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To reduce environmental pollution and promote sustainable development, more and more suppliers are committed to producing more environmentally friendly products such as green electrical appliances through a green supply chain (GSC) system. However, some suppliers are often limited by a lack of funds in the production and supply process. In this paper, buyer-supported purchase order financing (BPOF) and advance payment discount (APD) are adopted to help the supplier successfully produce green products in a GSC system consisting of a financially constrained supplier and a reputable retailer. Moreover, the salvage values of unsold inventory in most traditional models are fixed, but in real life, the salvage value tends to be time dependent. Therefore, how the time-varying salvage value affects the operation and financing decisions as well as the profit risks is studied. We find that the clearance time of the unsold items affects the optimal order quantity and the supplier's discount rate and the financial institution's optimal interest rate. In addition, the financing equilibrium is BPOF under certain conditions, and the profit risks of the retailer and the entire supply chain are increasing with the order quantity and the clearance time. Finally, our results are verified through numerical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplier selection (SS) and order allocation (OA) are strategic decisions that have a substantial effect on a company's performance. However, order allocation is often neglected, since it results from supplier selection and is considered supplementary: little attention has been paid to its specific nature and complexity. Consequently, the authors conducted a systematic literature review specifically regarding order allocation methods. The research aimed to evaluate how often and when the issue has been dignified with an individual focus, independently of the supplier selection problem. This study conducted a comprehensive examination of the order allocation models and solutions, criteria for order quantity allocation, features of suppliers, items, planning periods, and demand most commonly considered in the literature. Finally, it aimed to discover whether supply chain configurations and trends have been considered in efforts to find a solution to the problem. The scientific contribution of this study is threefold: (i) to expand the review of scientific literature regarding order allocation models, (ii) to identify research gaps and highlight research opportunities, and (iii) to suggest a research agenda for the development of order allocation models according to the requirements of current trends in supply chain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem definition: Smart contract improves the supply chain efficiency by enabling the supplier's commitment to postshipment financing decisions, which mitigates the bank's lending risk exposure and thereby reduces the financing cost. This paper investigates how smart contract adoption could facilitate trade finance activities and create value for supply chain firms. Academic/practical relevance: As the emerging blockchain technology could potentially reshape the trade financing landscape, understanding the impact of smart contract adoption and its interaction with trade finance activities is practically relevant and of great importance. Methodology: We develop a two-stage game-theoretic model and adopt supply chain finance theory to characterize the strategic interactions between supply chain firms in the presence of both operational risk (demand uncertainty) and financial risks (credit and liquidity risks). Results: We find that the value of smart contract depends critically on the trade finance structures, including both preshipment and postshipment financing schemes. Under the baseline trade finance model (with purchase order financing as preshipment financing and factoring as postshipment financing), smart contract alleviates the supplier's overpricing behavior caused by commitment frictions and helps restore the supply chain efficiency. When buyer direct financing serves as an alternative preshipment financing, smart contract might discourage the retailer from offering buyer direct financing, which significantly hurts the supplier and thus reduces the supply chain profit. When invoice trading serves as the alternative postshipment financing, the supplier always chooses invoice trading over factoring because of its trading flexibility, which in turn, makes the commitment frictions ubiquitous and unresolvable (namely, commitment trap). As a result, invoice trading could unexpectedly lead to a lower supplier's profit. Luckily, such an adoption dilemma can be resolved by smart contract adoption in conjunction with factoring. Managerial implications: Our findings provide guidelines for and insights into when smart contract should be adopted and its interactions with different trade finance schemes. In particular, smart contract adoption does not always benefit the supply chain. History: This paper has been accepted for the Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Special Section on the Interface of Operations, Finance and Technology. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.1126. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of identifying, evaluating and contracting with suppliers, which plays an important role in the success of any organization, causes organizations to consume enormous amounts of financial resources. In order to reduce purchasing risk, maximize the total value for the buyer, and develop long-term relationships between buyers and suppliers, companies need to give due importance to the supply chain. Since the variety of uncontrollable and unpredictable criteria in the supplier selection problem affects the evaluation and decision-making process, such problems are very complex and different approaches are used for their solution. In this study, it is aimed to choose the best supplier that provides milk and dairy products for a supermarket operating in Kelkit district of Gümüşhane province. First, the necessary literature was searched, then the purchasing manager of the enterprise was interviewed and the criteria to