Jerry Wei | University of Notre Dame (original) (raw)

Papers by Jerry Wei

随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链... more 随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链管理企业——深圳市创捷供应链有限公司（以下简称：创捷）为研究对象，通过案例（A）供应链整合与供应链金融集成解决方案与案例（B）信息系统和生态圈的建立逐步深入阐述创捷的生态圈商业模式的内在机理。其中，案例（A）展示了创捷商业模式创新的初衷、全貌及运作逻辑，详细阐述了创捷如何通过供应链整合、供应链金融服务帮助中小企业降低交易成本、提高反应速度，并且最终帮助中小企业提高竞争能力。案例（B）更深层次、系统地阐述了创捷如何通过逐步实现流程整合、系统整合、多方供应链利益相关者协调以最终实现创新的商业模式，从本质上理解创捷供应链金融业务、生态圈商业模式成功的关键

With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more suppl... more With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more supply chain management service companies provide small and medium-sized mobile phone designers (which refer to “project managers” in this case) with supply chain financial services as their core integrated supply chain management services. This case research is based on the Shenzhen SJET supply chain co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to SJET), which is the most outstanding supply chain management service company in Shenzhen. Two associated cases are explored in this study. In the first case, we explore the original intention, the whole picture and the operation logic of SJET’s business model innovation, and analyze how SJET can help the small and medium-sized enterprises to reduce the transaction cost and improve the response speed through the supply chain integration, thus ultimately improving their competitiveness. In the second case, we provide a deeper, systematic exposition of how SJET is...

随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链... more 随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链管理企业——深圳市创捷供应链有限公司（以下简称：创捷）为研究对象，通过案例（A）供应链整合与供应链金融集成解决方案与案例（B）信息系统和生态圈的建立逐步深入阐述创捷的生态圈商业模式的内在机理。其中，案例（A）展示了创捷商业模式创新的初衷、全貌及运作逻辑，详细阐述了创捷如何通过供应链整合、供应链金融服务帮助中小企业降低交易成本、提高反应速度，并且最终帮助中小企业提高竞争能力。案例（B）更深层次、系统地阐述了创捷如何通过逐步实现流程整合、系统整合、多方供应链利益相关者协调以最终实现创新的商业模式，从本质上理解创捷供应链金融业务、生态圈商业模式成功的关键

With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more suppl... more With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more supply chain management service companies provide small and medium-sized mobile phone designers (which refer to “project managers” in this case) with supply chain financial services as their core integrated supply chain management services. This case research is based on the Shenzhen SJET supply chain co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to SJET), which is the most outstanding supply chain management service company in Shenzhen. Two associated cases are explored in this study. In the first case, we explore the original intention, the whole picture and the operation logic of SJET’s business model innovation, and analyze how SJET can help the small and medium-sized enterprises to reduce the transaction cost and improve the response speed through the supply chain integration, thus ultimately improving their competitiveness. In the second case, we provide a deeper, systematic exposition of how SJET is...

An example of supply chain coordination is early order commitment, wherein a retailer commits to ... more An example of supply chain coordination is early order commitment, wherein a retailer commits to purchase a fixed-order quantity and delivery time from a manufacturer before the real need takes place. In this paper, an analytical model is developed that quantifies the impact of early order commitment on the performance of a simple two-level supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single retailer. The model reveals that the effect of early order commitment depends on a lot of factors such as the cost structure of the supply chain, the lengths of manufacturing and delivery lead times, and the correlation of the demand over time. This model can be used to evaluate the benefit of early order commitment, to determine the optimal early commitment periods of the supply chain, and to estimate the maximum incentives the manufacturer can provide to encourage the retailer to commit its orders in advance.

