Viewing investment projects in new technologies as real options, this paper studies the effects of endogenous competition and asymmetric information on the strategic exercise of real options. We first develop a multi-period, game-theoretic model and show how competition leads to early exercise and aggressive investment behaviors and how competition erodes option values. We then relax the typical full-information assumption found in the literature and allow information asymmetry to exist across firms. Our model shows, in contrast to the literature that payoff is independent of the ordering of exercise, that the sequential exercise of real options may generate both informational and payoff externalities. We also find some surprising but interesting results such as having more information is not necessarily better.

With time-based competition and rapid technology advancements, effective manufacturing scheduling and supply chain coordination are critical to quickly respond to changing market conditions. These problems, however, are difficult in view of inherent complexity and various uncertainties involved. Based on a series of results by the authors, decomposition and coordination by using Lagrangian relaxation is identified in this paper as an effective way to control complexity and uncertainty. A manufacturing scheduling problem is first formulated within the job shop context with uncertain order arrivals, processing times, due dates, and part priorities as a separable optimization problem. A solution methodology that combines Lagrangian relaxation, stochastic dynamic programming, and heuristics is developed. Method improvements to effectively solve large problems are also highlighted. To extend manufacturing scheduling within a factory to coordinate autonomic members across chains of suppliers, a decentralized supply chain model is established in the second half of this paper. By relaxing cross-member constraints, the model is decomposed into member-wise subproblems, and a nested optimization structure is developed based on the job shop scheduling results. Coordination is performed through the iterative updating of cross-member prices without accessing other members’ private information or intruding their decision-making authorities, either with or without a coordinator. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Future prospects to overcome problem inseparability and improve computing efficiency are then discussed.

This paper extends a production-inventory model with one unreliable machine to one that has n machines in series, separated by finite buffers. It is shown how customer service levels and other performance measures can be calculated as a function of the availabilities of the machines and the sizes of the intermediate buffers.

Based on the results of (Wang 2001), we give some applications of division problem in spaces of entire functions of finite type. Especially, when ρ = 1 and H is the support functions of a bounded convex domain of C^N, our theorems extend the results of (Krivosheev 1991) and (Lelong 1986).

In this paper we study how organizational learning impacts organizational behavior, and how vendor support quality enhances product adoption and usage behavior. These constructs were verified using Application Software Packages (ASP) — a prewritten, precoded, commercially available set of programs that eliminates the need for individuals or organizations to write their own software programs for certain functions. The relationship between ASP usage, usage outcomes and use processes were also investigated. Two hundred and ninety-five Chinese, Indian, and Malay entrepreneurships were studied. It was found that usage outcome strongly determines usage, while use process has only an indirect relationship (via outcome) on usage. The impact of organizational learning and vendor service quality on usage, usage outcome, and use process were robust. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed.

In 1930 Szpilrajn proved that any strict partial order can be embedded in a strict linear order. This theorem was later refined by Dushnik and Miller (1941), Hansson (1968), Suzumura (1976), Donaldson and Weymark (1998), Bossert (1999).

Particularly Suzumura introduced the important concept of compatible extension of a (crisp) relation. These extension theorems have an important role in welfare economics. In particular Szpilrajn theorem is the main tool for proving a known theorem of Richter that establishes the equivalence between rational and congruous consumers. In 1999 Duggan proved a general extension theorem that contains all these results.

In this paper we introduce the notion of compatible extension of a fuzzy relation and we prove an extension theorem for fuzzy relations. Our result generalizes to fuzzy set theory the main part of Duggan’s theorem. As applications we obtain fuzzy versions of the theorems of Szpilrajn, Hansson and Suzumura. We also prove that an asymmetric and transitive fuzzy relation has a compatible extension that is total, asymmetric and transitive.

Our results can be useful in the theory of fuzzy consumers. We can prove that any rational fuzzy consumer is congruous, extending to a fuzzy context a part of Richter’s theorem. To prove that a congruous fuzzy consumer is rational remains an open problem. A proof of this result can somehow use a fuzzy version of Szpilrajn theorem.

Let G=〈V, E, L〉 be a network with the vertex set V, the edge set E and the length vector L, and let T* be a prior determined spanning tree of G. The inverse minimum spanning tree problem with minimum number of perturbed edges is to perturb the length vector L to L+δ, such that T* is one of minimum spanning trees under the length vector L+δ and the number of perturbed edges is minimum. This paper establishes a mathematical model for this problem and transforms it into a minimum vertex covering problem in a bipartite graph G ₀, a path-graph. Thus a strongly polynomial algorithm with time complexity O(mn ²) can be designed by using Hungarian method.

This paper investigates the impact of a secondary market, where retailers can buy and sell excess inventories, on the supply chain. We develop a two-period model with a single manufacturer and two retailers. At the beginning of the first period the retailers order and receive products from the manufacturer, but at the beginning of the second period, they can trade surplus products between themselves in the secondary market. We investigate the impact of the correlated dependence of retailers’ demand on both the quantity effect and the allocation effect under the secondary market. Lastly, we study potential strategies for the manufacturer to increase sales with the existence of the secondary market.

A discrete optimum mathematical model to derive the “maximum capacity” of people in a room or in a space used for public gatherings is developed. There are two outcomes in the model. One is focused on whether the person farthest from exits can escape from the room. The other concentrates on the evacuation time of all the people in the room. According to the results of the two outcomes, a more reasonable “maximum capacity” can be worked out in a simple way.