be used in solving the problem were selected from the relevant literature, and 5 supplier items related to milk and dairy products were determined to be evaluated. The weighting of the criteria was made with the AHP method and it was revealed that the most important criteria were product quality, solving the quality problem, packaged delivery and the amount of defect-free product. Afterwards, 5 supplier alternatives were evaluated with the MAIRCA method. As a result of the evaluation, it was determined that the best alternative supplier was A2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the significant challenges in the Procurement area of large companies is the prioritization of demands, given the high volume of daily requests and the reduced amount of labor. Therefore, it is necessary to seek a service strategy to meet all demands promptly and with the required quality. Therefore, this study aims to sort requisitions into service priorities according to the urgency in the generation of purchase orders. Through the Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) approach, it is possible to extract the understanding of values by experts by developing a hierarchy of fundamental objectives and a network of objectives. Then, to evaluate the alternatives because of the established criteria, the Multi-criteria Decision Support Method THOR 2 is used for its ability to perform the ordering of alternatives. With this work, we exposes an approach to support decision-making processes regarding the prioritization of demands in various sectors and companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish a supply chain finance scheme containing a cash-strapped supplier, a creditworthy retailer as well as a financial institution to explore whether the positive or negative salvage value has a crucial impact on the order decisions and financing strategies. Buyer-backed purchase order financing and advanced payment discount (APD) financing are considered to settle the supplier's fund shortage problem. We found that the positive and negative salvage values affect (1) the retailer's optimal order quantity. The buyer orders more products with positive salvage value than those with no salvage value and reduces orders for items with negative salvage value; (2) the profits in the supply chain. Ordering items with a positive salvage value can reduce the risk of loss compared to orders with no salvage value, which leads to more gains for the buyer and the whole supply chain, while orders for items with negative salvage increase the losses, resulting in lower profits; (3) the threshold of the retailer's internal asset level under single financing. The higher salvage value brings more inventory risk to the retailer; hence the retailer should have a higher asset level to ensure that there is sufficient capital to finance the supplier via APD. Finally, we verify the results by numerical experiments and present some managerial implications for different industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two financial schemes, i.e., purchase order financing (POF) and buyer direct financing (BDF), have been proposed for small and medium-sized manufacturers. This study considers a supply chain consisting of a capital-constrained manufacturer who faces the random yield and has a probability of credit default, a well-capitalized retailer, and a bank. We find that the manufacturer prefers POF scheme if the unit production cost is high and the default risk is low, and BDF scheme otherwise. Whereas the retailer benefits from POF when the unit production cost is small. Thus, the retailer, as the leader, has an incentive to distort the purchase price to induce the manufacturer's financing strategy towards the retailer's preference. Furthermore, only BDF can achieve a Pareto improvement since the retailer plays a dual role (i.e., buyer and lender) under BDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revolution in the digital economy is forcing the manufacturing industry to develop new business models to achieve operational excellence. Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) is a key measure, aimed at increasing supply chain efficiency and mitigating the bullwhip effects on the Internet of Things (IoT). The problems encountered by the manufacturing supplier are the difficulty of obtaining inventory information at the hub, and being unable to easily integrate relevant inventory information in the IoT. The proposed method is to implement an integrated Hub VMI system to solve the inventory problem. This case study aims to implement an all-in-one integrated Hub VMI in an electronic manufacturing business. This proposal has two models: one comprises an Stock Transfer Order (STO)/Sales Order (SO) structure in which the purchase order is accepted and the product is manufactured onsite; the other consists of a Purchase Order (PO)/SO structure, whereby the PO is accepted onsite but the product is manufactured at another site. This case study designs an intelligent Radio Frequency Identified (RFID) system to extract product information from an inventory, and to provide a product, as recommended by customer services. The result and the contributions of this research include inventory management operation enhancements, a reduction in the cost and the total execution time, a reduction in the response time for the benefit of the customer and an increase in system performance efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The backup agreements are established between the supplier and the buyer to regulate the purchase of a good or service. The contract constitutes a backup inventory for the final purchase order and strengthens the commercial relationship between buyer and seller. The contract acts as a coordination mechanism in which parameters such as price, quantity, quality, and time are considered to improve the integration and coordination of the flows of resources, income, and information in the supply chain. On the other hand, in a decentralized supply chain, small producers represent the echelon with the lowest profit generated their economic activity, so this article studies small producer's income performance once implemented the backup contract, in a decentralized three-echelon small