Authors:WenJie Wang, Qi Xu, Dandan Fan Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. Radio frequency identification technology has been applied in many fields, especially in logistics operations and supply chain management. Supply chain coordination among partners, which is the core part of supply chain management, can be more practical and effective through sharing real-time product data along the supply chain tracked by RFID technology. This paper focused on the study of the supply chain collaborative forecasting process by sharing RFID real-time data. The collaborative forecasting process among supply chain partners based on the sharing RFID product data is discussed for product demand decision in the paper at first. Then, a Stein-rule combination-forecasting model is proposed to integrate the forecasting knowledge and coordinate forecasting process between the retailers and manufactures shared the RFID data in the supply chain. Moreover, in order to enhance collaborative forecasting precision an error correction combination-forecasting model is discussed. Finally, the outcomes of mathematics simulation verify that the forecast combinations with Stein-rule estimation rules and error correction algorithms are effective to improve forecast precision and coordinate RFID-based supply chain. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:25Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400018
Authors:Hua He, Changsong Ma Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. In this paper, we design a revenue share contract when a supplier is the leader and a retailer is the follower in a two-echelon supply chain. The innovation lies in dividing the supplier’s marketing strategies into two types: the profit oriented and the sales oriented to distinguish the different decision objectives from previous literatures assuming the supplier and retailer are both profit oriented. The paper uses the revenue share contract to reach supply chain coordination and Pareto optimality in the supply chain with the profit-oriented suppliers. However, the contract makes supply chain collaboration solutions and the Pareto improvement with the sales oriented supplier conditional. Numerical examples are given to illustrate these cases. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:24Z DOI: 10.1142/S021759591840002X
Authors:Wei Liu, Chan He Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. In this paper, we develop a logistics service supply chain network equilibrium model in which four tiers of decision makers (logistics service subcontractors (LSS), logistics service providers (LSP), logistics services integrators (LSI) and logistics service demand sides (LSD)) seek to determine their respective optimal conditions, with the LSI holding a leading position. We model the optimizing behavior of decision-makers, with the LSI being multicriteria decision-makers which are concerned with both profit maximization and risk minimization. We derive the equilibrium conditions and establish the finite-dimensional variational inequality (VI) formulation. A new smoothing self-adaptive L-M algorithm is established to solve this problems. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the model by an example. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:22Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400031
Authors:Qi Xu, Wen-Jie Wang, Zheng Liu, Pan Tong Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. Online-to-offline (O2O) business model is the new online shopping model in which consumers purchase products or services online and get the products or services in offline physical store. Online subsidies service which provides subsidies for online order is the common way adopted by O2O business to expand the market demand. The demand changes brought by online subsidies service will temporarily disrupt the supply chain balance. In this paper, the O2O supply chain with online subsidies service is modeled to analyze the influence of demand disruption on O2O supply chain performance at the beginning. Then, the optimization of O2O supply chain with online subsidies service to face demand disruption is discussed. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:21Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400079
Authors:Xin Fang Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. Due to double marginalization effect, the wholesale price contract has been proved that it cannot coordinate a decentralized supply chain (DSC) based on the framework of Stackelberg game, in which the upstream firm acts as a leader and the downstream firm acts as a follower. Nevertheless, it has shown that the partnership between the enterprises tends to be equality. Motivated by this factor, this paper studies the coordination of wholesale price contract under the perspective of equality between enterprises. First, an innovative wholesale price contract is constructed and to prove that the constructed contract can flexibly coordinate the DSC. Second, the adaptability of the constructed contract is analyzed and compared with the revenue sharing contract, which is designed under the framework of Stackelberg game. Third, numerical analysis is calculated to verify the effectiveness and operation of the model. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:20Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400055
Authors:Zheng Liu, Qi Xu, Kun Yang Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. Dual-channel supply chain system, channel optimization is influenced by channel attitude toward risk, in which risk is classified as general risk and interruption risk. To consider lead time may bring out supply conflicts, substitution effect of online channel and ratio of promotional cost are introduced and an independent model is developed. Based on that, the impact of interruption risk under risk-aversion attitude on both channels is further studied. Finally, it is proved how the risk attitude influences pricing and profit strategy. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:18Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400043
Authors:Chunlin Luo, Xin Tian, Xiaobing Mao, Qiang Cai Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. This paper addresses the operational decisions and coordination of the supply chain in the presence of risk aversion, where the risk averse retailer’s performance is measured by a combination of the expected profit and conditional value-at-risk (CVaR). Such performance measure reflects the desire of the retailer to maximize the expected profit on one hand and to control the downside risk of the profit on the other hand. The impact of risk aversion on the supply chain’s decision and performance is also explored. To overcome the inefficiency due to the double marginalization and the aggravation resulting from risk aversion, we investigate the buy-back contract to coordinate the supply chain. Such contract can largely increase the supply chain’s profit, especially when the retailer is more risk averse. Lastly, we extend such risk measure to the widely-used business model nowadays — platform selling model, and explore the impact of the allocation rule on the manufacturer’s decision. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:18Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400080
