Anglophone African countries have been implementing reform and modernization initiatives in their Customs administrations. This paper outlines the progression of key reform and modernization initiatives in these countries since the early 1990s, and assesses the gap between these reforms and...

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 examine a supply chain in which the final product consists of components made by a buyer and a supplier. In the single moral-hazard case, the buyer's quality is observable, whereas in the double moral-hazard case, the buyer's quality is not observable. The supplier's quality is not observable...

Operations reversal is a process design principle that involves switching two consecutive stages of the manufacturing process to improve process performance. In this paper we investigate conditions under which operations reversal can be used to reduce the variability---as measured by the...

This paper investigates the impacts of a secondary market where resellers can buy and sell excess inventories. We develop a two-period model with a single manufacturer and many resellers. At the beginning of the first period resellers order and receive products from the manufacturer, but at the...

In this paper we consider a problem of joint coordination between a firm's manufacturing and supply departments. The manufacturing department is responsible for meeting random demand of a product with a short life cycle. The supply department's responsibility is to provide the sufficient amount...

This paper theoretically and empirically examines the conventional wisdom in procurement management that often portrays supply inspections and supplier plant inspections as substitutes. We develop a theoretical model that focuses on potential internal spillover costs of the buyer receiving...

We consider a two-location production/inventory model where each location makes production decisions and is subject to uncertain capacity. Each location optimizes its own profits. Transshipment (at a cost) is allowed from one location to another. We focus on the question of whether one can...

The objective of this study is to examine a performance contingency effect between product competitive strategy and organization design using an archival approach. Specifically, this study examines a sample of 194 firms from 20 industries based on the data collected by Center for Advanced...

We investigate a two-stage serial supply chain with stationary stochastic demand and fixed transportation times. Inventory holding costs are charged at each stage, and each stage may incur a consumer backorder penalty cost, e.g. the upper stage (the supplier) may dislike backorders at the lower...