tacit pricing agreements.     

A Performance Fault Diagnosis Method for SaaS Software Based on GBDT Algorithm

SaaS software that provides services through cloud platform has been more widely used nowadays. However, when SaaS software is running, it will suffer from performance fault due to factors such as the software structural design or complex environments. It is a major challenge that how to diagnose software quickly and accurately when the performance fault occurs. For this challenge, we propose a novel performance fault diagnosis method for SaaS software based on GBDT (Gradient Boosting Decision Tree) algorithm. In particular, we leverage the monitoring mean to obtain the performance log and warning log when the SaaS software system runs, and establish the performance fault type set and determine performance log feature. We also perform performance fault type annotation for the performance log combined with the analysis result of the warning log. Moreover, we deal with the incomplete performance log and the type non-equalization problem by using the mean filling for the same type and combination of SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique) and undersampling methods. Finally, we conduct an empirical study combined with the disaster reduction system deployed on the cloud platform, and it demonstrates that the proposed method has high efficiency and accuracy for the performance diagnosis when SaaS software system runs.     

The Pricing of Customer Access in Telecommunications

Is the loop, which provides customers with access to the switchednetwork, a service in its own right, or is it purely an inputinto the production of the final service, which is usage ofthe switched network? Agreeing with Kahn and Taylor that thequestion of whether the loop is an economic good is irrelevantto the pricing issue, this paper goes on to claim that pricingat marginal cost is not an appropriate welfare maximizationrule due to network externalities that make the private benefitof access less than the social benefit. Socially efficient pricingis likely to involve pricing below the marginal cost of accessto some consumers and above the marginal cost of access to others.One implication is that a contribution to the local loop fromInterexchange Carriers (IXCs) or IXC customers may be optimal.     

State Dependent Pricing with a Queue

Existing studies of pricing when customers queue, assume that the firm cannot adjust the price to the state of demand. In most applications this assumption is false. We adapt the classic model of Naor (1969) to allow the firm to adjust the price to the state of demand. When customers are homogeneous the firm's pricing rule maximizes social welfare. When customers are unobservably heterogenous, the firm's pricing rule does not maximize social welfare. We find that the firm may not always attract customers even when it is technically and economically feasible to do so. This is interpreted as an option effect. The effects of changes to the basic parameters, on the queue length are presented.     

体验模型指导下的云办公软件社会化分享设计

目的探究在体验经济时代下,Saa S模式的云办公软件中的社会化分享设计。方法明确云办公软件的发展趋势及技术应用,用体验模型指导云办公软件的社会化分享设计。结论通过体验模型中五个层面的社会化分享设计,使云办公软件中的社会化分享服务更高效、更具人性化,更符合市场发展规律。     

Dynamic pricing,leadtime quotation and due date based priority dispatching

This study considers a profit-maximising make-to-order manufacturing firm that (i) dynamically quotes a price/leadtime pair to arriving prospective customers who then decide whether or not to place an order by trading off the price and leadtime and (ii) dispatches placed orders. We model the marketing–operations collaboration problem as a Markov decision process to obtain the optimal quotation and dispatching policy numerically. We further investigate the sub-optimality of several sequential approaches. Our numerical results show that sub-optimality is negligible when the tardiness penalty is proportional to tardiness and the customer sensitivities to price and leadtime quotes are similar. However, it is considerable when tardiness of orders is penalised with a fixed cost and the customers differ significantly in their sensitivity to price and leadtime. By joint optimisation, it is possible to make more appealing price/leadtime quotes to customers and at the same time reach a better service level. On the other hand, the joint optimisation can also suggest the lowering of a firm’s service level in order to achieve higher profits.     

