We consider two-echelon supply chains with one supplier and two retailers. Retailers are censored newsvendors facing general parametric demand distributions involving unknown parameters. Using a Bayesian MDP formulation, we investigate how the supplier can make use of the combined information...

A firm hires a consultant to acquire demand information. The outcome of information acquisition may turn out to be successful such that the firm becomes informed of the market demand, or unsuccessful such that it remains uninformed. After the outcome becomes clear, the firm learns its...

Real problems are formulated into tractable mathematical models, which allow for an analysis of various approaches.Attention is focused on solutions.Provides a unified treatment of the models discussed , presents a critique of the existing results, and points out potential research directions.