IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormsom/v16y2014i1p149-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic Inventory–Pricing Control Under Backorder: Demand Estimation and Policy Optimization

Author

Listed:
  • Qi Feng

    (Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907)

  • Sirong Luo

    (School of Statistics and Management, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai 200433, China; and Key Laboratory of Mathematical Economics (SUFE), Ministry of Education, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Dan Zhang

    (Leads School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309)

Abstract

Inventory-based dynamic pricing has become a common operations strategy in practice and has received considerable attention from the research community. From an implementation perspective, it is desirable to design a simple policy like a base-stock list-price (BSLP) policy. The existing research on this problem often imposes restrictive conditions to ensure the optimality of a BSLP policy, which limits its applicability in practice. In this paper, we analyze the dynamic inventory and pricing control problem in which the demand follows a generalized additive model (GAM). The GAM overcomes the limitations of several demand models commonly used in the literature, but introduces analytical challenges in analyzing the dynamic program. Via a variable transformation approach, we identify a new set of technical conditions under which a BSLP policy is optimal. These conditions are easy to verify because they depend only on the location and scale parameters of demand as functions of price and are independent of the cost parameters or the distribution of the random demand component. Moreover, although a BSLP policy is optimal under these conditions, the optimal price may not be monotone decreasing in the inventory level. We further demonstrate our results by applying a constrained maximum likelihood estimation procedure to simultaneously estimate the demand function and verify the optimality of a BSLP policy on a retail data set.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Feng & Sirong Luo & Dan Zhang, 2014. "Dynamic Inventory–Pricing Control Under Backorder: Demand Estimation and Policy Optimization," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 149-160, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:16:y:2014:i:1:p:149-160
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.2013.0459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2013.0459
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/msom.2013.0459?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald W. Cotterill & Andrew W. Franklin & Li Yu Ma, 1996. "Measuring Market Power Effects in Differentiated Product Industries: An Application to the Soft Drink Industry," Food Marketing Policy Center Research Reports 032, University of Connecticut, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Charles J. Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy.
    2. Qing Li & Shaohui Zheng, 2006. "Joint Inventory Replenishment and Pricing Control for Systems with Uncertain Yield and Demand," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 696-705, August.
    3. Yakov Amihud & Haim Mendelson, 1983. "Price Smoothing and Inventory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(1), pages 87-98.
    4. Nicholas C. Petruzzi & Maqbool Dada, 1999. "Pricing and the Newsvendor Problem: A Review with Extensions," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(2), pages 183-194, April.
    5. Edwin S. Mills, 1959. "Uncertainty and Price Theory," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 73(1), pages 116-130.
    6. Fok, Dennis & Hans Franses, Philip & Paap, Richard, 2007. "Seasonality and non-linear price effects in scanner-data-based market-response models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 231-251, May.
    7. Polatoglu, Hakan & Sahin, Izzet, 2000. "Optimal procurement policies under price-dependent demand," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 141-171, April.
    8. T. M. Whitin, 1955. "Inventory Control and Price Theory," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 61-68, October.
    9. Young, Leslie, 1979. "Uncertainty, Market Structure, and Resource Allocation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 47-59, March.
    10. Ayşe Kocabıyıkoğlu & Ioana Popescu, 2011. "An Elasticity Approach to the Newsvendor with Price-Sensitive Demand," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(2), pages 301-312, April.
    11. R. A. Rigby & D. M. Stasinopoulos, 2005. "Generalized additive models for location, scale and shape," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 54(3), pages 507-554, June.
    12. Qi Feng, 2010. "Integrating Dynamic Pricing and Replenishment Decisions Under Supply Capacity Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(12), pages 2154-2172, December.
    13. Vipul Agrawal & Sridhar Seshadri, 2000. "Impact of Uncertainty and Risk Aversion on Price and Order Quantity in the Newsvendor Problem," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 2(4), pages 410-423, July.
    14. Wedad Elmaghraby & P{i}nar Keskinocak, 2003. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Inventory Considerations: Research Overview, Current Practices, and Future Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(10), pages 1287-1309, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qi Feng & J. George Shanthikumar, 2018. "Supply and Demand Functions in Inventory Models," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 77-91, 1-2.
    2. Sirong Luo & Jianrong Wang, 2017. "A technical note on the dynamic nonstationary inventory-pricing control model with lost sale," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(19), pages 5816-5825, October.
    3. Qi Feng & Sirong Luo & J. George Shanthikumar, 2020. "Integrating Dynamic Pricing with Inventory Decisions Under Lost Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 2232-2247, May.
    4. Ye Lu & Youhua (Frank) Chen & Miao Song & Xiaoming Yan, 2014. "Optimal Pricing and Inventory Control Policy with Quantity-Based Price Differentiation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(3), pages 512-523, June.