：This paper presents the results of six case studies in two modules, one in the automotive indust... more ：This paper presents the results of six case studies in two modules, one in the automotive industry and the other in the laptop computer industry. Each module contains a company and two of its suppliers. The objective of the study is to find out the effect of the customer's power on the supplier's choice of scheduling practice and response strategy to unexpected schedule changes. Managers in each firm were interviewed to examine five issues: customer power, customer's purchase practice, information sharing, supplier's process flexibility, and supplier's master production schedule practice. We found that supply chain power relationship is a significant, albeit latent factor in the formulation of master production schedule. Supplier's process flexibility attenuates the influence of customer power, while the customer's extent of information sharing and commitment to the purchase quantity do not necessarily depends on power. We develop some propositions as a result of this study, which may pave the way for large-scale, theory-testing field studies.

International Journal of Production Research, 2000

... In this paper we experimentally test three levels of supply chain integration and explore the... more ... In this paper we experimentally test three levels of supply chain integration and explore the cost implications of each one. We focus on integrating the supply chain through schedule sharing. ... In the 1992 Wards Auto World survey of automotive sup-pliers (Plumb 1992), 76 ...

European Journal of Operational Research, 2009

Cooperative advertising is a practice that a manufacturer pays retailers a portion of the local a... more Cooperative advertising is a practice that a manufacturer pays retailers a portion of the local advertising cost in order to induce sales. Cooperative advertising plays a significant role in marketing programs of channel members. Nevertheless, most studies to date on cooperative advertising have assumed that the market demand is only influenced by advertising expenditures but not by retail price. This paper addresses channel coordination by seeking optimal cooperative advertising strategies and equilibrium pricing in a two-member distribution channel. We establish and compare two models: a non-cooperative, leader-follower game and a cooperative game. We develop propositions and insights from the comparison of these models. The cooperative model achieves better coordination by generating higher channelwide profits than the non-cooperative model with these features: (a) the retailer price is lower to consumers; and (b) the advertising efforts are higher for all channel members. We identify the feasible solutions to a bargaining problem where the channel members can determine how to divide the extra profits.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2007

One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits t... more One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits to purchase a fixedorder quantity at a fixed delivery time before demand uncertainty is resolved. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to quantify the cost savings of an early order commitment in a two-level supply chain where demand is serially correlated. A decision rule is derived to determine whether early order commitment will benefit the supply chain, and accordingly to determine the optimal timing for early commitment. Our results indicate that the supply chain would experience greater savings from early order commitment when-(a) the inventory item receives less value-added activities at the retailer site; (b) the manufacturing lead time is short; (c) demand correlation over time is positive but weak; or (d) the delivery lead time is long (if a condition exists). We also propose a rebate scheme for the supply chain partners to share the gains of practicing early order commitment.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2010

Early order commitment (EOC) is a strategy for supply chain coordination, wherein the retailer co... more Early order commitment (EOC) is a strategy for supply chain coordination, wherein the retailer commits to purchasing from a manufacturer a fixed order quantity a few periods in advance of the regular delivery lead time. In this paper, we formulate and analyze the EOC strategy for a decentralized, two-level supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and multiple retailers, who face external demands that follow an autocorrelated AR(1) process over time. We characterize the special structure of the optimal solutions for the retailers' EOC periods to minimize the total supply chain cost and discuss the impact of demand parameters and cost parameters. We then develop and compare three solution approaches to solving the optimal solution. Using this optimal cost as the benchmark, we investigate the effectiveness of using the wholesale price-discount scheme for the manufacturer to coordinate this decentralized system. We give numerical examples to show the benefits of EOC to the whole supply chain, examine the efficiency of the discount scheme in general situation, and provide the special conditions when the full coordination is achieved.

