European Journal of Operational Research最新文献

Strategic analysis of drugs market pathway: Regular-approval or accelerated-approval 药品上市路径战略分析：常规审批还是加速审批

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-10-01 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.011

Yanfei Lan , Jingxia Qin , Changhe Lai , Guoqing Yang

The traditional regulatory-approval pathway (RP) for the release of new drugs requires completion of all clinical trials prior to market entry and delays patient access to innovative therapies. To expedite drug availability, regulators have introduced the accelerated-approval pathway (AP), permitting earlier market entry based on surrogate endpoints, contingent on the subsequent postmarket study to confirm drug effectiveness. When choosing pathways, firms face a tangled trade-off: RP offers a shorter sales period with no risk of withdrawal, while AP provides the potential for a longer sales period but comes with the risk of non-approval. In this study, we develop a game-theory model to investigate how competing firms choose their approval pathways. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that a more intense competition would incentivize the firm that chooses AP to invest more in postmarket study to enter the more profitable RP-market sooner, we show that the firm actually invests less due to the diminished revenue rates of the RP-market compared to the AP-market and the higher clinical burdens. We find that a more intense competition makes firm more likely choose RP and the other chooses AP. Furthermore, firms’ equilibrium approval pathway choices lead to a triple-win situation for firms and patients when the success probability is relatively low or high, whereas they harm patient surplus and social welfare when the success probability is moderate. This highlights the need for regulatory intervention to coordinate the pharmaceutical market and balance economic and public health objectives.

新药上市的传统监管审批途径（RP）要求在进入市场之前完成所有临床试验，从而延迟了患者获得创新疗法的时间。为了加快药物的可获得性，监管机构引入了加速审批途径（AP），允许基于替代终点的早期市场准入，这取决于随后的上市后研究以确认药物有效性。在选择路径时，公司面临着一个复杂的权衡：RP提供了更短的销售期，没有撤回的风险，而AP提供了更长的销售期，但有不被批准的风险。在本研究中，我们建立了一个博弈论模型来研究竞争企业如何选择他们的批准途径。与传统观点相反，更激烈的竞争将激励选择AP的公司在上市后研究中投入更多资金，以便更快地进入利润更高的rp市场，我们表明，由于rp市场与AP市场相比的收入率降低，以及更高的临床负担，公司实际上投资较少。研究发现，竞争越激烈，企业选择RP的可能性越大，企业选择AP的可能性越大。此外，企业的均衡批准路径选择在成功概率较低或较高时导致企业和患者三赢，而在成功概率中等时则损害患者剩余和社会福利。这突出表明需要进行管制干预，以协调药品市场并平衡经济和公共卫生目标。

{"title":"Strategic analysis of drugs market pathway: Regular-approval or accelerated-approval","authors":"Yanfei Lan , Jingxia Qin , Changhe Lai , Guoqing Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The traditional regulatory-approval pathway (RP) for the release of new drugs requires completion of all clinical trials prior to market entry and delays patient access to innovative therapies. To expedite drug availability, regulators have introduced the accelerated-approval pathway (AP), permitting earlier market entry based on surrogate endpoints, contingent on the subsequent postmarket study to confirm drug effectiveness. When choosing pathways, firms face a tangled trade-off: RP offers a shorter sales period with no risk of withdrawal, while AP provides the potential for a longer sales period but comes with the risk of non-approval. In this study, we develop a game-theory model to investigate how competing firms choose their approval pathways. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that a more intense competition would incentivize the firm that chooses AP to invest more in postmarket study to enter the more profitable RP-market sooner, we show that the firm actually invests less due to the diminished revenue rates of the RP-market compared to the AP-market and the higher clinical burdens. We find that a more intense competition makes firm more likely choose RP and the other chooses AP. Furthermore, firms’ equilibrium approval pathway choices lead to a triple-win situation for firms and patients when the success probability is relatively low or high, whereas they harm patient surplus and social welfare when the success probability is moderate. This highlights the need for regulatory intervention to coordinate the pharmaceutical market and balance economic and public health objectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 108-120"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145228755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Enhancing index-tracking performance: Leveraging characteristic-based factor models for reduced estimation errors 增强索引跟踪性能：利用基于特征的因子模型来减少估计误差