agricultural producers supply chain located in the Center of Valle Del Cauca. Systems dynamics is the strategy used for its analysis. Variables that affect small producers' income performance in the decentralized chain are identified and a causal diagram is elaborated. Also, two scenarios are studied using Forrester diagrams: Supply Chain without a backup contract and a second scenario with the Implementation of the backup contract. Finally, it is simulated in Vensim software, results are interpreted, and future supply chain performance is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purchase order financing (POF) and buyer direct financing (BDF) are both innovative financing schemes aiming to help financial constrained suppliers secure financing for production. In this paper, we investigate the interaction mechanism between suppliers' financing strategy selection and manufacturers' loans offering strategy adoption under two innovative financing schemes. We developed an evolutionary game model to effectively investigate the interaction mechanism between suppliers and manufacturers and analyzed the evolutionary stable strategies of the game model. Then we used system dynamics to present the performance of the evolutionary game model and took a sensitivity analysis to verify the theoretical results. The main conclusions are as follows: in the supply chain, to deal with the noncooperation among suppliers and manufacturers on innovative financing schemes, the revenue of manufacturers, the rate of manufacturer loan, and the proper financial risk factor should be relatively high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply Chain Finance (SCF) faces the complex problem of implementing inventory, purchase order and accounts receivable financing automation in terms of transaction data trust and validation. This paper aims to explore how blockchain technology adoption solves the SCF problem using a multi-case method based on the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM). With purposive sampling, 30 cases were selected on the criteria of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in solving SCF problems. The results show that trust, validity and distributed ledger transaction data as perceived usefulness are the main drivers of blockchain adoption because it provides solutions to SCF automation problems such as Know Your Customer (KYC), accounting, and transaction settlement. Smart contracts offer easy and fast transactions such as in L/C export processing as perceived ease to use. Of the 30 blockchain projects, 21 offer the usefulness of automated accounts receivable financing, 15 offer easy-to-use purchase order financing and 8 offer easy-to-use inventory financing processes. This study provides the current state of blockchain technology adoption by exploring 30 real application cases in SCF globally. Blockchain advantages provide automation solutions in global supply SCF practices with smart contracts, transparency and security of distributed ledger data feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of knowledge about demand responses or about behavioural aspects of decision-making within procurement processes is a significant cost driver in modern supply chains. Very often, this lack of knowledge leads to a substantial increase in inventories and may endanger negotiated service levels. For instance, various studies reveal that decision- makers tend to anchor orders close to the average past demand although the target order size is significantly higher or lower. In order to improve this situation, feedback has to be systematically provided to the decision-makers. In combination with modern big data analytics and reporting instruments that enable exhaustive monitoring, effective indicators have to be applied in order to directly detect processes with significant potential for improvement. Hence, this paper proposes a new approach for measuring the intricacy in purchase order sizing that addresses self-awareness skills of decision-makers. By simultaneously analysing the amount and structure of occurring costs, processes with a significant and simple structured error pattern are identified. In order to identify these processes more reliably, a new approach that supplements former information-theoretic entropy measures by an additional cost value is proposed. By analysing costs and the structure of deviations from target values in a two-dimensional measure, a more comprehensive understanding of the considered order sizing process is pursued. In order to illustrate the application of the new approach and show limitations of one-dimensional measures, different scenarios that exemplify the new approach are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Billions of doses of medicines are donated for mass drug administrations in support of the World Health Organization's "Roadmap to Implementation," which aims to control, eliminate, and eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The supply chain to deliver these medicines is complex, with fragmented data systems and limited visibility on performance. This study empirically evaluates the impact of an online supply chain performance measurement system, "NTDeliver," providing understanding of the value of information sharing towards the success of global health programs. Methods: Retrospective secondary data were extracted from NTDeliver, which included 1,484 shipments for four critical medicines ordered by over 100 countries between February 28, 2006 and December 31, 2018. We applied statistical regression models to analyze the impact on key performance metrics, comparing data before and after the system was implemented. Findings: The results suggest information sharing has a positive association with improvement for two key performance indicators: purchase order timeliness (β = 0.941, p = 0.003) and—most importantly—delivery timeliness (β = 0.828, p = 0.027). There is a positive association with improvement for three variables when the data are publicly shared: shipment timeliness (β = 2.57, p = 0.001), arrival timeliness (β = 2.88, p = 0.003), and delivery timeliness (β = 2.82, p = 0.011). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that information sharing between the NTD program partners via the NTDeliver system has a positive association with supply chain performance improvements, especially when data are shared publicly. Given the large volume of medicine and the significant number of people requiring these medicines, information sharing has the potential to provide improvements to global health programs affecting the health of tens to hundreds of millions of people. Author summary: The supply chain to deliver donated preventive chemotherapy medicines is complex due to the many stakeholders and partnerships participating, as well as challenging because the logistics are further complicated by delivery to remote destinations in developing countries. As mass drug administration (MDA) campaigns involve treating hundreds of thousands to millions of patients in endemic regions within entire countries over the course of days or weeks, close coordination and timing of medicine delivery is critical. Inefficiencies caused by fragmented data systems and limited transparency on supply chain performance further challenges the ability to identify shipment issues and explore the root cause of the issues. Prior to 2016, delivery was performing below standards, lagging as much as 40% below the WHO target of 80% on-time delivery. These delays result in wasted medicine donations, increased program costs, delayed MDAs, or sometimes even completely missed MDAs. In September 2016, an online supply chain performance measurement system, "NTDeliver," was launched by the NTD Supply Chain Forum (a public-private partnership focused on managing and improving the preventive chemotherapy (PC) donation supply chain) to enhance supply chain performance and information transparency. Our findings suggest that information sharing through NTDeliver is positively associated with performance improvements at key stages in NTD supply chain, especially when information is made publicly accessible, focused on access for country program managers. The study findings support investment in supply chain systems and commitment to data transparency, in the context of a growing focus on supply chain investment in NTD programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long-lasting buyer–supplier relationship is vital for any business organization to be successful. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that affect the supplier satisfaction in buyer–supplier relationships and to explore their causal relationships. The work is an attempt to probe the issue of supplier satisfaction in a purchasing relationship and the various factors that might have a bearing on this relationship. An instrument, developed for this purpose after conducting wide-ranging discussions with Heads and Operations Officers of supplier firms as also the available literature on the subject, was validated through pilot testing. A selection of nearly 300 Indian suppliers comprised the respondent firms in our study who were invited to participate in our online or paper-based survey. Partial Least-Squares path modeling (PLS) was the technique chosen to evaluate the proposed model. The paper builds on earlier research on the topic to replicate their study in a new context. The major findings of our research relate to the following aspects: (a) assess the importance of supplier satisfaction for the buying firm to receive preferred customer status, (b) re-establish the importance of cooperation as a precursor for managing the buyer–supplier relationship, and (3) apply the PLS analyses method to evaluate the factors and their order in terms of their contribution to the overall supplier satisfaction level. The results show that the important positive effects on supplier satisfaction in buyer–supplier relationships are the ones linked to cooperation, coordination, payment policy, and purchasing policy by this order. This study extends previous meta-analyses suggesting that proper cooperation could be the source of a competitive advantage enjoyed by the firms on both sides of the supply chain. The present study provides a guidance toward conducting future research on satisfaction measurement in buyer–supplier relationships from the perspectives of both buyers and suppliers. The present study explores how factors like conducive policy, transparent communication, and coordination efforts by the buyer affect the value in the buyer–supplier relationships. Our findings present three direct implications for managers of buyer firms. First, the work provides an empirically grounded argument for making conscious efforts toward improving cooperation with supplier firms to achieve better supplier satisfaction. Second, the work provides guidelines to the managers for prioritizing synergetic investments in developing sustainable and fruitful relationships with suppliers. Third, the study results indicate a word of caution for managers who aim to simultaneously improve the buyer firm's information technology (IT) capability while ignoring its integration with the IT infrastructure or the lack of it that exists in the supplier firms. This paper investigates why supplier satisfaction is relevant for buyer–supplier relationships and what are the relevant factors associated in this context. The findings expand the current understanding of these concepts by building upon practitioner inputs and survey results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current national and international regulations, along with growing environmental concerns, have deeply influenced the design of supply chain networks. These decisions stem from the fact that decision-makers try to design the supply chain network to align with their economic and environmental objectives. In this paper, a new closed-loop supply chain network with sales agency and customers is formulated. The proposed model has four echelons in the forward direction and five echelons in the backwards direction. The model not only considers several constraints from previous studies, but also addresses new constraints in order to better explore real-life problems that employ different transportation modes and that rely on sale agency centers. The objective function is to maximize the total profit. In addition, this study firstly considers distinct cluster of customers based on the product life cycle. These customers are