Decision Sciences, Sep 23, 2015

In today's competitive market, demand volume and even the underlying demand distribution can ... more In today's competitive market, demand volume and even the underlying demand distribution can change quickly for a newsvendor seller. We refer to sudden changes in demand distribution as demand shocks. When a newsvendor seller has limited demand distribution information and also experiences underlying demand shocks, the majority of existing methods for newsvendor problems may not work well since they either require demand distribution information or assume stationary demand distribution. We present a new, robust, and effective machine learning algorithm for newsvendor problems with demand shocks but without any demand distribution information. The algorithm needs only an approximate estimate of the lower and upper bounds of demand range; no other knowledge such as demand mean, variance, or distribution type is necessary. We establish the theoretical bounds that determine this machine learning algorithm's performance in handling demand shocks. Computational experiments show that this algorithm outperforms the traditional approaches in a variety of situations including large and frequent shocks of the demand mean. The method can also be used as a meta-algorithm by incorporating other traditional approaches as experts. Working together, the original algorithm and the extended meta-algorithm can help manufacturers and retailers better adapt their production and inventory control decisions in dynamic environments where demand information is limited and demand shocks are frequent

International Journal of Production Research, 1992

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

∗Mailing Address: Shawn O'Neil, Cushing 206, Department of Computer Science and Engineering,... more ∗Mailing Address: Shawn O'Neil, Cushing 206, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Notre Dame, IN 46556. †Mailing Address: Xuying Zhao, 361 MCOB, Department of Management, Notre Dame, IN 46556; Tele-phone: 574-631-9061; Fax: 574-631-5127. ...

The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1990

Journal of Operations Management, 2007

While the information technology (IT) literature is mixed regarding the direct benefits of eBusin... more While the information technology (IT) literature is mixed regarding the direct benefits of eBusiness technologies on performance, the impact of such technologies on supply chain practices remains largely an unexplored area of research. We hypothesize that while there may be no direct benefit of eBusiness technologies on performance, these technologies might support customer integration and supplier integration in the supply chain, which in turn might impact operating performance.

Journal of Operations Management, 2005

... al., 1987, Lin et al., 1994, Hahn et al., 2000 and Krajewski and Wei, 2001 ... that has been ... more ... al., 1987, Lin et al., 1994, Hahn et al., 2000 and Krajewski and Wei, 2001 ... that has been used by many companies in their distribution channels (Feitzinge and Lee, 1997 and ... interview instruments were translated into Chinese and verified for consistency by bilingual members of ...

International Journal of Production Research, 1992

... Note that the product of Zil and I, in equation (I) is summed only over exceptional parts; to... more ... Note that the product of Zil and I, in equation (I) is summed only over exceptional parts; to include a summation over bottleneck machines would cause double-counting. ... Note that Zik and I, can be expressed in terms of individual units or in terms of transfer batch size. ...

European Journal of Operational Research, 2007

One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits t... more One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits to purchase a fixedorder quantity at a fixed delivery time before demand uncertainty is resolved. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to quantify the cost savings of an early order commitment in a two-level supply chain where demand is serially correlated. A decision rule is derived to determine whether early order commitment will benefit the supply chain, and accordingly to determine the optimal timing for early commitment. Our results indicate that the supply chain would experience greater savings from early order commitment when -(a) the inventory item receives less value-added activities at the retailer site; (b) the manufacturing lead time is short; (c) demand correlation over time is positive but weak; or (d) the delivery lead time is long (if a condition exists). We also propose a rebate scheme for the supply chain partners to share the gains of practicing early order commitment.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2010

In a recent paper by Xie et al. [Xie, J., Zhou, D., Wei, J.C., Zhao, X., 2010. Price discount bas... more In a recent paper by Xie et al. [Xie, J., Zhou, D., Wei, J.C., Zhao, X., 2010. Price discount based on early order commitment in a single manufacturer-multiple retailer supply chain. European Journal of Operational Research 200, 368-376], the authors have studied the early order commitment (EOC) strategy for a decentralized, two-level supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and multiple retailers. They fail to provide an algorithm to determine the optimal EOC periods to minimize the total supply chain cost. This note proposes a polynomial-time algorithm to find the optimal solutions, and provides a new set of sufficient conditions under which the wholesale price discount scheme coordinates the whole supply chain.

