A collaborative inventory system with permissible delay in payment for deteriorating items

A collaborative inventory system of single vendor and single buyer is developed to maximize the total profit of the whole system. However, the optimal solution for the whole system is not always beneficial to both players. To ensure mutual benefit, a negotiation factor is incorporated to share the profit between the two players according to their contributions. The permissible delay in payment is a win-win strategy for sharing profit in the collaborative system. A deteriorating inventory model with finite replenishment rate and price sensitive demand is assumed to occur in a high-tech, short life cycle and perishable electronic product. A numerical example is provided to illustrate our models. The sensitivity analysis of the demand rate, replenishment rate, deterioration factor, and other related parameters shows that the percentage extra total profit is significant when both the collaboration strategy and the deterioration factor are considered. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.