Article
Engineering, Industrial
Hongfu Huang, Feng Liu, Peng Zhang
Summary: This paper studies the impact of two warranty service strategies on competing manufacturers, with results showing that the motivation for outsourcing services is related to the service provider's cost advantage and the intensity of competition. Changes in competition, costs, and product reliability affect manufacturers' profits, and under certain conditions, outsourcing warranty services can increase both manufacturers' profits, customer surplus, and social welfare simultaneously.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION ECONOMICS
(2021)
Article
Economics
Yunlong Yu, Tiaojun Xiao
Summary: This paper examines the impact of outsourcing modes on supply chain decisions and profits in a fresh agri-product supply chain. The study finds that the preferred outsourcing mode depends on service cost and market size, with the possibility of a common preference between supplier and retailer. Retailer-outsourcing is more profitable for logistics providers, with quantity discounts and service levels being important factors. The decision sequence between supplier and retailer is crucial in determining the beneficial outsourcing mode.
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION REVIEW
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Chubo Liu, Kenli Li, Keqin Li, Rajkumar Buyya
Summary: In this paper, the authors propose a service mechanism that aims to optimize profits for both a cloud provider and its multiple users. They use game theoretic perspective to characterize the relationship between the cloud provider and users as a Stackelberg game, addressing the strategy selection issue in competition.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CLOUD COMPUTING
(2021)
Article
Business
Junjin Wang, Jiaguo Liu, Tsan-Ming Choi, Xiaohang Yue
Summary: Observing the common practice of retailers providing value-added services, this study investigates the possibility of outsourcing these services to the manufacturer. A model is developed to analyze the strategic choices of two competitive retailers and their impacts on the service provision. The findings highlight the potential effects of service provision on demand expansion and cost, and the different situations faced by retailers in terms of their benefits from outsourcing services.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Management
Paulin Jacquot, Cheng Wan
Summary: This paper defines and analyzes the concept of variational Wardrop equilibrium for nonatomic aggregative games with an infinity of player types. These equilibria are characterized by an infinite-dimensional variational inequality. The paper presents a convergence theorem, under monotonicity conditions, for computing such an equilibrium with arbitrary precision. To achieve this, a sequence of nonatomic games with a finite number of player types is introduced to approximate the initial game. The paper proves the existence of a symmetric Wardrop equilibrium in each of these games, and shows that these symmetric equilibria converge to an equilibrium of the infinite game, which can be computed as solutions of finite dimensional variational inequalities. The model is illustrated through an example from smart grids, where a large population of electricity consumers is described by a parametric distribution, resulting in a nonatomic game with an infinity of different player types, with actions subject to coupling constraints.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Management
Xin Wang, George Q. Huang
Summary: The booming parcel shipping business has attracted wide attention, with the trunk line being easier to manage but the first mile facing challenges of high empty haul rates and low efficiency. This paper explores a new business model of establishing a common service platform for the first mile and investigates strategic decisions of courier logistics companies in a competitive market. Results show that cooperation with the platform can lead to profit increases for companies and price decreases for customers, but companies running two channels may suffer profit losses under intense internal competition.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Chuan Zhang, Hui-Min Ma
Summary: The marketplace channel is favored in online retailing as it gives suppliers pricing power and direct consumer contact. Suppliers and platforms must consider logistics services and competition when deciding on establishing this channel. Suppliers are willing to add the marketplace channel and undertake logistics, while platforms find it advantageous only with high logistics service effectiveness or commission rates.
COMPUTERS & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Dan Li, Yongmei Liu, Chen Fan, Junhua Hu, Xiaohong Chen
Summary: Logistics services are increasingly vital for customers and play a crucial role in shaping a company's competitive advantage. Through comparing equilibrium solutions, it was found that the level of logistics service provided by online platforms is consistently higher and preferred by manufacturers.
COMPUTERS & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Ehsan Eslami, Hamed Kebriaei, Hajar Atrianfar, Farzaneh Farhadi
Summary: This study investigates the problem of distributed resource allocation in unicast communication networks with strategic/selfish users. It converts the centralized problem to a decentralized problem through mechanism design, which induces a network aggregative game among users. The proposed algorithm ensures the convergence to the Nash equilibrium of the induced game under certain assumptions.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL
(2023)
Article
Economics
Zhichao Zhang, Haiyan Xu, Yingxue Zhao, Zhi Liu, Kebing Chen
Summary: Motivated by the industrial practice of giant E-commerce platforms offering extended warranty service, this paper investigates the optimal extended warranty provision in a platform supply chain. The study reveals that the dynamics of the optimal extended warranty strategy vary significantly depending on different combinations of warranty underwriters and online channel modes. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of the ownership of the product and pricing discount as influential factors in the platform supply chain.
