Postponement and international transfer in global supply chains
by Thomas Ngniatedema; Thierry Romual Dzati Kamga; Louis Aimé Fono; Georges Dieudonné Mbondo; Suhong Li
International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling (IJBPSCM), Vol. 10, No. 1, 2018

Abstract: In this paper, we develop an analytical model for form postponement in global supply chain subject to variations in international transfers and tariffs, in service levels and in deviation from a supply delivery schedule that falls within a window. We examine the benefits of postponement under the influence of these factors, and we derive the necessary conditions for a strategic choice of both the 'postponement timing', (early or delayed differentiation) and the 'decoupling points', (early or late shipping) under decoupled and non-decoupled systems. The study shows when one type of the strategies is more beneficial than the other. Our analysis indicates that the boundaries of a delivery window, the point of differentiation, the point of export, the safety factor, and the relative production cost differences across countries play an important role under postponement. We use the production of Desk Jet printers at Hewlett Packard to illustrate the applicability of this model.

Online publication date: Tue, 24-Jul-2018

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling (IJBPSCM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com