Intro; Contents; List of Tables; List of Figures; List of Abbreviations; List of Symbols; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Motivation; 1.2 Research Objectives; 1.3 Outline; Part I Foundations of Stochastic Inventory Control; 2 Basic Concepts of Inventory Management; 2.1 Inventory Management and Control; 2.2 Motivations for Holding Inventory; 2.3 Classification of Inventories; 2.3.1 The Strategic Perspective; 2.3.2 The Operational Perspective; 2.4 Inventory-related Costs; 2.4.1 Order Cost; 2.4.2 Holding Cost; 2.4.3 Penalty Cost; 2.5 Service Level; 3 Stochastic Inventory Control
3.1 Characteristics of Inventory Models3.1.1 Management Decisions; 3.1.2 System-Inherent Characteristics; 3.2 Types of Inventory Control Policies; 3.3 Periodic Inventory Control; 3.3.1 Single-Period Inventory Control; 3.3.2 Multi-Period Inventory Control; 3.3.3 Service-Constraint Multi-Period Inventory Control; Part II Essential Stochastic Processes; 4 Markov Chains; 4.1 The Markov Property; 4.2 Homogeneous Markov Chains; 4.3 Limit Distribution and Invariant Distribution; 4.4 Communication Classes; 4.5 Class Properties; 4.5.1 Aperiodicity; 4.5.2 Recurrency and Transiency; 4.5.3 Class Criteria
4.6 Uniqueness of Limit Distributions4.7 Multi-Dimensional Markov Chains; 4.8 Applications of Markov Chains; 5 Numerical Solution of Infinite Markov Chains; 5.1 System Reduction Approaches; 5.1.1 Reduced System Approaches; 5.1.2 Geometric Tail Distributions; 5.2 State Space Reduction Approaches; 5.2.1 Augmentations; 5.2.2 Pointwise Convergence; 5.3 Algorithms; 5.3.1 Sheskin's Partitioning Algorithm; 5.3.2 Power Iteration; 5.4 Criteria for Choosing a Specific Algorithm; 6 Comparing Stochastic Processes; 6.1 Stochastic Ordering for Distribution Functions; 6.2 The Sample Path Method
8.4 Structural Results8.5 Proofs; 9 Prioritization by Penalty Costs; 9.1 Optimization Approach; 9.1.1 Convexity of Objective Function; 9.1.2 Transition Matrix; 9.1.3 Cost Function; 9.1.4 Numerical Optimization Algorithm; 9.2 Numerical Results; 9.2.1 Critical Level Policy versus Benchmark Policies; 9.2.2 Combination Heuristic; 9.3 Conclusion; 9.4 Proofs; 10 Prioritization by Service Levels; 10.1 Analytical Insights; 10.1.1 Service Level Constraints; 10.1.2 Potentially Optimal Parameter Constellations; 10.1.3 Structural Results for the Optimal Solution; 10.1.4 Cost Function
Part III Stochastic Inventory Control with Customer Segmentation7 Introduction to Inventory Rationing; 7.1 Examples for Different Customer Classes; 7.2 Related Areas; 7.3 Rationing Rules; 7.4 Backorders and Backorder Clearing Mechanisms; 7.5 Literature Review; 7.5.1 Characterizations of the Optimal Policy; 7.5.2 Evaluations and Optimizations of Critical Level Policies; 7.5.3 Other Studies Involving Critical Level Rationing; 7.6 Classification of Our Work; 8 A Markov-Chain Based Modeling Approach; 8.1 Modeling Framework; 8.2 Recursive Expressions for Backorders; 8.3 Markov Chain
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Inventory Rationing : A New Modeling Approach Using Markov Chain Theory.