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART E-LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION REVIEW
(2023)
Article
Management
Zhen He, Yiwen Zhang, Shuguang He, Dongfan Wang, He Huang
Summary: This study examines the design of outsourcing warranty service contracts and finds that a cost-based contract can help manufacturers promote demand, while a fixed-price contract benefits service agents with low risk aversion levels.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Yuan-Yao Shih, Chih-Yu Wang, Ai-Chun Pang
Summary: This study focuses on the deployment of fog computing services, where the operator negotiates with ASPs to determine serving QoS and payment amounts. The proposed queuing-based latency performance model estimates resources needed for QoS requirements, and an improved optimal algorithm is introduced to find the optimal bargaining sequence. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms can improve the OP's payoff.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SERVICES COMPUTING
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Industrial
Baozhuang Niu, Jianhua Zhang, Zihao Mu
Summary: This paper investigates the value of IoT-enabled PDT quotation in a brand's logistics outsourcing decisions and found that the imbalanced payoffs between PDT cost-saving and sales volume expansion may make investing in the IoT-enabled logistics system not beneficial in highly competitive markets.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
David Edwards, Nachiappan Subramanian, Atanu Chaudhuri, Piera Morlacchi, Wen Zeng
Summary: Delivery drones are not yet widely used for humanitarian operations, but have the potential to greatly improve future delivery options. This study analyses the factors influencing the adoption of delivery drones by logistics service providers for humanitarian operations. A conceptual model is created using the Technology Acceptance Model theory, and empirical data from 103 respondents is collected to validate the model. The results show that ease of use and addressing security concerns are crucial for adopting delivery drones as a specialized delivery option for logistics service providers.
ANNALS OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Azmat Ullah, Muhammad Ayat, Yi He, Benjamin Lev
Summary: In this paper, the authors explore strategies for implementing blockchain technology in a supply chain scenario where a manufacturer outsources base warranty repairs to a retailer. They develop a mathematical model and calculate optimal strategies for supply chain members based on both traditional service platform (TSP) and blockchain service platform (BCSP). The results show that while BCSP offers benefits such as gaining consumers' trust and earning reward tokens, its implementation costs make it not always the ideal choice. They also identify triple win regions where BCSP benefits both manufacturer and retailer simultaneously, but only if the reward-token value exceeds a threshold based on consumers' trust level, product failure rate, and blockchain installation and operation costs. Numerical analysis validates the analytical results.
COMPUTERS & INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Gabriella Colajanni, Patrizia Daniele
Summary: This paper introduces the definition, architectural model, and mathematical model of cloud computing, explores the behavior of IaaS providers and seeks solutions for optimization problems. A computational algorithm for calculating optimal solutions is proposed and tested using numerical examples.
NETWORKS & SPATIAL ECONOMICS
(2022)
Article
Management
Anna Nagurney, Mojtaba Salarpour, June Dong
Summary: This paper introduces a unified variational inequality framework to tackle spatial price network equilibrium problems with multiple products, demand and supply markets in various countries, and transportation routes. The model incorporates different trade measures and analyzes their impacts on product paths, prices, demand, and supply quantities through qualitative analysis and numerical examples. The relevance of trade measures in today's world and discussions on their impacts make the framework constructed in this paper especially timely.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Anna Nagurney
Summary: This paper constructs a supply chain network model to explore the strategy of increasing wages to enhance labor productivity and alleviate labor shortages. Numerical examples show that willingness to pay higher wages can lead to profit growth and benefit workers and consumers.
JOURNAL OF GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION
(2022)
Article
Management
Anna Nagurney
Summary: This paper emphasizes the importance of investing in labor productivity in supply chains and constructs an optimization model to address this issue. The model includes variables such as optimal product flows to demand markets, optimal investments in labor productivity links, labor hours needed, and wages. Results demonstrate that such investments can benefit both firms and consumers.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS IN OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Editorial Material
Operations Research & Management Science
Sebastiano Battiato, Patrizia Daniele, Giovanni Maria Farinella, Sofia Giuffre, Gianluca Lax, Laura Rosa Maria Scrimali
NETWORKS & SPATIAL ECONOMICS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Giorgia M. Cappello, Gabriella Colajanni, Patrizia Daniele, Daniele Sciacca
Summary: This paper presents a multi-tiered network-based optimization model that considers the security levels of different service providers. It aims to maximize the providers' profits by establishing optimal flows and security levels.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Gabriella Colajanni, Patrizia Daniele, Laura Galluccio, Christian Grasso, Giovanni Schembra
Summary: This article sheds light on the new paradigm of service chaining at the network edge and presents an approach to solve the optimal virtual network function placement problem. The approach takes into consideration UAV computing and battery limitations, as well as latency constraints associated with specific applications.