Authors:Jianli Shi, Jin Zhang, Kun Wang, Xin Fang Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Volume 35, Issue 02, April 2018. The split delivery vehicle routing problem (SDVRP) is a variation of the capacitated vehicle routing problem in which some customers may be served by more than one vehicle. We have proposed a particle swarm optimization approach that incorporates a local search to solve the SDVRP. An integer coding method was presented, and a decoding method based on Bellman’s equation was modified for the SDVRP. A way to address the differences in the length of the velocity vector, the position vector, the personal best position vector, the local best position vector and the global best position vector was designed. Two groups of local searches for top solutions were incorporated into the algorithm, with the ability to control whether they are executed on a given solution. The algorithm was initially tested using the modified Solomon’s instances to verify the parameters used, including the local search probability, the size of the swarm, the velocity equation and the length of the vectors. Extensive computational experiments were carried out on 131 benchmark instances available in the literature. The results obtained were competitive. More precisely, equally good solutions were found in 32 instances, and improved solutions were found in 35 instances, with an average improvement of 0.02% and a maximum improvement of 1.12%. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-24T02:45:16Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918400067
Authors:Sisi Wu, Yelin Fu, K. K. Lai, W. K. John Leung Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. The present paper develops a weighted least-square dissimilarity approach to address the Multiple Criteria ABC inventory classification problem, when the different criteria ranking makes impossible to achieve a group consensus. The proposed approach effectively eliminates drawbacks regarding subjective judgements of multiple decision makers on the criteria importance, and comprehensively aggregates all rankings of the criteria importance to provide a more reasonable and effective classification mechanism. The common weights associated with all rankings are determined. An illustrative example is presented to compare the performance of our approach with the existing studies. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-05-14T03:15:30Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500252
Authors:Xiaona Fan, Qinglun Yan Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. In this paper, we propose a new proof for smoothing homotopy method based on the Fischer–Burmeister function to solve the nonlinear complementarity problem under a nonmonotone solution condition. Under this assumption condition imposed on the defined mapping [math], global convergence of a smooth curve determined by the referred homotopy equation is established for almost all initial points in [math] and it is actually regarded as an interior point method. Besides, if the initial point is expanded to [math], the global convergence of the homotopy method is ensured under a similar condition. The numerical results are reported and illustrate that the method is efficient for some nonlinear complementarity problems. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-05-14T03:15:30Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500276
Authors:Xiaona Zheng, Luping Sun, Andy A. Tsay Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. Previous literature suggests that without regulations firms have incentives to collude by fixing price or reducing quantity. This paper sets up an infinitely repeated game to examine the interplay between the manufacturer’s channel strategy and the downstream retailers’ collusive behavior. The results show that the manufacturer can deter retailer collusion by strategically changing its channel strategy. This effect occurs when the discount rate (used to calculate the present value of future profits) is relatively large and the manufacturer’s direct selling efficiency is relatively high (i.e., the variable cost of direct selling is relatively low). With the deterrence of direct selling, retailers abandon collusion and “no collusion” is a win-win strategy for both levels in the supply chain. However, when the manufacturer is not efficient in direct selling or the discount rate is small, direct selling is not effective in deterring retailer collusion and the manufacturer is worse off. These findings provide insights into channel strategies and supply chain management. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-26T06:57:42Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500148
Authors:Sainan Zhang, Liwei Zhang, Hongwei Zhang, Qingsong Duan Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. In this paper, we consider the stability analysis of a convex quadratic programming (QP) problem and its restricted Wolfe dual when all parameters in the problem are perturbed. Based on the continuity of the feasible set mapping, we establish the upper semi-continuity of the optimal solution mappings of the convex QP problem and the restricted Wolfe dual problem. Furthermore, by characterizing the optimal value function as a min–max optimization problem over two compact convex sets, we demonstrate the Lipschitz continuity and the Hadamard directional differentiability of the optimal value function. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:41Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500124
Authors:Yichi Shen, Kan Wu Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. Stability of queues is of fundamental importance in the application of queueing models. To establish the stability of a queue, one has to utilize a mathematical model to describe the evolution of the queue and then defines stability on the model. However, the types of stability are various according to their underlying processes. In this study, we survey the different underlying processes of a [math] queue, classify the various types of stability and study the relations among them. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of sample-path, we propose a new result regarding the growth rate of the queue time when the traffic intensity equals 1. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:40Z DOI: 10.1142/S021759591850015X
Authors:Yiwei Jiang, Wei Zhou, Ping Zhou Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. In this paper, we study an online scheduling on two parallel machines in MapReduce-like system where each job contains two kinds of tasks: map tasks and reduce tasks. A job’s reduce tasks can only be processed after all its map tasks are finished. We assume that the map tasks are fractional and the reduce tasks are preemptive. Our objective is to minimize makespan. We show that the lower bound for this MapReduce scheduling problem is [math]. We then present an online algorithm with competitive ratio of [math] and thus it is optimal. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:39Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500136
