We study how differences in product demand characteristics affect the strategic value of different types of supply chain flexibility for accurate response. We propose a single-period inventory modelling framework with two ordering opportunities. The second order reflects updated demand...

We study the value of information, production flexibility, and supplier flexibility for a good for which an initial and a subsequent order may be placed. We consider a Bayesian model of demand in which the unknown mean demand rate is assumed to have a prior, which is a mixture of two normal...

We study how online business-to-business (B2B) exchanges affect buyer-supplier relationships where an exchange takes the role of a secondary market in which buyers (of the initial product) can trade excess inventory to address supply and demand imbalances. Over the last several years, B2B...

Acall center with both contract and noncontract customers was giving priority to the contract customers only in off-peak hours, precisely when having priority was least important. In this paper, we investigate whether this is rational behavior on the part of the call center and what the...

Firms increasingly use contingent labor to flexibly respond to demand in many environments. Labor supply agencies are growing to fill this need. As a result, firms and agencies are engaging in long-term contracts for labor supply. We develop mathematical models of the interaction between firms...

The authors quantify the benefits of a newly introduced logistics product, day-definite Full Container-load (FCL), in terms of its cost reduction relative to other existing products – regular FCL and airfreight, from the perspective of a logistic manager in an intercontinental supply...

Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and foundries are two types of manufacturers in the semiconductor industry. IDMs integrate both design and manufacturing functions whereas foundries solely focus on manufacturing. Since foundries often have cost advantage over IDMs due to their...

In today's marketplace, most companies realize that it is essential to be aware of and participate in international markets. Furthermore, it becomes transparent that the footprint of the firm's global facilities for sourcing, R+D, production, distribution and sales, and the effective...

This paper investigates the impact of operational flexibility on firms׳ economic exposure to currency fluctuations in the presence of global competition. We consider a global firm who sells as a monopolist in the domestic market, and also sells to a foreign market facing competition from a...