Order Quantity and Timing Flexibility in Supply Chains: The Role of Demand Characteristics
通过单周期库存模型，分析不同需求特征下数量灵活性和时间灵活性对供应链成本的影响，发现功能型产品更依赖时间灵活性，时尚驱动型产品更依赖数量灵活性，而需求演变型产品在长提前期下需两者兼备。
We study how differences in product demand characteristics affect the strategic value of different types of supply chain flexibility for accurate response. We propose a single-period inventory modelling framework with two ordering opportunities. The second order reflects updated demand information and potentially capitalizes on supply chain flexibility. We consider two complementary forms of flexibility: quantity flexibility in production and timing flexibility in scheduling. In this framework, we analyze the total inventory cost of a firm for alternate demand types. We model functional products through the standard assumption of independent demand over the period, fashion-driven innovative products through a Bayesian model, and innovative products with evolving demand through a Martingale process. The three demand processes exhibit very different behavior with respect to the value of the alternate forms of flexibility. We observe that quantity flexibility is of moderate value for functional goods and of high value for fashion-driven products for all lead times. Quantity flexibility is of low value for goods with evolving demand with long lead times but of high value for short lead times. Alternately, we observe timing flexibility is of highest value for functional goods, especially for cases of high holding cost, and is of lesser value for fashion-driven goods. It is of least value for goods with evolving demand. Both quantity and timing flexibility capabilities are required to significantly reduce the relevant supply chain costs for evolving-demand innovative goods when the lead times are long.