浅谈小型包装设计公司的生存之道

上海鹏逸包装设计公司是一个专业从事产品包装装潢设计的小公司。旨在专门为商家解决市场竞争中关于产品包装设计的问题。内容决定形式工业基础了能更专心地做好工作，也为了更方便服务好客户，他们选择了更自由更灵活更有弹性的工作方式，近似于SOHO一族。他们并不注重是否有华丽的外表而更注重实际，也正是因为小，他们对自身水平要求更高，更珍惜与客户的合作机会，收费更合理，并由此而赢得“上帝”的青睐。这里，鹏逸公司总经理王方正愿就小型设计公司的生存之道与大家分享他的观点。[编者按]     

Pricing competition on innovative product between innovator and entrant imitator facing strategic customers

When an innovative product is introduced into the market, innovators always face competition from entrant imitators. Strategic customers may also anticipate this and can design their purchase plans accordingly. In this study, we develop a dynamic game model to formulate the problem associated with competitive product pricing between an innovator and an imitator for obtaining a pricing equilibrium. The influence of various factors on pricing policies, market sales and profits are analysed. We argue that when anticipating forthcoming competitors, innovators should not price too highly in the monopoly stage. The optimal monopoly price decreases with the quality ratio and forms a U shape along with the dimension of customers’ strategic level; however, the right tail of the U is mitigated when the quality ratio increases. In the duopoly phase, the markdown for the innovator and the difference in product cost performance between the innovator and imitator are investigated. We then analyse the value of demand information. The numerical analysis indicates that the value decreases with customers’ strategic level and increases with the quality ratio. The revealing behaviour of the innovator influences the imitator marginally in pricing and considerably in profit. Finally, a medium level is always preferred when the imitator chooses the product quality level.     

消费者策略行为下全渠道服务区域及定价的优化研究

为了研究消费者策略性采购行为对于全渠道BOPS(buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store)运营服务区域和定价的影响,对全渠道零售商实行BOPS运营模式进行建模,并利用最优化理论(K - T条件)得到全渠道零售商的最优定价及最优服务区域。利用数值分析进一步证明消费者策略性采购行为是全渠道零售商制定BOPS运营服务区域和定价策略时应考虑的重要因素。研究表明,对于距离较远的消费者,全渠道零售商需要考虑顾客策略性采购行为,以争取到更多有顾客策略性采购行为的消费者来本店采购;而对于近处的消费者,全渠道零售商不需要考虑其行为,以减少全渠道零售商的渠道运行成本。此外,最优服务区的确定可以使得零售商以较少的渠道成本为消费者提供更好的服务,减少其运营决策失误。     

云印刷企业的发展策略研究

基于市场营销学和传播学的相关理论,从企业品牌形象传播、印品质量保证、服务拓展、客户发掘、渠道布置、建立流畅的反馈机制等方面,探讨了传统印刷企业向云印刷企业转型的发展策略。在这一转型过程中,印刷企业需要整合具有相同或相似需求的客户群体,利用大数据分析,提供精准的差别化服务,以满足各个细分市场中客户群体多样化的需求;在保证印品质量的同时,云印刷企业应拓展印刷服务范围,建立流畅的反馈机制,实现传统印刷业的数字化生存。     

Advance booking discount in the presence of spot market

We consider a risk-neutral firm that can procure raw material via long-term contract as well as in spot market, using the material as a one-to-one input to produce a seasonal product and selling it in the customer market. The firm can use the advance booking discount (ABD) program to entice customers to place their orders prior to the selling season. The ABD program provides an opportunity for the firm to update its understanding of the regular demand and spot price. We separately analyse two cases: (NI) no information updating and (IU) information updating cases. In each case, we derive the optimal discount pricing strategy and corresponding expected profit of the firm. By comparing them, we investigate the value of information updating obtained from the pre-committed order. Among others, our study finds that if the product has a relatively high profit margin, or a low profit margin where the raw material spot price is more sensitive to the trading volume, it is optimal for the firm to implement the discount strategy. The optimal discount coefficient in the IU case is never lower than in the NI case. We further find that the optimal discount coefficient in the NI case decreases in spot market volatility; however, it increases in spot market volatility if and only if the firm’s market share is larger than half of the total market demand in the IU case.     

