In this book methods from Operations Research and Game Theory are used to determine companies’ profit-maximizing strategies related to pricing and (cooperative) advertising. It considers different supply chain structures as well as various distributions of power, making it possible to analyze both inter-echelon and intra-echelon dependencies between the companies’ decisions. Additionally, an approach based on fuzzy set theory is presented in order to compensate for incomplete or missing data on market characteristics. Vertical cooperative advertising is an essential element of partnerships between manufacturers and retailers, allowing manufacturers to financially support their retailers’ advertising efforts so as to increase sales for the entire supply chain. Given that such programs not only make up a considerable part of many companies’ advertising budgets, but are also a controversial subject in many business relations, their correct design is of particular importance.

The 5th International Asia Conference on Industrial Engineering and Management Innovation is sponsored by the Chinese Industrial Engineering Institution and organized by Xi’an Jiaotong University. The conference aims to share and disseminate information on the most recent and relevant researches, theories and practices in industrial and system engineering to promote their development and application in university and enterprises.

This book gathers papers presented at the Logistik-Management-Konferenz 2013, which was organized by the VHB Wissenschaftliche Kommission Logistik and held in Bremen, Germany. The papers reflect the current state-of-the-art in logistics and supply chain management, focusing on environmental sustainability in logistics and supply chain network dynamics and control. The target audience primarily consists of researchers and practitioners in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

This book demonstrates what kind of problems, originating in a management accounting setting, may be solved with game theoretic models. Game theory has experienced growing interest and numerous applications in the field of management accounting. The main focus traditionally has been on the field of non-cooperative behaviour, but the area of cooperative game theory has developed rapidly and has received increasing attention. Intensive research, in combination with the changing culture of publishing, has produced a nearly unmanageable number of publications in the areas concerned. Therefore, one main purpose of this volume is providing an intensive analysis of the intersection of these areas. In addition, the book strengthens the relationship between the theory and the practical applications and it illustrates the two-sided relationship between game theory and management accounting: new game theoretic models offer new fields of applications and these applications raise new questions for the theory.

Applications of Management Science presents state-of-the-art studies in the application of management science to solve significant managerial decision-making problems. Volume 15 examines management science application to data envelopment analysis, efficiency and supply chain, quality multi-criteria and financial applications.

We are pleased to welcome readers to this issue of the Journal of Applied Operational Research (JAOR), Volume 7, Number 1. The journal reports on developments in all aspects of operational research, including the latest advances and applications. It is a primarily goal of the journal to focus on and publish practical case studies which illustrate real-life applications.

The 6th International Asia Conference on Industrial Engineering and Management Innovation is sponsored by the Chinese Industrial Engineering Institution and organized by Tianjin University. The conference aims to share and disseminate information on the most recent and relevant researches, theories and practices in industrial and system engineering to promote their development and application in university and enterprises.

These proceedings gather contributions presented at the 6th International Conference on Applied Operational Research (ICAOR 2014) in Vancouver, Canada, July 29-31, 2014, published in the series Lecture Notes in Management Science (LNMS). The conference covers all aspects of Operational Research and Management Science (OR/MS) with a particular emphasis on applications.

In today’s competitive markets, considering the demand and the supply chain sides is crucial to keeping revenue and customer satisfaction maximized. Managing and planning demand play a vital role in the sustainability of a company. This is the first book to the discuss managerial, mathematical, and conceptual framework of influencing factors on demand along with accurate mathematical analyses to evaluate and raise revenue. The book provides an understanding of the key elements that impact buyer demand. It presents the mathematical relationship between the influencing factors and the demand functions. It discusses the methods used for inspiring demand, how to measure demand dependency on components such as price, quality, and inventory, and it helps management improve alignment between supply and demand by affecting the level and understanding of the role within supply chain management (SCM). This book is applicable for the professional as well as for academia. It can help those working in SCM, project management, production, inventory control, scheduling, engineering management, retail management, and operations management.