This paper solves the search for interior solutions to optimization problems using stochastic variables. This is done by way of some new properties of distribution functions with increasing failure rates as characterized in Barlow and Proschan (1965). Building upon Lariviere (2006), we show that...

In supply chain management, information about the downstream party's willingness to pay (wtp) for a service or a good sold by an upstream party may not be known to the latter. The seller has to make an educated guess for the price at which to offer a good or service. If the buyer refuses to buy,...

We offer a shipper and a carrier the choice among three contracts in which to frame their relationship. Both can also take recourse in the transport spot market. Demand and price on the spot market are dependent exogenous stochastic processes. We model the outcome of this endogenous choice of...