We focus on backup agreements between a catalog company and manufacturers---a scheme to provide upstream sourcing flexibility for fashion merchandise. A backup agreement states that if the catalog company commits to a number of units for the season, the manufacturer holds back a constant...

A method for determining where to locate the inspection stations in a multistage production process with imperfect inspection is presented. Dynamic programming is used to establish that the optimal expected total cost function at every stage is piecewise linear and concave. While the optimal...

This paper concerns a multilocation newsboy problem with normal demand at each location and identical linear holding and penalty cost functions at each location. Consolidation of demand from several facilities is considered, and an expression is derived for the resulting expected holding and...

This paper reconciles three stylized facts about capital budgeting in firms and shows that they are tied to the presence of asymmetric information among the several members of the firm, each with his or her own objectives and decisions. The facts of interest are: 1. The existence of...