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-09-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.043

Christian Fieberg , Carlos Osorio , Thorsten Poddig , Armin Varmaz

This paper addresses the challenge of minimizing tracking error in passive portfolio management by reducing estimation errors commonly encountered in traditional optimization methods. We introduce an innovative cardinality-constrained mixed-integer optimization framework that incorporates characteristic-based factor models to enhance index-tracking performance. By leveraging these models, our approach aims to minimize errors stemming from estimation uncertainty. In an empirical analysis, we benchmark the tracking errors of our approach against traditional methods, examining both linear and quadratic programs. We further evaluate robustness across various stock market indices, time periods, solvers, and transaction costs. The results indicate that our method consistently reduces estimation errors, achieving superior tracking performance relative to conventional techniques. These findings provide crucial guidance for efficiently optimizing index-tracking portfolios while accommodating practical constraints.

本文通过减少传统优化方法中常见的估计误差，解决了被动投资组合管理中跟踪误差最小化的问题。我们引入了一个创新的基数约束混合整数优化框架，该框架结合了基于特征的因子模型来增强索引跟踪性能。通过利用这些模型，我们的方法旨在最小化由估计不确定性引起的错误。在实证分析中，我们对传统方法的跟踪误差进行了基准测试，检查了线性和二次规划。我们进一步评估了不同股票市场指数、时间段、求解器和交易成本的稳健性。结果表明，我们的方法一致地减少了估计误差，相对于传统技术实现了优越的跟踪性能。这些发现为有效优化指数跟踪投资组合，同时适应实际约束提供了重要指导。

引用次数: 0

Prelim p. 2; First issue - Editorial Board 预演p. 2；第一期-编辑委员会

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2026-02-10 DOI: 10.1016/S0377-2217(26)00126-8

引用次数: 0

A two-step large neighborhood search for a collaborative two-tier city logistics system 两步大社区搜索协同两线城市物流系统

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-10-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.016

Johannes Gückel , Teodor Gabriel Crainic , Pirmin Fontaine

The rapid transport of freight is an essential feature of modern societies and an enabling factor for economic trade and growth. Nevertheless, the negative impact of freight transportation in urban areas poses challenges for Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) as well as for municipalities. In this context, a centrally coordinated Two-Tier City Logistics System (2T-CLS), in which LSPs voluntarily agree to collaborate with each other, has the potential to reduce both economic and environmental impact costs. In order to plan such a system, it is important not only to make efficient use of the resources provided but also to have a mechanism that allocates the costs incurred to the individual LSPs. We introduce a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) formulation for the tactical planning of a 2T-CLS involving multiple LSPs that share their resources and customer demands. This MILP comprises a service network design formulation on the first tier and a vehicle routing problem formulation on the second tier, which are connected with each other. To address larger instances, we introduce an Integrative Two-Step Large Neighborhood Search with adaptive components that integrates first and second-tier decisions. In order not only to minimize the costs incurred but also to distribute them fairly, we investigate different problem-specific proportional methods, as well as more advanced game theoretical methods. Numerical experiments show that collaboration leads to average cost savings of 26.91%, which primarily stems from first-tier collaboration.

货物的快速运输是现代社会的一个基本特征，也是经济贸易和增长的有利因素。然而，城市地区货运的负面影响给物流服务提供商和市政当局带来了挑战。在这种情况下，一个中央协调的二线城市物流系统（2T-CLS）， lsp自愿同意彼此合作，有可能降低经济和环境影响成本。为了规划这样一个系统，重要的是不仅要有效地利用所提供的资源，而且要有一种机制来分配单个lsp所产生的成本。我们引入了一种混合整数线性规划（MILP）公式，用于涉及共享其资源和客户需求的多个lsp的2T-CLS的战术规划。该MILP包括第一层的服务网络设计公式和第二层的车辆路径问题公式，两者相互连接。为了解决更大的实例，我们引入了一种集成了第一层和第二层决策的自适应组件的综合两步大型邻域搜索。为了使成本最小化和公平分配成本，我们研究了针对不同问题的比例方法，以及更先进的博弈论方法。数值实验表明，协作导致平均成本节约26.91%，这主要源于一线协作。

