Title: Research on optimal product supply strategies for manufacturer-to-group customer under a real demand pattern

Authors: Zhiyi Zhuo

Addresses: Chinese Graduate School, Panyapiwat Institute of Management, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand

Abstract: In a product supply chain, customer demand determines the market and supply as well as the benefits accruing to manufacturers and retailers. Customer demand has three different patterns: real, false, and semi-real. This paper develops a mathematical model to investigate the factors that determine manufacturers' design and plan of product supply strategies for group customers under the real demand pattern and solve for maximum profit. We use numerical examples to verify the validity of the model. This paper's contribution is the construction of two mathematical models for off-invoice mode and unsold recycling mode of manufacturer-to-group customer product supply strategies under a real demand pattern.

Keywords: real demand pattern; product supply strategies; profit function; optimal method.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2022.125133

International Journal of Operational Research, 2022 Vol.44 No.4, pp.550 - 561

Received: 03 Sep 2019
Accepted: 30 Dec 2019
Published online: 31 Aug 2022 *

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