In the framework of disruptive technology, a new product plays the role of a disruptor when it improves quality and captures exisiting consumers from the incumbent. While the profit of the new product typically increases as it moves into the more lucrative segment of the market, such an upstream...

Cannibalization is a major concern for a firm when designing a product line. In addition, external options from outside the firm’s product line may also play a significant role. In this paper, we investigate the impact of external options, represented by reservation utility, on product line...

The authors conducted a series of structured interviews with managers of ten supermarket chains in Shanghai to compare supermarket business practices in Shanghai with those in the United States, emphasizing logistics management issues. Shanghai supermarkets tend to be smaller than U.S. stores,...

We model the impact of information visibility in a two-level supply chain consisting of independent retailers who share upstream supply. The manufacturer supplies similar products to the two retailers and each retailer serves its independent end market. Retailers face one period of demand and...

Increasing product variety through the use of alternate package sizes is a commonly observed mechanism in the grocery industry. Under such a scheme, however, the response to pricing decisions for each of the different package sizes is affected by how customers make demand choices. We build a...

The problem of sharing manufacturing, inventory, or capacity to improve performance is applicable in many decentralized operational contexts. However, the solution of such problems commonly requires an intermediary or a broker to manage information security concerns of individual participants....