Academic literature on the topic 'Supply and demand'

Purpose: This research aims to enhance the current understanding and knowledge of the demand-supply chain management (DSCM) concept by determining its elements, benefits, and requirements, as well as by analyzing key elements of the concept. Methodology: This research has utilized the case study strategy and the survey strategy, however, the case study strategy dominates. The case study research has involved five companies originating from Sweden and the collection of empirical data mainly from in-depth interviews with key persons representing senior and middle management. The survey research targeted the largest firms in Sweden and Finland and empirical data was collected through an online questionnaire. Findings: This research has established that the main elements of DSCM include market orientation, coordination of the demand and supply processes, viewing the demand and supply processes as being equally important, as well as value creation, differentiation, innovativeness, responsiveness, and cost-efficiency in the demand and supply processes. It has also been revealed that the main benefits of DSCM include enhanced competiveness, enhanced demand chain performance, as well as enhanced supply chain performance, while the main requirements of DSCM include organizational competences, company established principles, demand-supply chain collaboration, and information technology support. A key element of DSCM further investigated is differentiation focused supply chain design. It has been shown that these efforts can be organized into a process of five stages. In addition, it is important that this process is addressed in parallel with the new product development (NPD) process, that information is exchanged between them, and that they are directed on the basis of the same segmentation model. Another key element of DSCM further investigated is coordination between NPD and SCM. This research has identified several significant linkages between these management directions, which motivate the use of an integrative NPD process where the NPD functions are aligned with the main supply functions in the company and other sales-related functions supporting the commercialization. A final key element of DSCM further investigated is the significance of regarding the demand processes and the supply processes as being equally important. This research has revealed that logistics outsourcing can be risky, if it results in the supply processes being considered less important. Nevertheless, if senior management regards the outsourced processes as equally important as the in-house processes, the effect of logistics outsourcing on company strategies and direction in SCM could be reduced and logistics outsourcing could instead provide an opportunity to improve the design and differentiation of the supply chain. Research limitations/implications: This research has proposed, described, and further analyzed a demand-supply oriented management approach. Such a management approach stresses that the demand processes and the supply processes have to be coordinated and directed at an overlying level, in order to gain and sustain a competitive advantage in competitive and fragmented markets. This research is mainly explorative in nature, and more empirical data, from similar and other research settings, is needed to further validate the findings. Another limitation of the research is that it is essentially limited to Swedish companies (even if some Finnish companies are involved in the survey), however, many of the case companies have a large international presence and are among the top three in their industries, facts which provide some grounds for generalization. Practical implications: This research provides researchers and practitioners with insights into how to develop a demand-supply oriented business. It shows that companies should organize themselves around understanding how customer value is created and delivered, as well as how these processes and management directions can be coordinated. In order for this to occur, the demand and supply processes must be considered as being equally important and the firm needs to be managed jointly and in a coordinated manner by the demand- and supply-side of the company. It is also important that value creation is considered in both the demand and supply processes. Originality/value: Despite strong arguments from both researchers and practitioners for a demand-supply oriented management approach only a minority of companies appear to have effectively coordinated the demand and supply processes. This might be influenced by the lack of research examining how the demand and supply processes can be coordinated, what benefits can be gained by coordinating them, and what requirements are necessary to succeed. This research contributes by investigating these types of aspects further.

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-75).
Globalization increases product variety and shortens product life cycles. These lead to an increase in demand uncertainty and variability. Outsourcing to low-cost countries increases supply lead-time and supply uncertainty and variability. Coupled with the increase of mergers and acquisitions, which increase supply chain complexity, and the unforgiving nature of having too little or too much inventory, these factors have accelerated the importance and adoption of the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process. S&OP is driven by a cross functional team, with the purpose of balancing supply and demand with the objective of maximizing a company's goals. It manages the supply and demand uncertainties, balances the different internal and external stakeholders' interests, and aligns the operations towards its strategy and vision. In support of the Supply Chain 2020 Project at MIT, this thesis focuses on analyzing the S&OP function across industries. Using the Phase I SC 2020 theses, literature, white papers, and interviews with industry experts, this thesis compares and contrasts the S&OP practices across nine industries.
