In this paper, we consider a supply contracting problem in which the buyer firm faces non-stationary stochastic price and demand. First, we derive analytical results to compare two pure strategies: (i) periodically purchasing from the spot market; and (ii) signing a long-term contract with a...

Firms employing offshore outsourcing strategies may face both exchange rate and demand uncertainties. In this paper, we show that the firms may benefit from operational option to switch production by keeping capacities with both domestic and foreign suppliers. The value of the operational option...

Advertising plays an important role in affecting consumer demand. Socially responsible firms are expected to use advertising judiciously, limiting advertising of “bad” products. An example is the advertising initiative adopted by several major food manufacturers to limit the advertising of...

Economic implications of congestion have been recently discussed in many DEA (data envelopment analysis) studies. In addition, several previous research efforts have explored a theoretical linkage between returns to scale (RTS) and the concept of congestion, because the two economic concepts are...