Many retailers discriminate among their customers based on their value to the firm. Instead of losing a customer due to this discrimination or lack of inventory, a retailer might prefer to request that other retailers satisfy the customer's demand. The system as a whole can benefit from this...

Transshipments, monitored movements of material at the same echelon of a supply chain, represent an effective pooling mechanism. With a single exception, research on transshipments overlooks replenishment lead times. The only approach for two-location inventory systems with non-negligible lead...