(cont.) It examines their best practices and underlying principles, as well as the macro factors that have shaped the practices for the last ten to fifteen years, as well as what is expected in the future. Companies with the "best" S&OP processes collaborate internally to balance sales and operations, and align all internal stakeholders' interests. Furthermore, they collaborate externally with suppliers and customers to reduce supply and demand uncertainties. They also understand and manage demand and supply uncertainties, and align their effort towards their goals. These companies synchronize operations and are agile to changing environments.
by Peng Kuan Tan.
M.Eng.in Logistics

The aim of this thesis is to extend the empirical research which has been undertaken using the GNP function approach to measuring export supply and import demand responsiveness. Exports and imports are divided into several components and detailed sets of elasticities produced. In the second part o£ the thesis imperfect adjustment is allowed for in the GNP function model. The GNP function framework treats imports as an input to the domestic technology while exports are an output. The aggregate technology can then be represented by a restricted profit function facilitating the derivation of net output supply elasticities. In this study the aggregate net outputs are exports, imports, labour and domestic sales supply. Capital is treated as a fixed input. Time-series of input-output data for Canada are used covering the period 1961 to 1980. In the first model estimated, four export and four import components are included by the use of aggregator functions and a two-stage estimation process. The recently developed Symmetric Generalised McFadden functional form which permits imposition of the correct curvature conditions while retaining flexibility is used at both the aggregator and GNP function levels. The aggregate export own-price supply elasticity was found to be 1.67 in 1970 while the aggregate import own-price demand elasticity was -1.62. Increases in the prices of both imports and labour were found to decrease the supply of exports while exports were found to be complementary to the output of domestic sales supply. The demand for labour was found to be more elastic than in earlier studies and a general trend towards increasing price responsiveness in the Canadian economy was observed. The own-price elasticities for the four export and four import components were stable and of reasonable magnitude. All the export and import components were found to be complementary. To remove the assumption of separability, modelling was extended to two larger disaggregated Generalised McFadden GNP function models containing four export (import) components, aggregate imports (exports), labour and domestic sales as net outputs. Using this procedure more substitution between the export and import components was found. A planning price model whereby the producers' notional price adjusts gradually to actual price changes indicated that imperfect adjustment is particularly important in the traded goods sector. Exports fully adjusted to price changes only over an extended period. Finally, an adjustment costs model was estimated which indicated that the main effect of allowing for imperfect adjustment was on input use. Differences between long-run and short-run export supply and import demand responsiveness were relatively small. Considerable substitutability between labour and capital in the long-run was observed and since labour was also variable in the short-run this produced overshooting of labour demand. An increase in export prices thus caused a large short-run increase in labour demand but in the long-run the capital stock was increased and substituted for much of the short-run labour increase.
Arts, Faculty of
Vancouver School of Economics
Graduate

Thesis: S.M. in Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in conjunction with the Center for Real Estate, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-69).
This thesis documents new methods for gauging supply and demand of data center capacity and addresses issues surrounding potential threats to data center demand. This document is divided between a primer on the composition and engineering of a current data center, discussion of issues surrounding data center demand, Moore's Law and cloud computing, and then transitions to presentation of research on data center demand and supply.
by Laird Bennion.
