Quantitative Analysis for Management, 13/e

6.8 Single-Period Inventory Models

So far, we have considered inventory decisions in which demand continues in the future and future orders will be placed for the same product. There are some products for which a decision to meet the demand for a single time period is made, and items that do not sell during this time period are of no value or have a greatly reduced value in the future. For example, a daily newspaper is worthless after the next paper is available. Other examples include weekly magazines, programs printed for athletic events, certain prepared foods that have a short life, and some seasonal clothes that have greatly reduced value at the end of the season. This type of problem is often called the news vendor problem or a single-period ...