{"title":"A two-step large neighborhood search for a collaborative two-tier city logistics system","authors":"Johannes Gückel , Teodor Gabriel Crainic , Pirmin Fontaine","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.016","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.016","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid transport of freight is an essential feature of modern societies and an enabling factor for economic trade and growth. Nevertheless, the negative impact of freight transportation in urban areas poses challenges for Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) as well as for municipalities. In this context, a centrally coordinated Two-Tier City Logistics System (2T-CLS), in which LSPs voluntarily agree to collaborate with each other, has the potential to reduce both economic and environmental impact costs. In order to plan such a system, it is important not only to make efficient use of the resources provided but also to have a mechanism that allocates the costs incurred to the individual LSPs. We introduce a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) formulation for the tactical planning of a 2T-CLS involving multiple LSPs that share their resources and customer demands. This MILP comprises a service network design formulation on the first tier and a vehicle routing problem formulation on the second tier, which are connected with each other. To address larger instances, we introduce an Integrative Two-Step Large Neighborhood Search with adaptive components that integrates first and second-tier decisions. In order not only to minimize the costs incurred but also to distribute them fairly, we investigate different problem-specific proportional methods, as well as more advanced game theoretical methods. Numerical experiments show that collaboration leads to average cost savings of 26.91%, which primarily stems from first-tier collaboration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 139-155"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145262037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Mixed-Integer and Constraint Programming Models for the Two-Dimensional Guillotine Cutting Problem 二维切刀问题的混合整数与约束规划模型

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-10-21 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.10.022

Sergey Polyakovskiy , Milad Dehghan , Adam Mcgregor , Peter J. Stuckey

The two-dimensional orthogonal guillotine cutting problem considers a single rectangular plate of raw material and a collection of rectangular items to be cut from the plate. Each item is associated with a profit and a demand. The problem searches for a feasible layout of a subset of items on the plate so as to maximize the total profit of selected items. The guillotine constraint restricts feasible layouts to those that can be obtained via guillotine edge-to-edge cuts that run parallel to an edge of the plate. First, we propose a constraint programming (CP) model that is suitable for guillotine cutting with an arbitrary number of stages of alternating horizontal and vertical guillotine cuts. This is an assignment-based model that builds a tree of guillotine cuts using a constant number of rectangular regions, with some regions allocated to items. It treats the entire plate as a primary region and decides on the guillotine cuts required to split the regions recursively until they produce space for the items. The number of regions never exceeds the number of items. To improve the search, the model explores the strength of cumulative scheduling relaxations of the cutting problem. We then translate the CP model into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Although it lacks the cumulative scheduling relaxations, its performance is enhanced via a set of valid inequalities. Both our models are polynomial in size. They demonstrate strong computational performance that makes them highly competitive in comparison to the state-of-the-art MILP models, even in application to large-sized instances. Overall, our CP model appears to be stronger than its MILP translation as it solves more instances to optimality and provides a smaller average runtime.

二维正交剪板机切割问题考虑的是单个原料矩形板和从该板上切割的一组矩形物品。每个项目都与利润和需求相关联。该问题寻求一组商品在盘子上的可行布局，以使所选商品的总利润最大化。断头台约束将可行的布局限制为可通过平行于板材边缘的断头台边对边切割获得的布局。首先，我们提出了一个约束规划（CP）模型，该模型适用于任意数量的水平和垂直交替切割阶段的断头台切割。这是一个基于分配的模型，它使用恒定数量的矩形区域构建一个断头台切割树，其中一些区域分配给物品。它将整个盘子视为一个主要区域，并决定将这些区域递归分割所需的断头台切割，直到它们为项目产生空间。区域的数量永远不会超过项目的数量。为了改进搜索，该模型探索了切割问题的累积调度松弛的强度。然后，我们将CP模型转化为混合整数线性规划（MILP）模型。虽然它缺乏累积调度松弛，但它的性能通过一组有效不等式得到提高。我们的两个模型都是多项式大小。它们表现出强大的计算性能，这使得它们与最先进的MILP模型相比具有很强的竞争力，即使在大型实例的应用中也是如此。总的来说，我们的CP模型似乎比它的MILP转换更强大，因为它解决了更多实例的最优性，并提供了更小的平均运行时间。

