Commitment decisions with partial information updating
In this paper, we extend the results of Ferguson M. Naval Research Logistics 50, 2003, 917-936. on an end-product manufacturer's choice of when to commit to an order quantity from its parts supplier. During the supplier's lead-time, information arrives about end-product demand. This information reduces some of the forecast uncertainty. While the supplier must choose its production quantity of parts based on the original forecast, the manufacturer can wait to place its order from the supplier after observing the information update. We find that a manufacturer is sometimes better off with a contract requiring an early commitment to its order quantity, before the supplier commits resources. On the other hand, the supplier sometimes prefers a delayed commitment. The preferences depend upon the amount of demand uncertainty resolved by the information as well as which member of the supply chain sets the exchange price. We also show conditions where demand information updating is detrimental to both the manufacturer and the supplier. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Related Subject Headings
- Logistics & Transportation
- 4901 Applied mathematics
- 3509 Transportation, logistics and supply chains
- 1503 Business and Management
- 0103 Numerical and Computational Mathematics
- 0102 Applied Mathematics
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Logistics & Transportation
- 4901 Applied mathematics
- 3509 Transportation, logistics and supply chains
- 1503 Business and Management
- 0103 Numerical and Computational Mathematics
- 0102 Applied Mathematics