随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链... more 随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链管理企业——深圳市创捷供应链有限公司（以下简称：创捷）为研究对象，通过案例（A）供应链整合与供应链金融集成解决方案与案例（B）信息系统和生态圈的建立逐步深入阐述创捷的生态圈商业模式的内在机理。其中，案例（A）展示了创捷商业模式创新的初衷、全貌及运作逻辑，详细阐述了创捷如何通过供应链整合、供应链金融服务帮助中小企业降低交易成本、提高反应速度，并且最终帮助中小企业提高竞争能力。案例（B）更深层次、系统地阐述了创捷如何通过逐步实现流程整合、系统整合、多方供应链利益相关者协调以最终实现创新的商业模式，从本质上理解创捷供应链金融业务、生态圈商业模式成功的关键

With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more suppl... more With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more supply chain management service companies provide small and medium-sized mobile phone designers (which refer to “project managers” in this case) with supply chain financial services as their core integrated supply chain management services. This case research is based on the Shenzhen SJET supply chain co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to SJET), which is the most outstanding supply chain management service company in Shenzhen. Two associated cases are explored in this study. In the first case, we explore the original intention, the whole picture and the operation logic of SJET’s business model innovation, and analyze how SJET can help the small and medium-sized enterprises to reduce the transaction cost and improve the response speed through the supply chain integration, thus ultimately improving their competitiveness. In the second case, we provide a deeper, systematic exposition of how SJET is...

随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链... more 随着深圳手机产业集群的形成以及手机对外贸易的兴起，大量供应链管理企业成立并为中小型手机设计商（即案例中的项目管理员）提供以供应链金融服务为核心的综合性供应链管理服务。本案例以深圳最为杰出的供应链管理企业——深圳市创捷供应链有限公司（以下简称：创捷）为研究对象，通过案例（A）供应链整合与供应链金融集成解决方案与案例（B）信息系统和生态圈的建立逐步深入阐述创捷的生态圈商业模式的内在机理。其中，案例（A）展示了创捷商业模式创新的初衷、全貌及运作逻辑，详细阐述了创捷如何通过供应链整合、供应链金融服务帮助中小企业降低交易成本、提高反应速度，并且最终帮助中小企业提高竞争能力。案例（B）更深层次、系统地阐述了创捷如何通过逐步实现流程整合、系统整合、多方供应链利益相关者协调以最终实现创新的商业模式，从本质上理解创捷供应链金融业务、生态圈商业模式成功的关键

With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more suppl... more With the development of Shenzhen mobile phone industry and its foreign trade, more and more supply chain management service companies provide small and medium-sized mobile phone designers (which refer to “project managers” in this case) with supply chain financial services as their core integrated supply chain management services. This case research is based on the Shenzhen SJET supply chain co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to SJET), which is the most outstanding supply chain management service company in Shenzhen. Two associated cases are explored in this study. In the first case, we explore the original intention, the whole picture and the operation logic of SJET’s business model innovation, and analyze how SJET can help the small and medium-sized enterprises to reduce the transaction cost and improve the response speed through the supply chain integration, thus ultimately improving their competitiveness. In the second case, we provide a deeper, systematic exposition of how SJET is...

An example of supply chain coordination is early order commitment, wherein a retailer commits to ... more An example of supply chain coordination is early order commitment, wherein a retailer commits to purchase a fixed-order quantity and delivery time from a manufacturer before the real need takes place. In this paper, an analytical model is developed that quantifies the impact of early order commitment on the performance of a simple two-level supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single retailer. The model reveals that the effect of early order commitment depends on a lot of factors such as the cost structure of the supply chain, the lengths of manufacturing and delivery lead times, and the correlation of the demand over time. This model can be used to evaluate the benefit of early order commitment, to determine the optimal early commitment periods of the supply chain, and to estimate the maximum incentives the manufacturer can provide to encourage the retailer to commit its orders in advance.