{"title":"Mixed-Integer and Constraint Programming Models for the Two-Dimensional Guillotine Cutting Problem","authors":"Sergey Polyakovskiy , Milad Dehghan , Adam Mcgregor , Peter J. Stuckey","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.10.022","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.10.022","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The two-dimensional orthogonal guillotine cutting problem considers a single rectangular plate of raw material and a collection of rectangular items to be cut from the plate. Each item is associated with a profit and a demand. The problem searches for a feasible layout of a subset of items on the plate so as to maximize the total profit of selected items. The guillotine constraint restricts feasible layouts to those that can be obtained via guillotine edge-to-edge cuts that run parallel to an edge of the plate. First, we propose a constraint programming (CP) model that is suitable for guillotine cutting with an arbitrary number of stages of alternating horizontal and vertical guillotine cuts. This is an assignment-based model that builds a tree of guillotine cuts using a constant number of rectangular regions, with some regions allocated to items. It treats the entire plate as a primary region and decides on the guillotine cuts required to split the regions recursively until they produce space for the items. The number of regions never exceeds the number of items. To improve the search, the model explores the strength of cumulative scheduling relaxations of the cutting problem. We then translate the CP model into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Although it lacks the cumulative scheduling relaxations, its performance is enhanced via a set of valid inequalities. Both our models are polynomial in size. They demonstrate strong computational performance that makes them highly competitive in comparison to the state-of-the-art MILP models, even in application to large-sized instances. Overall, our CP model appears to be stronger than its MILP translation as it solves more instances to optimality and provides a smaller average runtime.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 48-61"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145485614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The stochastic location-routing problem with parallel truck–drone operations for humanitarian aid delivery 人道主义救援物资运送中卡车-无人机并行操作的随机定位路径问题

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-09-02 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.057

Hannan Tureci-Isik , Melih Çelik , Ece Sanci

Timely response in the aftermath of a disaster is crucial to alleviate loss of life and suffering. Timeliness of relief may be hampered by road network disruptions caused by the disaster, such as damage to road segments or debris covering the roads. The use of drones simultaneously with trucks can potentially help overcome issues around network disruptions and achieve more timely delivery of post-disaster aid. In an effort to shed more light into this potential, we address the problem of network design for parallel truck–drone operations by depot location prior to the disaster and routing of the vehicles in its aftermath. We incorporate the uncertainty on network disruption by modelling this problem as a two-stage stochastic program, which proves computationally challenging to solve to optimality for real-life disaster scenarios. Consequently, we propose a tailored heuristic based on variable neighbourhood search to find high-quality solutions efficiently. Our computational results on randomly generated instances and a case study from the 2011 Van Earthquake in Turkiye demonstrate the effectiveness of the heuristic, the benefits of employing both trucks and drones, and the significance of accounting for uncertainties in pre-disaster planning.

灾后及时反应对于减轻生命损失和痛苦至关重要。救灾的及时性可能会受到灾害造成的道路网络中断的影响，例如路段受损或覆盖道路的碎片。同时使用无人机和卡车可能有助于克服网络中断的问题，并实现更及时的灾后援助。为了更深入地了解这一潜力，我们通过灾难前的仓库位置和灾难后车辆的路线来解决并行卡车-无人机操作的网络设计问题。我们通过将该问题建模为两阶段随机程序来纳入网络中断的不确定性，这证明了在计算上具有挑战性，以解决现实生活中灾难场景的最优性。因此，我们提出了一种基于可变邻域搜索的定制启发式算法，以有效地找到高质量的解决方案。我们对随机生成实例的计算结果和2011年土耳其Van地震的案例研究表明了启发式方法的有效性，同时使用卡车和无人机的好处，以及在灾前规划中考虑不确定性的重要性。

