Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computation for Design and Optimization Program, 2009.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wang, Jie, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Other Authors: Stephen C. Graves.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55082
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author Wang, Jie, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
author2 Stephen C. Graves.
author_facet Stephen C. Graves.
Wang, Jie, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
author_sort Wang, Jie, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
collection MIT
description Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computation for Design and Optimization Program, 2009.
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spelling mit-1721.1/550822022-01-13T07:54:53Z Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer Wang, Jie, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stephen C. Graves. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computation for Design and Optimization Program. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computation for Design and Optimization Program Computation for Design and Optimization Program. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computation for Design and Optimization Program, 2009. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65). This thesis aims to study the network of a nationwide distributor of a commodity product. As we cannot disclose the actual product for competitive reasons, we will present the research in terms of a similar, representative product, namely salt for ice prevention across United States. The distribution network includes four kinds of nodes, sources, buffer locations at sources, storage points and demand regions. It also includes four types of arcs, from sources to buffer locations and to storage points, from buffer locations to storage points, and from storage points to demand regions. The goal is to maximize the total gross margin subject to a set of supply, demand and inventory constraints. In this thesis, we establish two mathematical models to achieve the goal. The first one is a basic model to identify the optimal flows along the arcs across time by treating product prices and market demand as fixed parameters. The model is built in OPL and solved by CPLEX. We then carry out some numerical analyses and tests to validate the correctness of the model and demonstrate its utility. The second one is an advanced model treating product prices and market demand as additional decision variables. The product price and market demand are related by an exponential function, which makes the model difficult to solve with the available commercial solver codes. We then propose several algorithms to reduce the computational complexity of the model so that we can solve with CPLEX. At last, we compare the algorithms to identify the best one. We provide additional numerical tests to show the benefit from including the pricing decisions along with the optimization of the network flows. by Jie Wang. S.M. 2010-05-25T20:39:43Z 2010-05-25T20:39:43Z 2009 2009 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55082 587583230 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 75 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Computation for Design and Optimization Program.
Wang, Jie, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
title Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
title_full Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
title_fullStr Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
title_full_unstemmed Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
title_short Multi-period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
title_sort multi period optimal network flow and pricing strategy for commodity online retailer
topic Computation for Design and Optimization Program.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55082
work_keys_str_mv AT wangjiesmmassachusettsinstituteoftechnology multiperiodoptimalnetworkflowandpricingstrategyforcommodityonlineretailer