S.M. in Real Estate Development

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Supply-demand analysis (SDA) is a tool that allows for the control, regulation and behaviour of metabolic pathways to be understood. In this framework, reactions are grouped into reaction blocks that represent the supply and demand of a metabolic product. The elasticities of these supply and demand blocks can be used to determine the degree of control either block has over the flux in the pathway and the degree of homoeostasis of the metabolic product that links the blocks. Rate characteristic plots, on which the rates of supply and demand blocks are plotted as functions of the concentration of the linking metabolite, represent a powerful visual tool in this framework. Generalised supply-demand analysis (GSDA) allows for the analysis of metabolic models of arbitrary size and complexity without prior knowledge of the regulatory structure of the pathway. This is achieved by performing SDA on each variable metabolite in a pathway instead of choosing a single linking metabolite. GSDA also provides other benefits over SDA as it allows for potential sites of regulation and regulatory metabolites to be identified. Additionally it allows for the identification and quantification of the relative contribution of di erent routes of regulation from an intermediate to a reaction block. Moiety-conserved cycles present a challenge in performing in silico SDA or GSDA, as the total concentration of a moiety must remain constant, thereby limiting the range of possible concentrations of the metabolites between which it cycles. The first goal of this thesis was to develop methods to perform GSDA on two-membered and interlinked moiety-conserved cycles. We showed that by expressing the members of a moiety-conserved cycle as a ratio, rather than individual metabolite concentrations, we can freely vary the ratio without breaking moiety conservation in a GSDA. Furthermore, we showed that by linking the concentrations of the members of two interlinked two-membered moiety-conserved cycles to a “linking metabolite”, we could vary the concentration of this metabolite, within constraints, without breaking moiety conservation. The Python Simulator for Cellular Systems (PySCeS) is a software package developed within our group that provides a variety of tools for the analysis of cellular systems. The RateChar module for PySCeS was previously developed as a tool to perform GSDA on kinetic models of metabolic pathways by automatically generating rate characteristic plots for each variable metabolite in a pathway. The plots generated by RateChar, however, were at times unclear when the models analysed were too complex. Additionally, invalid results where steady-states could not be reached were not filtered out, and therefore appeared together with valid results on the rate characteristic plots generated by RateChar. We therefore set out to improve upon RateChar by building plotting interface that produces clear and error-free rate characteristics. The resulting RCFigure class allows users to interactively change the composition of a rate characteristic plot and it includes automatic error checking. It also provides clearer rate characteristics with e ective use of colour. Using these tools two case studies were undertaken. In the first, GSDA was used to investigate the regulation of aspartate-derived amino acid synthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. A central result was that the direct interaction of aspartate-semialdehyde (ASA), a metabolite at a branch point in the pathway, with the enzyme that produces it only accounts for 7% of the total response in the flux of supply. Instead, 89% of the observed flux response was due to ASA interacting with of the downstream enzymes for which it is a substrate. This result was unexpected as the ASA producing enzyme had a high elasticity towards ASA. In a second case study moiety-conserved cycles in a model of the pyruvate branches in lactic acid bacteria were linearised using the above mentioned method. This served to illustrate how multiple reaction blocks are connected by these conserved moieties. By performing GSDA on this model, we demonstrated that the interactions of these conserved moieties with the various reaction blocks in the pathway, led to non-monotonic behaviour of the rate characteristics of the supply and demand for the moiety ratios. An example of this is that flux would increase in response to an increase in product for certain ranges. This thesis illustrates the power of GSDA as an entry point in studying metabolic pathways, as it can potentially reveal properties of the regulation and behaviour of metabolic pathways that were not previously known, even if these pathways were subjected to previous analysis and a kinetic model is available. In general it also demonstrates how e ective analysis tools and metabolic models are vital for the study of metabolism.