{"title":"The stochastic location-routing problem with parallel truck–drone operations for humanitarian aid delivery","authors":"Hannan Tureci-Isik , Melih Çelik , Ece Sanci","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.057","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.057","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Timely response in the aftermath of a disaster is crucial to alleviate loss of life and suffering. Timeliness of relief may be hampered by road network disruptions caused by the disaster, such as damage to road segments or debris covering the roads. The use of drones simultaneously with trucks can potentially help overcome issues around network disruptions and achieve more timely delivery of post-disaster aid. In an effort to shed more light into this potential, we address the problem of network design for parallel truck–drone operations by depot location prior to the disaster and routing of the vehicles in its aftermath. We incorporate the uncertainty on network disruption by modelling this problem as a two-stage stochastic program, which proves computationally challenging to solve to optimality for real-life disaster scenarios. Consequently, we propose a tailored heuristic based on variable neighbourhood search to find high-quality solutions efficiently. Our computational results on randomly generated instances and a case study from the 2011 Van Earthquake in Turkiye demonstrate the effectiveness of the heuristic, the benefits of employing both trucks and drones, and the significance of accounting for uncertainties in pre-disaster planning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 242-259"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145009217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Mitigating retail platform externalities via inter-supplier returns 通过供应商之间的回报减少零售平台的外部性

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-09-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.031

Christina Johanna Liepold , Pedro Amorim , Maximilian Schiffer

Online retail platforms such as Amazon Marketplace, Zalando, or Hudson’s Bay are increasingly successful as they decrease transaction costs for both suppliers and customers. Online retail platforms act as intermediaries connecting suppliers and customers while usually carrying no stock. As their success depends on a sufficient customer and supplier count, platforms establish customer-friendly, benevolent return policies to attract customers and, in turn, increase their attractiveness towards suppliers. Thus, the likelihood of long-distance shipments and returns increases, which can result in severe economic and environmental costs. Mitigating the negative externalities of return shipments is a major challenge for internationally active platforms. We suggest utilizing the platform’s knowledge of global customer demand and its ability to foster information sharing among participating suppliers to allow for reduced return shipment distances and increased platform efficiency. We propose, implement, and evaluate a novel MArket-driven INter-supplier (MAIN) return policy, which mitigates financial and environmental externalities of returns in online retail platforms. Contrary to classical return shipments, the MAIN return policy allows the return of the product to any supplier conditional to maximizing the resale likelihood while minimizing the return shipment distance. We design an auction-based implementation where suppliers bid on customer-issued returns to increase their welfare while reducing negative return externalities. Implementing MAIN can mitigate the drawbacks of benevolent return policies for online retail platforms. Using a data set on retail platform transactions, we show that the resale value of returns increases on average by 2.5%; shipping distance and related emissions decrease by up to 94%.

亚马逊市场、Zalando或哈德逊湾等在线零售平台越来越成功，因为它们降低了供应商和客户的交易成本。在线零售平台充当了连接供应商和客户的中介，但通常没有库存。由于他们的成功取决于足够的客户和供应商数量，平台建立客户友好，仁慈的退货政策来吸引客户，反过来，增加他们对供应商的吸引力。因此，长途运输和退货的可能性增加了，这可能导致严重的经济和环境成本。减轻回程货物的负面外部性是国际活跃平台面临的主要挑战。我们建议利用该平台对全球客户需求的了解及其促进参与供应商之间信息共享的能力，以缩短退货运输距离并提高平台效率。我们提出、实施并评估了一种新的市场驱动的供应商间（主要）退货政策，该政策减轻了在线零售平台退货的财务和环境外部性。与传统的退货运输相反，MAIN退货政策允许将产品退还给任何供应商，条件是最大化转售可能性，同时最小化退货运输距离。我们设计了一个基于拍卖的实施方案，其中供应商对客户发布的回报进行竞标，以增加他们的福利，同时减少负回报的外部性。实施MAIN可以减轻在线零售平台善意退货政策的缺点。使用零售平台交易的数据集，我们显示退货的转售价值平均增长2.5%；运输距离和相关排放最多可减少94%。