utilized in different levels of the proposed network in order to purchase the final products, returned products, and recycled products. The structure of the model is based on linear mixed-integer programming, and the proposed model has been investigated through a case study regarding the manufacturing industry. To verify the model efficiency, a set of metaheuristics and hybrid algorithm are applied in various test problems along with a data from a real-world case study in a building construction industry. The findings of the proposed network illustrated that using the attributes of sale agency centers and clusters of customers both increase the problem total revenue and the number of the collected returned products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retailers procure inventory by placing purchase orders (POs) with suppliers. POs specify product price, quantity, quality, delivery times, and other aspects of the fulfillment process, such as carton labeling requirements and packaging formats. When servicing an order, a supplier may fail to meet the fulfillment terms, thus committing a fulfillment error and triggering a chargeback penalty. We collect supplier compliance manuals from 111 retailers to characterize fulfillment errors and chargebacks in practice. The majority of chargeback penalties listed by retailers pertain to execution quality: aspects of the fulfillment process beyond product price, quantity, quality, and delivery time. We use an empirically grounded analytical model in combination with game‐theoretic analysis to demonstrate that the chargebacks most commonly used in practice do a poor job coordinating supply chains around execution quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a supply chain where a retailer buys from a supplier who faces financial constraints. Informational problems about the supplier's demand prospects and production capabilities restrict her access to capital. By committing to a minimum purchase quantity, the retailer can mitigate these informational problems and expand the supplier's feasible production set. We assume a newsvendor model of operations and analyze the strategic interaction of the two parties as a sequential game. Key parameters in our model are the supplier's ex ante credit limit, her informational transparency-which conditions the amount of additional capital released by the commitment-and the demand characteristics of the final market. We show that in equilibrium the supplier can benefit from a lower ex ante credit limit or lower informational transparency. The retailer always benefits from an increase in these parameters.We also indicate limits to the commitment approach: under certain conditions, the retailer may prefer to relax the supplier's financial constraint by adjusting the wholesale price, or a combination of wholesale price and commitment. Our study provides a novel perspective on capital market frictions in supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel approach of coordinating decisions in an integrated supply chain (ISC): coordinating order acceptance (OA) and batch delivery (BD) due to round trip transportation (RTT) and using third-party logistics (3PL) vehicles. The paper aims at trading off among accepted orders revenue, delivery costs as well as any penalties incurred in the ISC to maximize the total benefit. A novel mixed-integer programming is proposed for the problem. In addition, the paper provides a heuristic to form batches and develops a hybrid evolutionary computation algorithms based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the problem. An information sharing mechanism is improved and applied. To explore and to locate the proposed PSO in a better neighborhood, a local search is proposed. Taguchi experimental design is utilized to set the appropriate values of the algorithms’ parameters and random instances are generated to evaluate the performance of the algorithms. The paper investigates the profitability sensitivity of the problem to parameters and analyzes the effect of the changes in the parameters on the performance of our proposed algorithms. The attained results show the appropriate performance of our algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of collaboration between overseas and local suppliers in global purchasing is a major challenge in assemble-to-order (ATO) supply chain management. This study established a collaborative supply chain model with a single manufacturer and multiple suppliers to explore the collaborative supply strategy in a time-price-sensitive ATO system. The method adopted the cost-benefit analysis with time constraints. The profit functions of the manufacturer and local suppliers were given in decentralized decision mode, and the Nash equilibrium solution of supply chain decision was obtained. The strategy combination of collaborative supply was then determined. Herman Miller (Ningbo), Inc. was taken as an example, and a numerical simulation was discussed to illustrate the proposed approach. Different scenarios of the delivery time of overseas suppliers and the time sensitivity coefficient of customers were considered. Results confirm that supply collaboration has a significant impact on the ATO supply chain performance in global purchasing. The collaborative supply strategy combination determined by model optimization can improve the expected profits of the manufacturer and local suppliers. The conclusion of this study can provide a theoretical basis and a decision-making reference for supply chain enterprises to develop effective global purchasing strategies in time-price-sensitive markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a competitive market, the retailers, in order to encourage the customers to increase their orders, give them the opportunity to pay a fraction of the purchasing cost after delivery of the ordered items (i.e., down-stream partial delayed payment). On the other hand, the suppliers, in order to reduce the risk of cancellations of orders from buyers, may ask the retailers to pay a portion of the purchasing cost before delivery of products (i.e., up-stream partial prepayment). In this paper, an EOQ model with down-stream partial delayed payment and up-stream partial prepayment under three different