Supply chain benefits from advanced customer commitments
研究钢铁分销商如何通过价格折扣鼓励客户提前下单，量化了这种承诺对供应商的收益，并给出了最大折扣建议，帮助供应链双方降低成本。
Abstract Buyers are frequently encouraged through price discounts to buy in certain ways — purchase in large quantities or purchase in advance of their needs. Ideally, these pricing incentives can lead to lower costs for both the buyer and the seller. In this paper, a situation is examined where a steel distributor faces stiff competition in its highly undifferentiated service offerings and price is the primary factor in attracting sales. A model is developed that quantifies the benefits to the supplier from obtaining advanced commitments from downstream customers. This model can be used to suggest the maximum price discount that can be offered to customers to encourage them to commit to their orders in advance. Careful balancing of the advanced ordering time with the price discount can lead to cost reductions for both members of the supply channel.