IEEE COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
G. M. Cappello, Gabriella Colajanni, Patrizia Daniele, Laura Galluccio, Christian Grasso, Giovanni Schembra, L. Scrimali
Summary: This paper proposes a comprehensive framework that integrates FANET with a 5G network, aiming to provide interconnected services. Through a mathematical optimization model and two placement strategies, energy consumption can be minimized, leading to increased UAV flight time and network lifetime.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NETWORK AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Management
Jonas Stumpf, Maria Besiou, Tina Wakolbinger
Summary: The research objective is to study the relevance of supply chain management in the humanitarian context, analyze supply chain expenditures, and identify major cost-saving potentials and future research directions. The findings indicate that supply chain management is critical for humanitarian operations and accounts for an average of around 75% of the total response cost. Based on the findings, there is tremendous potential for further improvements in humanitarian supply chains to provide more assistance with limited resources available.
JOURNAL OF HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Anna Nagurney, Dana Hassani, Oleg Nivievskyi, Pavlo Martyshev
Summary: In this paper, a multicommodity international trade spatial price equilibrium model is constructed, specifically for the agricultural sector, taking into account exchange rates and policy instruments such as tariffs, subsidies, and quotas. The model considers multiple trade routes with various modes of transportation and transport through different countries. The impacts of exchange rates are captured through effective path costs, and the governing conditions for multicommodity international trade spatial price equilibrium are identified. The model allows for quantifying the effects of exchange rates, trade policies, and changes in supply and demand markets on prices and trade flows, with implications for food security.
JOURNAL OF GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION
(2023)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Gabriella Colajanni, Patrizia Daniele, Anna Nagurney, Ladimer S. Nagurney, Daniele Sciacca
Summary: In this paper, a three-stage stochastic network-based optimization model is proposed for providing 5G services and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in disaster management. The model includes the phases of preparedness, response, and recover/reconstruction. Service providers make predictions about scenarios, respond to requests, and aim to maximize services while minimizing costs. The proposed model is analyzed for existence and uniqueness of solutions and a numerical example is presented. This paper contributes to the mathematical modeling of advanced technologies in disaster management.
JOURNAL OF GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION
(2023)
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Gabriella Colajanni, Patrizia Daniele, Daniele Sciacca
Summary: This paper proposes a supply chain network optimization model that takes into account the interests of manufacturers, retailers, and consumers in environmental sustainability. The behavior of each decision-maker is described, and mathematical models are presented for each of them. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the use of UAVs and waste sorting centers can reduce environmental emissions and costs.
EURO JOURNAL ON COMPUTATIONAL OPTIMIZATION
(2023)
Proceedings Paper
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Patrizia Daniele, Daniele Sciacca
Summary: In this paper, a stochastic Generalized Nash Equilibrium model is proposed to describe the competition among hospitals with first aid departments in a disaster scenario. Each hospital needs to solve a two-stage stochastic optimization problem to determine the equilibrium hospitalization flows to dispatch to other hospitals. The model defines the Generalized Nash Equilibria and focuses on the Variational Equilibria obtained from a variational inequality problem. A numerical example is presented to validate the model's effectiveness.
OPTIMIZATION IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DATA SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Economics
Luis Andres Marentes, Sergio Cabrales, Tilman Wolf, Anna Nagurney, Yezid Donoso
Summary: Although technological developments have provided momentum for expanding commercial network deployments, the digital divide between the rich and poor remains an issue. This paper proposes a set-aside mechanism that adjusts prices and induces competition among regular users to provide affordable network services and increase resource allocation to the poorest.
Article
Operations Research & Management Science
Anna Nagurney
Summary: This paper presents a supply chain network optimization model that considers both domestic and international migrant labor, and provides an algorithm to solve the model and analyze its performance using numerical examples.