    5. Panos Kouvelis & Guang Xiao & Nan Yang, 2021. "Role of Risk Aversion in Price Postponement Under Supply Random Yield," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 4826-4844, August.
    6. Meng Qi & Ho‐Yin Mak & Zuo‐Jun Max Shen, 2020. "Data‐driven research in retail operations—A review," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(8), pages 595-616, December.
    7. Yunke Mai & Bin Hu, 2023. "Optimizing Free-to-Play Multiplayer Games with Premium Subscription," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3437-3456, June.
    8. Xiting Gong & Youhua (Frank) Chen & Quan Yuan, 2022. "Coordinating Inventory and Pricing Decisions Under Total Minimum Commitment Contracts," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(2), pages 511-528, February.
    9. Mou, Shandong & Robb, David J. & DeHoratius, Nicole, 2018. "Retail store operations: Literature review and research directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(2), pages 399-422.
    10. Jianghua Zhang & Daniel Zhuoyu Long & Rowan Wang & Chi Xie, 2021. "Impact of Penalty Cost on Customers' Booking Decisions," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(6), pages 1603-1614, June.
    11. Qi Feng & J. George Shanthikumar, 2022. "Applications of Stochastic Orders and Stochastic Functions in Inventory and Pricing Problems," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(4), pages 1433-1453, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qi Feng & Sirong Luo & J. George Shanthikumar, 2020. "Integrating Dynamic Pricing with Inventory Decisions Under Lost Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 2232-2247, May.
    2. Serel, Doğan A., 2017. "A single-period stocking and pricing problem involving stochastic emergency supply," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 180-195.
    3. Lingxiu Dong & Guang Xiao & Nan Yang, 2023. "Supply diversification under random yield: The impact of price postponement," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(4), pages 1112-1132, April.
    4. Qi Feng, 2010. "Integrating Dynamic Pricing and Replenishment Decisions Under Supply Capacity Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(12), pages 2154-2172, December.
    5. Fernando Bernstein & Yang Li & Kevin Shang, 2016. "A Simple Heuristic for Joint Inventory and Pricing Models with Lead Time and Backorders," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(8), pages 2358-2373, August.
    6. Boutselis, Petros & McNaught, Ken, 2014. "Finite-Time Horizon Logistics Decision Making Problems: Consideration of a Wider Set of Factors," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Blecker, Thorsten & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Innovative Methods in Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Current Issues and Emerging Practices. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conferenc, volume 19, pages 249-274, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    7. Geoffrey A. Chua & Yan Liu, 2019. "Sensitivity analysis on responsive pricing and production under imperfect demand updating," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(7), pages 529-546, October.
    8. Panos Kouvelis & Guang Xiao & Nan Yang, 2021. "Role of Risk Aversion in Price Postponement Under Supply Random Yield," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(8), pages 4826-4844, August.
    9. Azad Gholami, Reza & Sandal, Leif K. & Ubøe, Jan, 2016. "Channel Coordination in a Multi-period Newsvendor Model with Dynamic, Price-dependent Stochastic Demand," Discussion Papers 2016/6, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    10. Gholami, Reza Azad & Sandal, Leif Kristoffer & Ubøe, Jan, 2021. "A solution algorithm for multi-period bi-level channel optimization with dynamic price-dependent stochastic demand," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    11. Schulte, Benedikt & Sachs, Anna-Lena, 2020. "The price-setting newsvendor with Poisson demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(1), pages 125-137.
    12. Qing Li & Shaohui Zheng, 2006. "Joint Inventory Replenishment and Pricing Control for Systems with Uncertain Yield and Demand," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 696-705, August.
    13. Jadidi, Omid & Taghipour, Sharareh & Zolfaghari, Saeed, 2016. "A two-price policy for a newsvendor product supply chain with time and price sensitive demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(1), pages 132-143.
    14. Transchel, Sandra, 2017. "Inventory management under price-based and stockout-based substitution," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(3), pages 996-1008.
    15. Qi Feng & J. George Shanthikumar, 2018. "Supply and Demand Functions in Inventory Models," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 77-91, 1-2.
    16. Xu, Minghui & Chen, Youhua (Frank) & Xu, Xiaolin, 2010. "The effect of demand uncertainty in a price-setting newsvendor model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(2), pages 946-957, December.
    17. Georgia Perakis & Melvyn Sim & Qinshen Tang & Peng Xiong, 2023. "Robust Pricing and Production with Information Partitioning and Adaptation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1398-1419, March.
    18. Avinadav, Tal & Herbon, Avi & Spiegel, Uriel, 2013. "Optimal inventory policy for a perishable item with demand function sensitive to price and time," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 497-506.
    19. Rubio-Herrero, Javier & Baykal-Gürsoy, Melike, 2020. "Mean-variance analysis of the newsvendor problem with price-dependent, isoelastic demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(3), pages 942-953.
    20. Youhua (Frank) Chen & Saibal Ray & Yuyue Song, 2006. "Optimal pricing and inventory control policy in periodic‐review systems with fixed ordering cost and lost sales," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(2), pages 117-136, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:16:y:2014:i:1:p:149-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.