：This paper presents the results of six case studies in two modules, one in the automotive indust... more ：This paper presents the results of six case studies in two modules, one in the automotive industry and the other in the laptop computer industry. Each module contains a company and two of its suppliers. The objective of the study is to find out the effect of the customer's power on the supplier's choice of scheduling practice and response strategy to unexpected schedule changes. Managers in each firm were interviewed to examine five issues: customer power, customer's purchase practice, information sharing, supplier's process flexibility, and supplier's master production schedule practice. We found that supply chain power relationship is a significant, albeit latent factor in the formulation of master production schedule. Supplier's process flexibility attenuates the influence of customer power, while the customer's extent of information sharing and commitment to the purchase quantity do not necessarily depends on power. We develop some propositions as a result of this study, which may pave the way for large-scale, theory-testing field studies.

International Journal of Production Research, 2000

... In this paper we experimentally test three levels of supply chain integration and explore the... more ... In this paper we experimentally test three levels of supply chain integration and explore the cost implications of each one. We focus on integrating the supply chain through schedule sharing. ... In the 1992 Wards Auto World survey of automotive sup-pliers (Plumb 1992), 76 ...

European Journal of Operational Research, 2009

Cooperative advertising is a practice that a manufacturer pays retailers a portion of the local a... more Cooperative advertising is a practice that a manufacturer pays retailers a portion of the local advertising cost in order to induce sales. Cooperative advertising plays a significant role in marketing programs of channel members. Nevertheless, most studies to date on cooperative advertising have assumed that the market demand is only influenced by advertising expenditures but not by retail price. This paper addresses channel coordination by seeking optimal cooperative advertising strategies and equilibrium pricing in a two-member distribution channel. We establish and compare two models: a non-cooperative, leader-follower game and a cooperative game. We develop propositions and insights from the comparison of these models. The cooperative model achieves better coordination by generating higher channelwide profits than the non-cooperative model with these features: (a) the retailer price is lower to consumers; and (b) the advertising efforts are higher for all channel members. We identify the feasible solutions to a bargaining problem where the channel members can determine how to divide the extra profits.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2007

One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits t... more One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits to purchase a fixedorder quantity at a fixed delivery time before demand uncertainty is resolved. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to quantify the cost savings of an early order commitment in a two-level supply chain where demand is serially correlated. A decision rule is derived to determine whether early order commitment will benefit the supply chain, and accordingly to determine the optimal timing for early commitment. Our results indicate that the supply chain would experience greater savings from early order commitment when-(a) the inventory item receives less value-added activities at the retailer site; (b) the manufacturing lead time is short; (c) demand correlation over time is positive but weak; or (d) the delivery lead time is long (if a condition exists). We also propose a rebate scheme for the supply chain partners to share the gains of practicing early order commitment.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2010

Early order commitment (EOC) is a strategy for supply chain coordination, wherein the retailer co... more Early order commitment (EOC) is a strategy for supply chain coordination, wherein the retailer commits to purchasing from a manufacturer a fixed order quantity a few periods in advance of the regular delivery lead time. In this paper, we formulate and analyze the EOC strategy for a decentralized, two-level supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and multiple retailers, who face external demands that follow an autocorrelated AR(1) process over time. We characterize the special structure of the optimal solutions for the retailers' EOC periods to minimize the total supply chain cost and discuss the impact of demand parameters and cost parameters. We then develop and compare three solution approaches to solving the optimal solution. Using this optimal cost as the benchmark, we investigate the effectiveness of using the wholesale price-discount scheme for the manufacturer to coordinate this decentralized system. We give numerical examples to show the benefits of EOC to the whole supply chain, examine the efficiency of the discount scheme in general situation, and provide the special conditions when the full coordination is achieved.

