Management science applications frequently involve problems of controlling continuous time dynamic systems, that is, systems which evolve over time. Optimal control theory, a relatively new branch of mathematics, determines the optimal way to control such a dynamic system. The purpose of this...

First-order necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the following quasilinear distributed-parameter optimal control problem:max{J(u)=IntF(x,u,t)dw IntG(x,t)dsigma},subject to the partial differential equationA(t)x =f(x, u, t),where t, u, G are vectors and x, F are scalars. Use is...

Production scheduling problem of style good manufacturer involves seasonal stochastic demands for their goods and limited production capacities. As a result, some production must take place before the selling season starts. The problem can be cast as a stochastic optimal control problem over...

We consider a production-inventory planning problem with time-varying demands, convex production costs and a warehouse capacity constraint. It is solved by use of the Lagrangian form of the maximum principle. The possible existence of strong decision and forecast horizons is demonstrated. When...

This paper describes a maximum principle for distributed parameter systems, i.e. systems characterized by partial differential equations. The maximum principle is applied to solve the problem of a cattle rancher who must decide the number of cattle in different age groups to be bought and sold...

Supply chains today routinely use third parties for many strategic activities, such as manufacturing, R&D, or software development. These activities often include relationship-specific investment on the part of the vendor, while final outcomes can be uncertain. Therefore, writing complete...

We consider a cooperative advertising channel consisting of a manufacturer selling its product through a retailer in competition with another independent retailer. The manufacturer subsidizes its retailer's advertising only when a certain threshold is positive. Moreover, the manufacturer's...

Cooperative advertising is an incentive offered by a manufacturer to influence retailers' promotional decisions. We study a dynamic durable goods duopoly with a manufacturer and two independent and competing retailers. The manufacturer as a Stackelberg leader announces his wholesale prices and...

We compare site-to-store and store-to-site strategies for dual-channel integration. The site-to-store (resp., store-to-site) strategy can ll unmet orders in the physical channel (resp., online channel) with the inventory in the online channel (resp., physical channel). With one (physical) retail...

The models we present in this chapter are related to two classical inventory models: The EOQ model of Harris (1913) and the dynamic lot size model of Wagner and Whitin (1958). In relation to the EOQ model, our models depart in three different ways: (1) the EOQ model assumes that the problem...