Authors:Soheila Abdi, Fahimeh Baroughi, Behrooz Alizadeh Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. The aim of this paper is to present a novel method for solving the minimum cost flow problem on networks with uncertain-random capacities and costs. The objective function of this problem is an uncertain random variable and the constraints of the problem do not make a deterministic feasible set. Under the framework of uncertain random programming, a corresponding [math]-minimum cost flow model with a prespecified confidence level [math], is formulated and its main properties are analyzed. It is proven that there exists an equivalence relationship between this model and the classical deterministic minimum cost flow model. Then an algorithm is proposed to find the maximum amount of [math] such that for it, the feasible set of [math]-minimum cost flow model is nonempty. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the efficiency of our proposed method. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:39Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500161
Authors:Cui-Hua Zhang, Peng Xing, Jin Li Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. We investigate the optimal strategy of service supply chain (SSC) including one integrator and two suppliers under a two-layer game structure. Service integrator decides social responsibility and service price, while the two service suppliers with quality preference determine their quality efforts, respectively. By analyzing the two-layer game structure and eight different scenarios of decision models (i.e., CD, DD, ICD, IDD, ISD, SCD, SDD, and SSD), we establish members’ utility functions under different decision models. Meanwhile, based on game theory, the optimal strategies of SSC are obtained. Mathematical reasoning and numerical simulations show that, firstly, quality preference has impact on optimal strategy and members’ utilities under different constraints. Secondly, utility of supply chain with integrator as a leader is greater than the case with suppliers as the leader. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:39Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500185
Authors:Canrong Zhang, Tao Wu, Mingyao Qi, Lixin Miao Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. This paper examines the simultaneous allocation of berths and quay cranes under discrete berth situation in container terminals. The berths of discrete type have been broadly applied in realistic production especially for the terminals whose berths are not aligned in a straight line. The typical features of such berths including wharf length constraints, water depth constraints, and berth-bound quay cranes have been considered in this paper. In contrast to the previous work which only deployed the number of quay cranes besides the assignment of berths, this paper assigns berths and quay cranes simultaneously. In addition, to better fit the realistic production, some practical features related to quay cranes including the interference between quay cranes, the berth-dependent productivity of quay cranes, and limited adjustments of the assigned quay cranes during operations have also been considered in this paper. An integer programming model is formulated for this problem, and a sub-gradient-based Lagrangian relaxation algorithm is proposed. A simple but efficient greedy insertion heuristics is developed to solve the decomposed primal problems to optimality. Based on actual data, numerical experiments are conducted to test the performance of the proposed algorithm. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:38Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500112
Authors:Yi Feng, Qing Wu Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. We examine an option contract from a supplier’s perspective and apply mean-variance method to analyze the supplier’s risk. Compared with the newsvendor model without an option contract, we theoretically prove that the option contract can also benefit the supplier. We find for a given option exercise price, there exists an option price such that the contract with the option price dominates those with smaller option price in terms of mean variance of the supplier’s profit. Computational studies have also been conducted in the paper. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-04-16T07:16:38Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500173
Authors:Qi Zhao, Zhongwen Chen Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. A sequentially semidefinite programming method is proposed for solving nonlinear semidefinite programming problem (NLSDP). Inspired by the sequentially quadratic programming (SQP) method, the algorithm generates a search direction by solving a quadratic semidefinite programming subproblem at each iteration. The [math] exact penalty function and a line search strategy are used to determine whether the trial step can be accepted or not. Under mild assumptions, the proposed algorithm is globally convergent. In order to avoid the Maratos effect, we present a modified SQP-type algorithm with the second-order correction step and prove that the fast local superlinear convergence can be obtained under the strict complementarity and the second-order sufficient condition with the sigma term. Finally, some numerical experiments are given to show the effectiveness of the algorithm. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-01-18T07:11:01Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500094
Authors:Gongbing Bi, Yalei Fei, Xiaoyong Yuan, Dong Wang Abstract: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, Ahead of Print. Operational collaboration in a supply chain is important due to the fierce competition among supply chains. However, the collaboration in a supply chain is often hindered by its distribution channel’s lack of funds. It is of significance to alleviate the capital constraint problem of the distribution channel and explore new joint operational and financial collaboration solutions. In this paper, we focus on exploring the optimal solution of operational collaboration in the presence of manufacturer collateral. We consider a supply chain consisting of a well-capitalized manufacturer and a capital-constrained retailer that faces difficulties obtaining credit from the bank. To help the retailer access financing for a purchase order, the manufacturer promises to pay the lender a proportion of the retailer’s loan if the retailer goes bankrupt. We find that when the bank credit with manufacturer collateral is considered as a mix of trade credit and bank credit, the retailer’s financing equilibrium depending on the maximum wholesale price what the manufacturer can set, can be neither trade credit nor bank credit alone, but a combination of them. Moreover, the retailer’s order quantity and the chain’s operational collaboration level will benefit from the manufacturer collateral. Citation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research PubDate: 2018-01-18T07:10:58Z DOI: 10.1142/S0217595918500100