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An Investigation of the Implications of Channel Power for Supply Chain Performance

Bogdan123x175Dr. Bogdan Bichescu
Associate Professor of Management Science
Haslam College of Business, UT
April 17, 2015, 2:30 – 3:30 PM
410 John D. Tickle Engineering Building

Dr. Bogdan Bichescu is an Associate Professor of Management Science in the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee. He received Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Operations Management and Quantitative Analysis, respectively, from the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Bichescu’s research interests are concentrated in the areas of supply chain modeling and healthcare operations. Leveraging quantitative methodologies such as game theory, optimization, and statistical analysis, his work examines the role of channel power and contracting on supply chain performance, and the interplay between information technology and hospital performance. Dr. Bichescu’s research has appeared in journals including Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operational Research, and Omega.

Abstract: Agents in a supply chain are typically characterized by different levels of decision-making power. The distribution of power in a supply chain can have significant effects on operational decisions, including the level of product availability and pricing, profitability, and even supply chain stability. In this study we investigate several supply chain configurations where power can be equally split among the agents or concentrated with either the supplier or the retailer. Using game-theoretic modeling approaches, we characterize the settings under which certain distributions of power yield highest benefits. Considering that power reconfigurations are possible in a supply chain, we also introduce the concept of structure dominance, as a mechanism to determine whether there exist supply chain scenarios that are more stable than others and thus less prone to reconfigurations.