In this article we focus on product return handling and warehousing issues. In some businesses return rates can be well over 20% and returns can be especially costly when not handled properly. In spite of this, many managers have handled returns extemporarily. The fact that quantitative methods...

The central question of this study involves the relation between the use of takeover defenses and IPO firm value. We report that management frequently uses takeover defenses before taking the firm public. The use of takeover defenses is primarily motivated by managerial entrenchment. IPO...

Ports provide jetty facilities for ships to load and unload their cargo. Jetty capacity is costly and therefore limited, causing delays for arriving ships. However, ship delays are also costly, so terminal operators attempt to min imize their number and duration. Here, simulation has proved to...

The pig husbandry is an important economic sector. In the last decade, major changes have been made. As a result, farmers came together to introduce the "Eco Label pig", meeting the strong consumer and governmental call for high quality, animal friendly and environmentally friendly food. The...

While you refuel for gas ,why not refuel for information or download vehicle data ? This paper analyzes in extensive detail the user segmentation by vehicle usage , service offering , and full business models from WLAN hot spot services delivered to vehicles (private, professional , public)...

We present new lower bounds for the Capacitated Lot Sizing Problem with Set Up Times. We improve the lower bound obtained by the textbook Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition where the capacity constraints are the linking constraints. In our approach, Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition is applied to the network...

Marketing researchers often assume that innovation diffusion is affected by social contagion. However, there is increasing skepticism about the importance of contagion and, as has long been known, S-shaped diffusion curves can also result from heterogeneity in the propensity to adopt. To gain...

Correctness, transparency and effectiveness are the principal attributes of knowledge derived from databases. In current data mining research there is a focus on efficiency improvement of algorithms for knowledge discovery. However important limitations of data mining can only be dissolved by...

We consider equilibrium constrained optimization problems, which have a general formulationthat encompasses well-known models such as mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints, bilevel programs, and generalized semi-infinite programming problems. Based on the celebrated K K M lemma, we...

Co-operatives play a major role in the agricultural and food industry. Co-operatives, by the very nature, are producer-oriented firms. As market conditions for food products have changed in recent decades, the question is raised whether co-operatives are still efficient organisations for...