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Online Demand Fulfillment Under Limited Flexibility

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Xu

    (School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China;)

  • Hailun Zhang

    (Institute for Data and Decision Analytics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, China;)

  • Jiheng Zhang

    (Department of Industrial Engineering & Decision Analytics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong S.A.R., China)

  • Rachel Q. Zhang

    (Department of Industrial Engineering & Decision Analytics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong S.A.R., China)

Abstract

We study online demand fulfillment in a class of networks with limited flexibility and arbitrary numbers of resources and request types. We show analytically that such a network is both necessary and sufficient to guarantee a performance gap independent of the market size compared with networks with full flexibility, extending the previous literature from the long chains to more general sparse networks. Inspired by the performance bound, we develop simple inventory allocation rules and guidelines for designing such network structures. Numerical experiments including one using some real data from Amazon China are conducted to confirm our findings as well as some of the flexibility principles conjectured in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Xu & Hailun Zhang & Jiheng Zhang & Rachel Q. Zhang, 2020. "Online Demand Fulfillment Under Limited Flexibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4667-4685, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:66:y:2020:i:10:p:4667-4685
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3449
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Levi DeValve & Yehua Wei & Di Wu & Rong Yuan, 2023. "Understanding the Value of Fulfillment Flexibility in an Online Retailing Environment," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 391-408, March.
    5. Yichuan Ding & S. Thomas McCormick & Mahesh Nagarajan, 2021. "A Fluid Model for One-Sided Bipartite Matching Queues with Match-Dependent Rewards," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 1256-1281, July.
    6. Michael Levin, 2024. "A Real-Time Control Policy to Achieve Maximum Throughput of an Online Order Fulfillment Network," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 434-453, March.
    7. Verma, Nishant Kumar & Chatterjee, Ashish K., 2023. "Process flexibility in the presence of product modularity: Does modularity help?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    8. Ayoub Amil & Ali Makhdoumi & Yehua Wei, 2025. "Multi-Item Order Fulfillment Revisited: LP Formulation and Prophet Inequality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(12), pages 9917-9935, December.

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