Inventory Models with Markovian Demands and Cost Functions of Polynomial Growth

This paper studies stochastic inventory problems with unbounded Markovian demands, ordering costs that are lower semicontinuous, and inventory/backlog (or surplus) costs that are lower semicontinuous with polynomial growth. Finite-horizon problems, stationary and nonstationary discounted-cost infinite-horizon problems, and stationary long-run average-cost problems are addressed. Existence of optimal Markov or feedback policies is established. Furthermore, optimality of (s, S)-type policies is proved when, in addition, the ordering cost consists of fixed and proportional cost components and the surplus cost is convex