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vraag-en-aanbod analise (VAA) is ’n analisemetode wat mens in staat stel om die beheer, regulering en gedrag van metaboliese paaie beter te verstaan. In hierdie raamwerk word reaksies gegroepeer as reaksieblokke wat die aanbod (produksiestappe) en die aanvraag (verbruik-stappe) van ’n metaboliese produk verteenwoordig. Vanaf die elastisiteite van hierdie aanbod- en aanvraag-blokke kan die graad van beheer van elkeen van die blokke oor die fluksie, asook die graad van homeostase van die metaboliese koppelingsintermediaat, bereken word. Snelheidskenmerk-grafieke, waarop die snelhede van die vraag- en aanbod-blokke as funksies van die konsentrasie van die koppelingsmetaboliet uiteengesit word, verteenwoordig ’n kragtige visuele hulpmiddel in hierdie raamwerk. Veralgemeende vraag-aanbod analise (VVAA), die veralgemeende vorm van VAA, maak dit moontlikommetaboliese modelle van arbitrêre grootte en kompleksiteit te analiseer sonder enige vooraf-kennis van die regulatoriese struktuur van die paaie. Die prosedure is om VAA op elk van die veranderlike metaboliete in die pad uit te voer, eerder as om ’n enkele koppelingsmetaboliet te kies. VVAA het ook ander voordele bo VAA aangesien dit potensiële setels van regulering en regulatoriese metaboliete kan identifiseer. Daarbenewens kan dit die relatiewe bydrae van verskillende regulerings-roetes van vanaf ’n intermediaat na ’n reaksieblok identifiseer en hulle kwantifiseer. Groep-gekonserveerde siklusse bied ’n uitdaging vir in silico VAA of VVAA, aangesien die totale konsentrasie van die gekonserveerde groep konstant moet bly. Dit beperk die waardes van moontlike konsentrasies van die metaboliete wat die siklus uitmaak. Die eerste doelstelling van hierdie tesis was dus om metodes te ontwikkel waarmee VVAA op tweeledige en saamgebonde groep-gekonserveerde siklusse uitgevoer kan word. Deur die lede van groep-gekonserveerde siklusse eerder as verhoudings uit te druk in plaas van as individuele metabolietkonsentrasies, het ons gewys dat ons hierdie verhouding vrylik kan varieer sonder om die groep-konservering te breek in ’n VVAA. Ons het ook gewys dat die konsentrasies van die lede van ’n saamgebonde groep-gekonserveerde siklus gekoppel kan word aan ’n “koppelingsmetaboliet”, waarvan die konsentrasie dan binne perke gevarieer kan word sonder om die groep-konservering te breek. Die “Python Simulator for Cellular Systems” (PySCeS) is ’n programmatuur-pakket wat binne ons navorsingsgroep ontwikkel is met die doel om sellulêre sisteme numeries te analiseer. Die RateChar module vir PySCeS was reeds voor die aanvang van hierdie projek ontwikkel om VVAAop kinetiese modelle van metaboliese paaie uit te voer deur outomaties snelheidskenmerke vir elke veranderlikke metaboliet te genereer. Die grafieke wat deur RateChar gegenereer is, was egter soms onduidelik wanneer die modelle te groot of kompleks geraak het. Daarbenewens is ongeldige resultate, waar ’n bestendige toestand nie bereik kon word nie, nie uitgefiltreer nie, en het dus saam met geldige resultate op die snelheidskenmerke verskyn. Een van die doelstellings was dus om RateChar te verbeter deur ’n koppelvlak vir grafieke te ontwikkel wat duidelike en foutlose snelheidskenmerke kon produseer. Dit het gelei tot die RCFigure klas wat outomatiese foutopsporing uitvoer en gebruikers in staat stel om op ’n interaktiewe wyse die samestelling van ’n snelheidskenmerkgrafiek te verander. Dit bied ook duideliker snelheidskenmerke deur e ektief van kleur gebruik te maak. Met hierdie ontwikkelde gereedskap is twee gevallestudies onderneem. In die eerste is VVAA gebruik om die regulering van aspartaat-afgeleide aminosuursintese in Arabidopsis thaliana te bestudeer. Die belangrikste resultaat was dat die direkte interaksie van aspartaat-semialdehied (ASA), ’n metaboliet by ’n vertakkingspunt in die pad, met die ensiem wat dit produseer, slegs vir 7% van die totale respons in die aanbod-fluksie verantwoordelik was. Daarteen was 89% van die waargenome fluksierespons die gevolg van die interaksie van ASA met drie van die stroomafensieme, waarvoor dit ’n substraat is. Hierdie resultaat was onverwag aangesien die ensiem wat ASA produseer ’n hoë elastisiteit teenoor ASA toon. In ’n tweede gevallestudie is die groep-gekonserveerde siklusse in ’n model van die pirovaat-takke in melksuurbakterie-metabolisme gelineariseer deur gebruik te maak van die bo beskrewe metode. Dit illustreer hoe verskeie reaksieblokke verbind word deur hierdie gekonserveerde groepe. M.b.v. ’n VVAA van hierdie model het ons gedemonstreer dat die interaksies van die gekonserveerde groepe met die verskeie reaksieblokke in die pad kan lei tot nie-monotoniese gedrag van die snelheidskenmerke van die vraag- en aanbod-reaksies vir die verhouding van die gekonserveerde groep-komponente. ’n Voorbeeld hiervan is die onverwagte waarneming dat die fluksie toeneem met toenemende produk-konsentrasie oor sekere gebiede. Hierdie tesis illustreer die krag van VVAA as ’n beginpunt vir die studie van metaboliese paaie, aangesien dit onbekende regulatoriese eienskappe en gedragspatrone kan ontbloot, selfs al is die paaie vantevore m.b.v. kinetiese modelle geanaliseer. Oor die algemeen demonstreer dit die noodsaaklikheid van e ektiewe analisegereedskap en metaboliese modelle vir die bestudering van metabolisme.
