This paper is concerned with a generalization of classical inventory models (with fixed ordering costs) that exhibit (s, S) policies. In our model, the distribution of demands in successive periods is dependent on a Markov chain. The model includes the case of cyclic or seasonal demand. The...

Business environments change over time. They are cyclic, show seasonality or just evolve over time. This is certainly true for customer demand. As a result, stationary demand distributions are crude approximations of true customer behavior at best. Yet, most classical stochastic inventory models...

In this paper, we use a Markov decision process (MDP) to model the joint inventory-promotion decision problem. The state variable of the MDP represents the demand state brought about by changing environmental factors as well as promotion decisions. The demand state in a period determines the...

I INTRODUCTION -- II DISCOUNTED COST MODELS -- Discounted Cost Models with Backorders -- Discount Cost Models with Polynomially Growing Surplus Cost -- Discounted Cost Models with Lost Sales -- III AVERAGE COST MODELS -- Average Cost Models with Backorders -- Average Cost Models with...

Inventory inaccuracy is common at retailers. At many retailers, a cash register records incoming orders and outgoing sales, but not the demand or the shrinkage. The shrinkage refers to spoilage or pilferage of inventory. The demand differs from the sales in the periodic-review lost-sales...

The book is concerned with the problems of inventory and supply chain decision making with information updating over time. The models considered include inventory decisions with multiple sources and delivery modes, supply-contract design and evaluation, contracts with exercise price,...