Title: Postponement and international transfer in global supply chains

Authors: Thomas Ngniatedema; Thierry Romual Dzati Kamga; Louis Aimé Fono; Georges Dieudonné Mbondo; Suhong Li

Addresses: Department of Information Sciences and Systems, Morgan State University, 1400 Hillen Rd, Baltimore, Maryland 21251, USA ' Laboratory of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala, Cameroon ' Laboratory of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala, Cameroon ' Department of Economy and Public Policy, University of Douala, P.O. Box 24157, Douala, Cameroon ' Department of Computer Information Systems, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI 02917, USA

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.

Keywords: form postponement; delivery window; delivery performance; global supply chains modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPSCM.2018.093321

International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 2018 Vol.10 No.1, pp.1 - 32

Received: 03 Oct 2017
Accepted: 10 Apr 2018
Published online: 24 Jul 2018 *

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