OPERATIONS RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES
(2022)
Review
Management
Vinicius N. Motta, Miguel F. Anjos, Michel Gendreau
Summary: This survey presents a review of optimization approaches for the integration of demand response in power systems planning and highlights important future research directions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Philipp Schulze, Armin Scholl, Rico Walter
Summary: This paper proposes an improved branch-and-bound algorithm, R-SALSA, for solving the simple assembly line balancing problem, which performs well in balancing workloads and providing initial solutions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Roshan Mahes, Michel Mandjes, Marko Boon, Peter Taylor
Summary: This paper discusses appointment scheduling and presents a phase-type-based approach to handle variations in service times. Numerical experiments with dynamic scheduling demonstrate the benefits of rescheduling.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Oleg S. Pianykh, Sebastian Perez, Chengzhao Richard Zhang
Summary: Efficient scheduling is crucial for optimizing resource allocation and system performance. This study focuses on critical utilization and efficient scheduling in discrete scheduling systems, and compares the results with classical queueing theory.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Review
Management
Hamed Jahani, Babak Abbasi, Jiuh-Biing Sheu, Walid Klibi
Summary: Supply chain network design is a large and growing area of research. This study comprehensively surveys and analyzes articles published from 2008 to 2021 to detect and report financial perspectives in SCND models. The study also identifies research gaps and offers future research directions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Patrick Healy, Nicolas Jozefowiez, Pierre Laroche, Franc Marchetti, Sebastien Martin, Zsuzsanna Roka
Summary: The Connected Max-k-Cut Problem is an extension of the well-known Max-Cut Problem, where the objective is to partition a graph into k connected subgraphs by maximizing the cost of inter-partition edges. The researchers propose a new integer linear program and a branch-and-cut algorithm for this problem, and also use graph isomorphism to structure the instances and facilitate their resolution. Extensive computational experiments show that, if k > 2, their approach outperforms existing algorithms in terms of quality.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Victor J. Espana, Juan Aparicio, Xavier Barber, Miriam Esteve
Summary: This paper introduces a new methodology based on the machine learning technique MARS for estimating production functions that satisfy classical production theory axioms. The new approach overcomes the overfitting problem of DEA through generalized cross-validation and demonstrates better performance in reducing mean squared error and bias compared to DEA and C2NLS methods.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Stefano Nasini, Rabia Nessah
Summary: In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of time flexibility in job scheduling, showing that it can significantly affect operators' ability to solve the problem efficiently. They propose a new methodology based on convex quadratic programming approaches that allows for optimal solutions in large-scale instances.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Zhiqiang Liao, Sheng Dai, Timo Kuosmanen
Summary: Nonparametric regression subject to convexity or concavity constraints is gaining popularity in various fields. The conventional convex regression method often suffers from overfitting and outliers. This paper proposes the convex support vector regression method to address these issues and demonstrates its advantages in prediction accuracy and robustness through numerical experiments.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Kuo-Hao Chang, Ying-Zheng Wu, Wen-Ray Su, Lee-Yaw Lin
Summary: The damage and destruction caused by earthquakes necessitates the evacuation of affected populations. Simulation models, such as the Stochastic Pedestrian Cell Transmission Model (SPCTM), can be utilized to enhance disaster and evacuation management. The analysis of SPCTM provides insights for government officials to formulate effective evacuation strategies.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Qinghua Wu, Mu He, Jin-Kao Hao, Yongliang Lu
Summary: This paper studies a variant of the orienteering problem known as the clustered orienteering problem. In this problem, customers are grouped into clusters and a profit is associated with each cluster, collected only when all customers in the cluster are served. The proposed evolutionary algorithm, incorporating a backbone-based crossover operator and a destroy-and-repair mutation operator, outperforms existing algorithms on benchmark instances and sets new records on some instances. It also demonstrates scalability on large instances and has shown superiority over three state-of-the-art COP algorithms. The algorithm is also successfully applied to a dynamic version of the COP considering stochastic travel time.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Bjorn Bokelmann, Stefan Lessmann
Summary: Estimating treatment effects is an important task for data analysts, and uplift models provide support for efficient allocation of treatments. However, evaluating uplift models is challenging due to variance issues. This paper theoretically analyzes the variance of uplift evaluation metrics, proposes variance reduction methods based on statistical adjustment, and demonstrates their benefits on simulated and real-world data.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Congzheng Liu, Wenqi Zhu
Summary: This paper proposes a feature-based non-parametric approach to minimizing the conditional value-at-risk in the newsvendor problem. The method is able to handle both linear and nonlinear profits without prior knowledge of the demand distribution. Results from numerical and real-life experiments demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the approach.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Laszlo Csato
Summary: This paper compares the performance of the eigenvalue method and the row geometric mean as two weighting procedures. Through numerical experiments, it is found that the priorities derived from the two eigenvectors in the eigenvalue method do not always agree, while the row geometric mean serves as a compromise between them.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)
Article
Management
Guowei Dou, Tsan-Ming Choi
Summary: This study investigates the impact of channel relationships between manufacturers on government policies and explores the effectiveness of positive incentives versus taxes in increasing social welfare. The findings suggest that competition may be more effective in improving sustainability and social welfare. Additionally, government incentives for green technology may not necessarily enhance sustainability.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH
(2024)