National Research Foundation

The implementation of nature conservation as a land use form is characterized by persistent conflicts and low acceptance by landowners and other users of the considered land area. The thesis applies an economic approach that is understood as the consideration of opportunities and problems of social interaction that aims at mutual benefits (Homann 2002: 63; Homann & Suchanek 2005: 4). Nature conservation is treated as a normal economic good that is demanded and supplied. Human action and human choices regarding the good "nature conservation" can be explained and predicted when including the structure of the exchange and transfer of property rights for nature conservation. The property rights perspective on nature conservation demonstrates an unambiguous understanding of the rights individuals are willing to abandon for demanding and supplying nature conservation. The successful implementation of different aims and strategies of nature conservation requires different property rights. The loss of the right to choose other alternatives implies subjective costs (Knight 1924: 592f.; Buchanan 1981: 14) that cannot be reduced to pecuniary units and landowners. This approach broadens the understanding of the term "costs" related to nature conservation. Different organizational and institutional arrangements can be found in practical nature conservation. Both, the demand for and the supply of nature conservation is organized either individually or collectively. Property rights for the good “nature conservation” are either exchanged voluntarily or involuntarily by applying takings and eminent domain. The application of the methodological individualism, the homo economicus and microeconomic theory, allows to elaborate a simple model of individual demand and supply of one property right that is allocated to nature conservation. This model excludes transaction costs, considers only one normal economic good - “nature conservation”. The analysis demonstrates the outcomes, which can be expected when aggregating these individual demand and supply curves within two different organizations. A vertical aggregation represents the process of choice-making within politics in a direct democracy. A horizontal aggregation illustrates the determination of choices within a market. The analysis includes all possible institutional and organizational arrangements. The results reveal the quantity and quality of implemented nature conservation and the expected relation between available and required budgets. It is highlighted, how susceptible collective outcomes are to changing expenditure and revenue sharing systems and voting rules. When making collective choices, only one revenue and expenditure sharing system exists that allows a unanimously chosen quantity of nature conservation. These specific sharing systems are different when considering different collectives. Only voluntary exchanges ensure mutual benefits and a balanced budget. I can show that the institution of takings increases conflicts and reduce the acceptance for implementing nature conservation. A preference order of the considered institutional arrangements is revealed. The majority of the analyzed arrangements allows unambiguous expectations on the quantity and quality of the implemented nature conservation. The discussion justifies the chosen economic approach for examining problems of social interaction within nature conservation. Furthermore, the application of the elaborated model to representative democratic systems is discussed. The thesis closes with examples of the current and expected future development of practical nature conservation. These cases are discussed in the light of the elaborated model and the analysis' results. The present thesis offers an explanation of past and present processes and outcomes in nature conservation and a support for making expectations on the constellation of actors and their acceptance regarding future strategies in practical nature conservation
