Title: Inflationary implications on an inventory with expiration date, capital constraint and uncertain lead time in a multi-echelon supply chain

Authors: Richa Jain, S.R. Singh

Addresses: Operations Management and Decision Sciences, Asia Pacific Institute of Management, 3 and 4 Institutional Area, Jasola, Opp. Sarita Vihar, New Delhi – 110025, India. ' Department of Mathematics, D.N. (P.G.) College, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: The present study considers a multi-echelon supply system comprising of a supplier, a retailer and the end customer. The inventory is deteriorating and has a certain expiration date beyond which there is no demand for the item. The practicalities of real business world are embedded in the setup as the supplier|s lead time has been considered, which is a random variable. The effect of inflation has been accounted for to provide economic feasibility to the model. There is an upper limit to the expenses that the supplier can bear, providing him with a capital constraint. An optimal solution has been arrived at, and the sensitivity of the solution shows that the model is very stable.

Keywords: inventories; inflation; expiration dates; lead times; capital constraints; uncertainty; multi-echelon supply chains; SCM; supply chain management; suppliers; retailers; end customers; retailing; retail trade; item demand; random variables; economic feasibility; expenses; procurement management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2011.041093

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2011 Vol.4 No.4, pp.419 - 432

Published online: 31 Jan 2015 *

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