{"title":"Mitigating retail platform externalities via inter-supplier returns","authors":"Christina Johanna Liepold , Pedro Amorim , Maximilian Schiffer","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.031","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.031","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Online retail platforms such as <em>Amazon Marketplace</em>, <em>Zalando</em>, or <em>Hudson’s Bay</em> are increasingly successful as they decrease transaction costs for both suppliers and customers. Online retail platforms act as intermediaries connecting suppliers and customers while usually carrying no stock. As their success depends on a sufficient customer and supplier count, platforms establish customer-friendly, benevolent return policies to attract customers and, in turn, increase their attractiveness towards suppliers. Thus, the likelihood of long-distance shipments and returns increases, which can result in severe economic and environmental costs. Mitigating the negative externalities of return shipments is a major challenge for internationally active platforms. We suggest utilizing the platform’s knowledge of global customer demand and its ability to foster information sharing among participating suppliers to allow for reduced return shipment distances and increased platform efficiency. We propose, implement, and evaluate a novel <em>MArket-driven INter-supplier (MAIN) return policy</em>, which mitigates financial and environmental externalities of returns in online retail platforms. Contrary to classical return shipments, the MAIN return policy allows the return of the product to <em>any</em> supplier conditional to maximizing the resale likelihood while minimizing the return shipment distance. We design an auction-based implementation where suppliers bid on customer-issued returns to increase their welfare while reducing negative return externalities. Implementing MAIN can mitigate the drawbacks of benevolent return policies for online retail platforms. Using a data set on retail platform transactions, we show that the resale value of returns increases on average by 2.5%; shipping distance and related emissions decrease by up to 94%.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 92-107"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145228791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Private brand encroachment and channel structure in a hybrid platform 混合平台中的自有品牌侵占与渠道结构

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-09-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.030

Chong Zhang, Yi Zhu, Yu Zhang, Yuliang Ma

Nowadays, major online platforms offer the hybrid channel for manufacturers. Therefore, the manufacturer has the option to select from three channel structures: reselling channel, agency selling channel, and hybrid channel. To break through the limitations of simply providing platform services and retail channels, many online platforms introduce private brands to compete with manufacturers. In this research, we construct a game-theoretic model to examine the interplay between the manufacturer’s channel structure and the online platform’s private brand encroachment strategy. Through comparative and equilibrium analyses, some interesting results are found. First, when the commission fee is relatively low, PBE has the potential to inhibit the escalation of the wholesale price and alleviate the double marginalization effect. Second, without private brand, the hybrid channel is not a good option for the manufacturer. However, the private brand encroachment strategy of the online platform substantially increases the manufacturer’s motivation to choose the hybrid channel. The private brand encroachment strategy and the channel strategy have asymmetric mixed relationship of complementarity and substitutability. Third, when the commission fee is low, PB with far less market potential or quality than specialized manufacturers still have value to introduce. Finally, several extended analyses are conducted to verify the robustness of the results and more interesting implications are derived.

如今，各大在线平台为制造商提供了混合渠道。因此，制造商有三种渠道结构可供选择：转售渠道、代理销售渠道和混合渠道。为了突破单纯提供平台服务和零售渠道的局限，很多线上平台引入自有品牌与厂商竞争。在本研究中，我们构建了一个博弈论模型来考察制造商的渠道结构与在线平台的自有品牌入侵策略之间的相互作用。通过比较分析和均衡分析，发现了一些有趣的结果。首先，当佣金较低时，PBE有抑制批发价格上涨的潜力，缓解了双重边缘化效应。其次，如果没有自有品牌，混合渠道对制造商来说不是一个好的选择。然而，在线平台的自有品牌侵占策略大大增加了制造商选择混合渠道的动机。自有品牌侵占战略与渠道战略具有互补性和可替代性的非对称混合关系。第三，在佣金较低的情况下，市场潜力或质量远不如专业厂家的PB仍有引进价值。最后，进行了一些扩展分析来验证结果的稳健性，并推导出更有趣的含义。