Die Umsetzung von Naturschutz als Landnutzungsform ist durch beständige Konflikte und niedrige Akzeptanz durch Landeigentümer und andere Landnutzer gekennzeichnet. Die Arbeit verwendet einen ökonomischen Ansatz. Sie betrachtet Möglichkeiten und Probleme sozialer Interaktion, die auf gegenseitigen Nutzen abzielt (Homann 2002: 63; Homann & Suchanek 2005: 4). Naturschutz wird als normales ökonomisches Gut betrachtet. Dieses wird durch interagierende Individuen angeboten und nachgefragt. Das individuelle Handeln und Entscheiden in Bezug auf "Naturschutz" kann durch das Einbeziehen von Verfügungsrechten, welche bei dem Tausch ausgetauscht und übertragen werden, beschrieben und vorhergesagt werden. Die verfügungsrechtliche Betrachtung von Naturschutz ermöglicht ein eindeutiges Verständnis auf jene Rechte, auf die Individuen verzichten würden, um Naturschutz nachzufragen und anzubieten. Die erfolgreiche Umsetzung der unterschiedlichen Naturschutzziele und –strategien erfordert ein Eigentum an unterschiedlichen Verfügungsrechten. Der Verlust des Rechtes, eine Alternative zu wählen, verursacht subjektive Kosten (Knight 1924: 592f.; Buchanan 1981: 14), welche nicht auf Geldeinheiten und nicht auf Landeigentümer begrenzt werden können. Dieser Ansatz erweitert das Verständnis von Kosten in Bezug auf Naturschutz. Unterschiedliche organisatorische und institutionelle Arrangements sind im praktischen Naturschutz zu finden. Nachfrage und Angebot können jeweils individuell oder kollektiv organisiert sein. Verfügungsrechte für das Gut „Naturschutz“ werden entweder freiwillig oder erzwungen - durch Konfiskation und Enteignung getauscht. Die Anwendung des methodologischen Individualismus, des Konzeptes des Homo Economicus und mikroökonomischer Theorie, erlaubt die Entwicklung eines simplen Modells des individuellen Angebots und der individuellen Nachfrage nach Verfügungsrechten für Naturschutz. Dieses Modell schließt Transaktionskosten aus und betrachtet ausschließlich ein normales ökonomisches Gut – Naturschutz. Die Analyse zeigt die zu erwartenden Ergebnisse auf, wenn die individuelle Nachfrage und das individuelle Angebot durch zwei unterschiedliche Organisationen aggregiert werden. Eine vertikale Aggregation verdeutlicht eine politische Wahlhandlung innerhalb einer direkten Demokratie. Eine horizontale Aggregation repräsentiert die Wahl innerhalb eines Marktes. Die Analyse beinhaltet alle Kombinationen der unterschiedlichen institutionellen und organisatorischen Arrangements für die Bereitstellung des Gutes "Naturschutz". Die Ergebnisse dieser Analyse zeigen (1) die zu erwartende Quantität und Qualität des durchgeführten Naturschutzes und (2) das zu erwartende Verhältnis zwischen dem verfügbaren und dem notwendigen Budget auf. Zusätzlich wird die Empfindlichkeit kollektiver Entscheidungsergebnisse gegenüber sich verändernden Abstimmungsregeln und Teilungsregeln von Ausgaben und Einnahmen herausgearbeitet. Bei kollektiven Wahlhandlungen existiert nur jeweils eine Ausgaben- und Einnahmenteilung, die eine einstimmige Wahl einer Menge von Naturschutz ermöglicht. Diese Teilungsregel variiert zwischen unterschiedlichen Kollektiven. Ausschließlich ein freiwilliger Tausch sichert gegenseitige Vorteile und ein ausgeglichenes Budget. Weiterhin zeige ich auf, dass die Institution Konfiskation die Konflikte mit Landnutzern erhöht und deren Akzeptanz für die Umsetzung von Naturschutz reduziert. Eine Präferenzordnung für die verschiedenen Institutionen wird erarbeitet. Der Großteil der analysierten institutionellen und organisatorischen Arrangements erlaubt eindeutige Aussagen über die Quantität und Qualität des praktizierten Naturschutzes. Die Diskussion begründet die gewählte ökonomische Methode zur Untersuchung von Interaktionsproblemen des Naturschutzes. Weiterhin wird die Anwendbarkeit des erarbeiteten Modells für repräsentative Demokratien erörtert. Die Arbeit schließt mit Beispielen der aktuellen und künftig zu erwartenden praktischen Naturschutzarbeit. Diese Beispiele werden anhand des Modells und der Analyseergebnisse diskutiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit bietet ein Erklärungsmodell für vergangene und gegenwärtige Entwicklungen und Ergebnisse im praktischen Naturschutz. Sie stellt eine Unterstützung für die realistische Einschätzung von Akteurskonstellationen und deren Akzeptanz von zukünftigen Implementierungsansätzen von Naturschutz dar

The market mechanism is the mechanism of interrelation and interaction of the basic elements of the market – demand, supply, prices, competition, and the basic economic laws of the market. Supply and demand are interdependent elements of the mechanism. The former is determined by the solvent demand of consumers and offer a set of goods proposed by sellers. The ratio between them is formed in an inverse relationship, determining the corresponding changes in the level of prices for goods.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009.
Committee Chair: Keskinocak, Pinar; Committee Co-Chair: Vande Vate, John; Committee Member: Ferguson, Mark; Committee Member: Griffin, Paul; Committee Member: Swann, Julie. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.