scenarios (without shortage, with full backordering and with partial backordering) is presented. In order to find the optimal solutions of the models developed for different scenarios, the convexity of the objective functions (i.e., total cost functions) are proved and then closed-form optimal solutions are derived. Also, a solution algorithm is proposed for the model of the third scenario. To demonstrate the applicability of the framework, some numerical examples are presented. Finally, sensitivity analyses are made on several key parameters, in order to gain some managerial insight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As a major part of the daily operation in an enterprise, purchasing frequency is in constant change. Recent approaches on the human dynamics can provide some new insights into the economic behavior of companies in the supply chain. This paper captures the attributes of creation times of purchase orders to an individual vendor, as well as to all vendors, and further investigates whether they have some kind of dynamics by applying logarithmic binning to the construction of distribution plots. It’s found that the former displays a power-law distribution with approximate exponent 2.0, while the latter is fitted by a mixture distribution with both power-law and exponential characteristics. Obviously, two distinctive characteristics are presented for the interval time distribution from the perspective of individual dynamics and group dynamics. Actually, this mixing feature can be attributed to the fitting deviations as they are negligible for individual dynamics, but those of different vendors are cumulated and then lead to an exponential factor for group dynamics. To better describe the mechanism generating the heterogeneity of the purchase order assignment process from the objective company to all its vendors, a model driven by product life cycle is introduced, and then the analytical distribution and the simulation result are obtained, which are in good agreement with the empirical data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Previous research has shown that when solving a newsvendor problem, individuals systematically and persistently deviate from the profit maximizing quantity. This paper investigates the relationship between cognitive reflection and newsvendor decision making, testing experienced supply chain professionals and subjects affiliated with a university business school in a newsvendor experiment. We find that in high and medium critical ratio environments, individuals with higher cognitive reflection exhibit a lower tendency to chase demand. We also find that cognitive reflection is related to task outcome measures including average expected profit, average order quantity and order quantity variance, and that cognitive reflection is a better predictor of performance than college major, years of experience, and managerial position. These results suggest that cognitive reflection contributes to an understanding of newsvendor decision-making behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite the widespread adoption of e-procurement by firms in recent years, academic research examining the mechanisms through which e-procurement applications lead to performance has been scarce. Anecdotal evidence points to numerous situations where companies have failed to harness the potential of e-procurement. In this paper, we argue that online purchase volume and mix flexibilities facilitated by these applications play a significant role in the ability of firms to benefit from e-procurement. We examine this tenet from both an economic as well as a social perspective. We propose that increased online purchase volume flexibility as well as online purchase mix flexibility can be facilitated by two mechanisms – supplier customization as explained by transaction costs perspective, and information sharing between supply chain partners using a social exchange theoretical perspective. The increased purchase volume and mix flexibility in turn leads to better performance along the dimensions of cost, quality, and delivery. We present and test a nuanced perspective where we argue that (i) the effect of supplier customization on both purchase volume and mix flexibilities will be moderated by the frequency of transactions conducted online, and (ii) the effect of information sharing on both purchase volume and mix flexibilities will be moderated by trust in the supplier. We estimate our research model using survey data collected from 130 purchasing and procurement managers. We find strong support for our proposed research model with results indicating that purchase volume and mix flexibilities play a vital mediating role in impacting e-procurement performance. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We focus on a multi period stochastic lot sizing problem in a two-echelon distribution network which operates under a Push Control System (PCS). The PCS is an integrated inventory control system for the supply chain, in which the supplier decides on the appropriate inventory levels of each product and on the inventory policies to maintain these levels. The main assumption of the push control system is centralized control and availability of end-item demand information. Suppliers monitor retailers' inventory levels in order to decide order quantities, shipping and timing of replenishment orders. A push control system allows chain members directly benefit from minimization of distortion of demand information (known as the bullwhip effect) which is transferred from downstream supply network members to upstream members (Çetinkaya and Lee, 2000). As a result, it becomes possible to reduce the stock out situations and inventory carrying costs, while increasing the customer service levels. Moreover, centralization of inventory decisions provides a reduction in the variability of system parameters, so makes it possible to deal with time varying demand without much complexity. Existing methods for the evaluation of periodic re-view, two-echelon policies are usually developed for systems with lead times of integer multiples of periods. This study is concerned with a system where review periods are longer than the replenishment lead times, in other words lead times are multiples (not necessarily integer) of period lengths. In such a case, determination of the order-up-to levels is not only dependent on demand distribution over lead times but also expected inventory levels through the period. Also, inventory carrying costs are charged not on the ending inventory levels of periods but on the average inventory levels of the periods. We assume two types of backorder costs: (1) per unit short, and (2) per unit short per time. When considering the two-echelon situation, we include transportation costs in terms of unit variable transportation costs and fixed batch costs for flow of the products from warehouse to retailers. We study a two-echelon distribution inventory system with a single central warehouse and N retailers. Retailers directly order from the warehouse to replenish their stocks where warehouse replenishes its stock from an outside supplier. All facilities follow a periodic inventory order policy where the length of planning periods are the same for all retailers as well as at the warehouse. … [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's competitive environment, companies face increasingly diverse challenges. To survive in the next millennium, they need to improve their profit margins by cutting capital costs and creating more responsive and adaptable supply chains to meet the ever changing market demand. This paper aims to investigate how dynamic simulation tools can be used to improve and optimise supply chain performance. The general overview of the supply chain is first introduced, the importance of order release mechanisms is examined and its use as a performance measure to monitor the supply chain is proposed. Simulations were developed to investigate the customer/manufacturer relationship of the supply chain. After the running of the trials a diagnostic evaluation was formed. With the simulation results analysed, significant improvements in lowering inventory costs, increasing output and fulfilling orders on time were achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of inspection policy and lead time reduction on an integrated vendor--buyer inventory system. We assume that an arriving order contains some defective items. The buyer adopts a sublot sampled inspection policy to inspect selected items. The number of defective items in the sublot sampling is a random variable. The buyer's lead time is assumed reducible by adding crash cost. Two integrated inventory models with backorders and lost sales are derived. We first assume that the lead time demand follows a normal distribution, and then relax the assumption about the lead time demand distribution function and apply the minimax distribution-free procedure to solve the problem. Consequently, the order quantity, reorder point, lead time and the number of shipments per lot from the vendor to the buyer are decision variables. Iterative procedures are developed to obtain the optimal strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the purchasing function in a sales-oriented company. It makes particular reference to the control and evaluation of the supplier base as being fundamental to improving product and service quality and the control of costs. The systems under which the purchasing department has to work are also evaluated and the behavior and attitudes of internal customers examined. Initial research was carried out by discussions with members of the purchasing department, observing them at work, and by study of purchasing and accounting records, computer outputs and company documents. This revealed that the department was a cohesive unit, which performed well as a team. Nevertheless, staff felt that they were not doing enough of the proper task of a purchasing officer and were unable to fulfill the true money-saving activities within the department's capabilities. The purchasing department acts as the authorized buyer for most of the goods and services provided to the firm. Currently there are 2,104 suppliers with accounts on the firm's computer system. The accounts department requires that any company supplying goods or service is recorded on the list so that payment can be made. In addition, the accounts payable section pays about 1,200 invoices for such items as transport, telephones and utilities that are purchasing not raised by the purchasing department. Although purchasing has nothing to do with these items, the suppliers are still part of the supplier base.

• SM-ODMs secure larger POF loans by integrating formal information more extensively. • SM-ODMs secure larger POF loans by exchanging informal information at a high level. • SM-ODMs improve financial performance through two information-processing mechanisms. • SM-ODMs improve financial performance through larger Internet-based POF loans. This paper investigates how small and medium-sized original design manufacturers (SM-ODMs) obtain sufficient purchase order financing (POF) and ultimately improve their financial performance through Internet-based supply chain financial platforms. Based on information-processing theory, this paper explores the impacts of two information-processing mechanisms (formal information integration and informal information exchange) on Internet-based POF loans and financial performance from SM-ODMs' perspective. The posited relationships are verified through analysis of second-hand project data derived from 207 distinct customer purchase orders and first-hand survey data collected from 33 SM-ODMs, using a structural equation modeling approach. The findings indicate that SM-ODMs can secure larger Internet-based POF loans and improve their financial performance by integrating formal information more extensively. This can be done by exchanging informal information more frequently and proactively at a high level. However, exchanging informal information more frequently and proactively at a low level results in smaller Internet-based POF loans. Finally, SM-ODMs can improve their financial performance through larger Internet-based POF loans. This paper contributes substantially to the literature by shedding light on information-processing mechanisms on Internet-based supply chain financial platforms through the lens of information-processing theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]