Optimal pricing and core acquisition strategy for a hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing system

Remanufacturing is one of the product recovery options where the quality of used products (cores) is upgraded to ‘as-good-as-new’ conditions. In this article, we consider a monopolist firm selling new and remanufactured products to quality-conscious primary customers and price-sensitive secondary customers, respectively, with one-way substitution, i.e. some primary customers may substitute new products by remanufactured products while secondary customers can never afford to buy new products. We develop economic models under two scenarios – when the supply of cores is unconstrained and when manufacturers have to procure cores at an acquisition price. The major observations of the article are as follows. A firm is better off when there is no constraint on the supply of cores. Even when cores have to be acquired at an acquisition price, the profitability is higher than that when the firm does not engage in remanufacturing activities. When a larger number of primary customers replace new products with remanufactured products, there is partial cannibalization of new product sales; however, the combined market share and profitability of the firm increase. When core supply is constrained and customers are less sensitive to core prices, the limited supply of cores may render remanufacturing an infeasible option for the firm. Therefore, firms should not only generate awareness among primary customers to buy remanufactured products, but also step up efforts to ensure a steady supply of cores. We conclude the article with managerial implications and directions for future research.     

On optimal upgrade level for used products under given cost structures

In spite of the growing share of the second-hand market, often customers of used products encounter the following three problems: (a) they are uncertain regarding the durability and performance of these products due to lack of information on the item’s past usage and maintenance history, (b) they are uncertain about the accurate pricing of warranties and the post-warranty repair costs, and (c) sometimes, right after the sale, used items may have high failure rate and could be harmful to their new owner. Due to these problems, the dealers are currently carrying out actions such as overhaul and upgrade of the used products before their release. Reliability improvement, which is closely related to the concept of warranty, for used products is a relatively new concept and has received very limited attention. This paper also develops a stochastic model which results in the derivation of the optimal expected upgrade level under given structures of the profit and failure rate functions. We provide a numerical study to illustrate our results.     

Dynamic pricing models for electronic business

Dynamic pricing is the dynamic adjustment of prices to consumers depending upon the value these customers attribute to a product or service. Today's digital economy is ready for dynamic pricing; however recent research has shown that the prices will have to be adjusted in fairly sophisticated ways, based on sound mathematical models, to derive the benefits of dynamic pricing. This article attempts to survey different models that have been used in dynamic pricing. We first motivate dynamic pricing and present underlying concepts, with several examples, and explain conditions under which dynamic pricing is likely to succeed. We then bring out the role of models in computing dynamic prices. The models surveyed include inventory-based models, data-driven models, auctions, and machine learning. We present a detailed example of an e-business market to show the use of reinforcement learning in dynamic pricing.     

Agent-based simulation of pricing strategy for agri-products considering customer preference

Agri-products typically have short life cycles and are perishable. The price of perishable goods is influenced by many factors. Customers in a market have different preferences with regard to price, the quality of the product and the brand. Though studies on pricing strategies that consider customer preference are rare, this paper addresses the problem of optimal pricing strategy for retailers considering customer preferences. Traditional mathematical methods cannot adequately describe the complexities of customer preference. Due to these complexities, this paper proposes an agent-based simulation model composed of six retailers and hundreds of customers, each with personal preferences. The different retailers set prices according to freshness, inventory, cost and other factors. Due to the perishable nature of the products considered, this paper proposes a new categorising price strategy that sets prices according to different degrees of treatments. By comparing the final profit of all retailers at the end of a simulation, the categorising price strategy is demonstrated to be the optimal strategy if customers with different preferences are randomly distributed. Furthermore, based on the model, the paper studies how optimal strategies are influenced by the proportion of customers with different preferences.     

Dynamic pricing for multiple class deterministic demand fulfillment

We consider how a firm should allocate inventory to multiple customer classes that differ based on the price they pay and their willingness to incur delay in fulfillment of their demand. The problem is set in a deterministic demand, economic-order-quantity-like environment with holding, backorder, lost demand and setup costs. The firm either fulfills demand or offers a price discount to induce the demand to wait for fulfillment from the next reorder. We determine the optimal policy and discuss how changes in various parameters affect profitability, customer service, and operational measures such as order frequency and base stock levels. We compare the results to a policy that only rations inventory without dynamic discounting and to a policy that only provides discounts. Through the comparison, we observe that dynamic pricing can be seen as a combination of a pricing mechanism which determines demand and an allocation mechanism that differentiates between customer classes, serving each ones needs. We show that if lower-value customers are distinguished by accepting reduced service, it is possible that both high and low-value customer classes see better levels of service under the optimal policy than under a discounting only policy. In addition we demonstrate the applicability of the results to a stochastic version of the problem.