Decision Sciences, Sep 23, 2015

In today's competitive market, demand volume and even the underlying demand distribution can ... more In today's competitive market, demand volume and even the underlying demand distribution can change quickly for a newsvendor seller. We refer to sudden changes in demand distribution as demand shocks. When a newsvendor seller has limited demand distribution information and also experiences underlying demand shocks, the majority of existing methods for newsvendor problems may not work well since they either require demand distribution information or assume stationary demand distribution. We present a new, robust, and effective machine learning algorithm for newsvendor problems with demand shocks but without any demand distribution information. The algorithm needs only an approximate estimate of the lower and upper bounds of demand range; no other knowledge such as demand mean, variance, or distribution type is necessary. We establish the theoretical bounds that determine this machine learning algorithm's performance in handling demand shocks. Computational experiments show that this algorithm outperforms the traditional approaches in a variety of situations including large and frequent shocks of the demand mean. The method can also be used as a meta-algorithm by incorporating other traditional approaches as experts. Working together, the original algorithm and the extended meta-algorithm can help manufacturers and retailers better adapt their production and inventory control decisions in dynamic environments where demand information is limited and demand shocks are frequent

International Journal of Production Research, 1992

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

∗Mailing Address: Shawn O'Neil, Cushing 206, Department of Computer Science and Engineering,... more ∗Mailing Address: Shawn O'Neil, Cushing 206, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Notre Dame, IN 46556. †Mailing Address: Xuying Zhao, 361 MCOB, Department of Management, Notre Dame, IN 46556; Tele-phone: 574-631-9061; Fax: 574-631-5127. ...

The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1990

Journal of Operations Management, 2007

While the information technology (IT) literature is mixed regarding the direct benefits of eBusin... more While the information technology (IT) literature is mixed regarding the direct benefits of eBusiness technologies on performance, the impact of such technologies on supply chain practices remains largely an unexplored area of research. We hypothesize that while there may be no direct benefit of eBusiness technologies on performance, these technologies might support customer integration and supplier integration in the supply chain, which in turn might impact operating performance.

Journal of Operations Management, 2005

... al., 1987, Lin et al., 1994, Hahn et al., 2000 and Krajewski and Wei, 2001 ... that has been ... more ... al., 1987, Lin et al., 1994, Hahn et al., 2000 and Krajewski and Wei, 2001 ... that has been used by many companies in their distribution channels (Feitzinge and Lee, 1997 and ... interview instruments were translated into Chinese and verified for consistency by bilingual members of ...

International Journal of Production Research, 1992

... Note that the product of Zil and I, in equation (I) is summed only over exceptional parts; to... more ... Note that the product of Zil and I, in equation (I) is summed only over exceptional parts; to include a summation over bottleneck machines would cause double-counting. ... Note that Zik and I, can be expressed in terms of individual units or in terms of transfer batch size. ...

European Journal of Operational Research, 2007

One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits t... more One approach to supply chain coordination is early order commitment, whereby a retailer commits to purchase a fixedorder quantity at a fixed delivery time before demand uncertainty is resolved. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to quantify the cost savings of an early order commitment in a two-level supply chain where demand is serially correlated. A decision rule is derived to determine whether early order commitment will benefit the supply chain, and accordingly to determine the optimal timing for early commitment. Our results indicate that the supply chain would experience greater savings from early order commitment when -(a) the inventory item receives less value-added activities at the retailer site; (b) the manufacturing lead time is short; (c) demand correlation over time is positive but weak; or (d) the delivery lead time is long (if a condition exists). We also propose a rebate scheme for the supply chain partners to share the gains of practicing early order commitment.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2010

In a recent paper by Xie et al. [Xie, J., Zhou, D., Wei, J.C., Zhao, X., 2010. Price discount bas... more In a recent paper by Xie et al. [Xie, J., Zhou, D., Wei, J.C., Zhao, X., 2010. Price discount based on early order commitment in a single manufacturer-multiple retailer supply chain. European Journal of Operational Research 200, 368-376], the authors have studied the early order commitment (EOC) strategy for a decentralized, two-level supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and multiple retailers. They fail to provide an algorithm to determine the optimal EOC periods to minimize the total supply chain cost. This note proposes a polynomial-time algorithm to find the optimal solutions, and provides a new set of sufficient conditions under which the wholesale price discount scheme coordinates the whole supply chain.