{"title":"Private brand encroachment and channel structure in a hybrid platform","authors":"Chong Zhang, Yi Zhu, Yu Zhang, Yuliang Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.030","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.030","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nowadays, major online platforms offer the hybrid channel for manufacturers. Therefore, the manufacturer has the option to select from three channel structures: reselling channel, agency selling channel, and hybrid channel. To break through the limitations of simply providing platform services and retail channels, many online platforms introduce private brands to compete with manufacturers. In this research, we construct a game-theoretic model to examine the interplay between the manufacturer’s channel structure and the online platform’s private brand encroachment strategy. Through comparative and equilibrium analyses, some interesting results are found. First, when the commission fee is relatively low, PBE has the potential to inhibit the escalation of the wholesale price and alleviate the double marginalization effect. Second, without private brand, the hybrid channel is not a good option for the manufacturer. However, the private brand encroachment strategy of the online platform substantially increases the manufacturer’s motivation to choose the hybrid channel. The private brand encroachment strategy and the channel strategy have asymmetric mixed relationship of complementarity and substitutability. Third, when the commission fee is low, PB with far less market potential or quality than specialized manufacturers still have value to introduce. Finally, several extended analyses are conducted to verify the robustness of the results and more interesting implications are derived.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 77-91"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145228793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Centroid cross-efficiency approach for clustering 聚类的质心交叉效率方法

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-09-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.038

Qingxian An , Jing Zhao , Ya Chen , Haoxun Chen

Recognizing the critical importance of explainable clustering results for decision-making and the influence of sample importance on the clustering result, this study proposes a clustering method based on the centroid data envelopment analysis (DEA) cross-efficiency approach. Specifically, this study first introduces the centroid DEA cross-efficiency approach. The approach is constructed based on the unique set of centroid weights of the convex polytope formed by all optimal weight vectors for each DMU. Then, a gravity model is constructed based on the centroid DEA cross-efficiency approach. The gravity model simultaneously accounts for the sample importance and the distance between samples. Based on the gravity between samples, this study develops the gravity clustering method. This clustering method enhances interpretability and provides decision support by identifying the importance degree of the features for samples across different clusters through centroid weights. To validate the effectiveness, an empirical example is conducted, and the result shows that the proposed clustering method outperforms existing DEA-based clustering approaches. Furthermore, a clustering study is conducted on the healthcare levels of various provinces in China, and policy recommendations are provided for the medical development of provinces within different clusters.

考虑到可解释的聚类结果对决策的重要性以及样本重要性对聚类结果的影响，本文提出了一种基于质心数据包络分析（DEA）交叉效率方法的聚类方法。具体而言，本研究首先引入质心DEA交叉效率方法。该方法是基于由每个DMU的所有最优权重向量构成的凸多面体的唯一质心权重集来构建的。然后，基于质心DEA交叉效率法构建了重力模型。重力模型同时考虑了样本的重要性和样本之间的距离。基于样本间的重力，本文发展了重力聚类方法。该聚类方法通过质心权值识别不同聚类样本特征的重要程度，增强了可解释性，并为决策提供了支持。为了验证该方法的有效性，进行了实例分析，结果表明该方法优于现有的基于dea的聚类方法。并对中国各省的医疗卫生水平进行聚类研究，为不同聚类内各省的医疗卫生发展提供政策建议。

{"title":"Centroid cross-efficiency approach for clustering","authors":"Qingxian An , Jing Zhao , Ya Chen , Haoxun Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.038","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.038","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recognizing the critical importance of explainable clustering results for decision-making and the influence of sample importance on the clustering result, this study proposes a clustering method based on the centroid data envelopment analysis (DEA) cross-efficiency approach. Specifically, this study first introduces the centroid DEA cross-efficiency approach. The approach is constructed based on the unique set of centroid weights of the convex polytope formed by all optimal weight vectors for each DMU. Then, a gravity model is constructed based on the centroid DEA cross-efficiency approach. The gravity model simultaneously accounts for the sample importance and the distance between samples. Based on the gravity between samples, this study develops the gravity clustering method. This clustering method enhances interpretability and provides decision support by identifying the importance degree of the features for samples across different clusters through centroid weights. To validate the effectiveness, an empirical example is conducted, and the result shows that the proposed clustering method outperforms existing DEA-based clustering approaches. Furthermore, a clustering study is conducted on the healthcare levels of various provinces in China, and policy recommendations are provided for the medical development of provinces within different clusters.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 200-213"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145228796","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Order advancement in a multi-item two-echelon system: Theory and case study 多项目两梯队系统中的订单推进：理论与案例研究

