In this paper, we use a Markov decision process (MDP) to model the joint inventory-promotion decision problem. The state variable of the MDP represents the demand state brought about by changing environmental factors as well as promotion decisions. The demand state in a period determines the...

This study is motivated by a process-reengineering problem in personal computer (PC) manufacturing, i.e., to move from a build-to-stock operation that is centered around end-product inventory towards a configure-to-order (CTO) operation that eliminates endproduct inventory. In fact, CTO has made...

In this paper, we use pattern clustering and multivariate analysis of variance methods to analyze the daily load patterns in Ontario, Canada, in order to determine the impact of the time of use (TOU) rate implementation. Our findings show that in the first year after the implementation, there...

Business environments change over time. They are cyclic, show seasonality or just evolve over time. This is certainly true for customer demand. As a result, stationary demand distributions are crude approximations of true customer behavior at best. Yet, most classical stochastic inventory models...

Markov-modulated processes have been used in stochastic inventory models with setup costs for modeling demand under the influence of uncertain environmental factors, such as fluctuating economic and market conditions. The analyses of these models have been carried out in the literature only...

This paper is concerned with a generalization of classical inventory models (with fixed ordering costs) that exhibit (s, S) policies. In our model, the distribution of demands in successive periods is dependent on a Markov chain. The model includes the case of cyclic or seasonal demand. The...