The paper shows that taking inventory control out of the hands of competitive or exclusive retailers and assigning it to a manufacturer increases the value of a supply chain especially for goods whose demand is highly volatile. This is because doing so solves incentive distortions that arise...

The paper develops a simple theoretical model of inventory control in global supply chains. It identifies a role for intermediaries in managing inventory, and shows that inserting an intermediary as an additional link in a supply chain is profitable when demand volatility is high. It also...

Niobium is a highly strategic mineral, in which Brazil holds almost all of the world's reserves followed by Canada. Niobium has an important role in steel alloys for the aerospace industry and future potential for the industry's superconductors. The present paper investigates the prevailing...