IF 6 2区管理学 Q1 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

European Journal of Operational Research

Pub Date : 2026-05-16 Epub Date: 2025-09-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.033

Q. ten Hagen , M.C. van der Heijden , D.R.J. Prak

Motivated by a case at a large retail chain in the Netherlands, we study short-term order advancement in a multi-item, two-echelon system consisting of a distribution centre (DC) and many stores. Application of traditional inventory replenishment rules may lead to a strongly fluctuating workload for order picking, and thus capacity problems, at the DC. By advancing replenishments we can balance the workload at the DC without negative impact on the service levels towards the final customer, trading off backroom usage and handling of incoming orders under limited shelf space at the individual stores. We develop a performance evaluation method and various heuristics to find good order advancement solutions. We select the heuristic with the best trade-off between cost performance and computation time for large problem instances (i.e., hundreds of stores and thousands of stock keeping units). Application of this heuristic to case data from the retail chain shows around 10 % overall cost reduction. In particular, the capacity shortage at the DC – a major issue in our case study – is reduced by almost 67 % at the expense of more peaks in handling workload at the stores (42 % increase in order lines exceeding store capacity), and an increase of 7.6 % in backroom usage. Sensitivity analysis shows that a planning horizon of about two weeks performs best, and that the cost reduction potential is heavily influenced by the available shelf space.

受荷兰一家大型零售连锁店案例的启发，我们研究了一个由配送中心（DC）和许多商店组成的多项目、两级系统中的短期订单推进。传统的库存补充规则的应用可能会导致拣选订单的工作量剧烈波动，从而导致数据中心的能力问题。通过提前补货，我们可以平衡数据中心的工作量，而不会对最终客户的服务水平产生负面影响，在各个商店有限的货架空间下权衡后台使用和处理传入订单。我们开发了一种性能评估方法和各种启发式方法来寻找良好的订单进度解决方案。对于大型问题实例（例如，数百个商店和数千个库存单位），我们选择具有最佳性价比和计算时间之间权衡的启发式方法。将这种启发式方法应用到零售链的案例数据中，可以发现总成本降低了10%左右。特别是，数据中心的容量短缺——我们案例研究中的一个主要问题——减少了近67%，代价是商店处理工作量的高峰增加了（订单线超过商店容量的增加了42%），后台使用增加了7.6%。敏感性分析表明，大约两周的计划期限效果最好，而降低成本的潜力很大程度上受可用货架空间的影响。

{"title":"Order advancement in a multi-item two-echelon system: Theory and case study","authors":"Q. ten Hagen , M.C. van der Heijden , D.R.J. Prak","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.033","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.09.033","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Motivated by a case at a large retail chain in the Netherlands, we study short-term order advancement in a multi-item, two-echelon system consisting of a distribution centre (DC) and many stores. Application of traditional inventory replenishment rules may lead to a strongly fluctuating workload for order picking, and thus capacity problems, at the DC. By advancing replenishments we can balance the workload at the DC without negative impact on the service levels towards the final customer, trading off backroom usage and handling of incoming orders under limited shelf space at the individual stores. We develop a performance evaluation method and various heuristics to find good order advancement solutions. We select the heuristic with the best trade-off between cost performance and computation time for large problem instances (i.e., hundreds of stores and thousands of stock keeping units). Application of this heuristic to case data from the retail chain shows around 10 % overall cost reduction. In particular, the capacity shortage at the DC – a major issue in our case study – is reduced by almost 67 % at the expense of more peaks in handling workload at the stores (42 % increase in order lines exceeding store capacity), and an increase of 7.6 % in backroom usage. Sensitivity analysis shows that a planning horizon of about two weeks performs best, and that the cost reduction potential is heavily influenced by the available shelf space.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"331 1","pages":"Pages 121-138"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145228833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0