{"title":"A fast local search for the identical parallel machine scheduling problem with the position-based deteriorating effect and maintenance","authors":"Radosław Rudek","doi":"10.1111/itor.13623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.13623","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, we develop a fast local search for the identical parallel machine scheduling problem with maintenance activities and the position-based deteriorating under the maximum lateness minimization. Our approach allows us to calculate criterion values in a constant time per solution in a neighbourhood. The application is given on the basis of the Nawaz–Ensore–Ham method, iterative local search, tabu search, and a family of memetic search algorithms, where their efficiency equipped with our method is compared with their classical versions. The computational experiments confirm the theoretical analysis that our approach essentially overwhelms the typical implementation and speeds up the related algorithms over 200 times for reasonable problem sizes. Thereby it allows us to search for significantly larger solution space at the same time and, therefore, radically improve the criterion values of the obtained solutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3226-3257"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exact time-discounting and heuristics for the EOQ model with random yield","authors":"Bacel Maddah, Mirna Abou-Mjahed, Amir El Moghrabi","doi":"10.1111/itor.70130","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.70130","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In inventory management, accurately estimating the financing costs is crucial, particularly in systems with random yield, where supply process uncertainties make determining the optimal order quantity and the safety stock challenging. In a quest for a more applicable economic order quantity (EOQ) model for scenarios involving uncertain supply, we develop an exact time-discounting formulation for two EOQ models with random yield variants, involving stochastically proportional and binomial supply processes. Additionally, we propose heuristics based on the traditional undiscounted cost framework, designed to derive near-optimal ordering policies through simple, closed-form adaptations of the basic EOQ model. In particular, our average cost (AC) heuristic, which adjusts the unit cost up to account for wasted supply, offers improved performance over the literature with minimal added complexity. We find that accounting for the time value of money is more critical in a random yield than in classical settings having a reliable supply.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3282-3308"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A novel dual-decomposition method for non-convex two-stage stochastic mixed-integer quadratically constrained quadratic problems","authors":"Nikita Belyak, Fabricio Oliveira","doi":"10.1111/itor.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We propose the novel <i>p</i>-branch-and-bound method for solving two-stage stochastic programming problems whose deterministic equivalents are represented by non-convex mixed-integer quadratically constrained quadratic programming (MIQCQP) models. The precision of the solution generated by the <i>p</i>-branch-and-bound method can be arbitrarily adjusted by altering the value of the precision factor <i>p</i>. The proposed method combines two key techniques. The first one, named <i>p</i>-Lagrangian decomposition, generates a mixed-integer relaxation of a dual problem with a separable structure for a primal non-convex MIQCQP problem. The second one is a version of the classical dual decomposition approach that is applied to solve the Lagrangian dual problem and ensures that integrality and non-anticipativity conditions are met once the optimal solution is obtained. This paper also presents a comparative analysis of the <i>p</i>-branch-and-bound method efficiency considering two alternative solution methods for the dual problems as a subroutine. These are the proximal bundle method and Frank–Wolfe progressive hedging. The latter algorithm relies on the interpolation of linearisation steps similar to those taken in the Frank–Wolfe method as an inner loop in the classic progressive hedging. The <i>p</i>-branch-and-bound method's efficiency was tested on randomly generated instances and demonstrated superior performance over commercial solver Gurobi.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3128-3157"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/itor.70001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Smart food-sharing platforms for social sustainability: a heuristic algorithm approach","authors":"Behzad Maleki Vishkaei, Pietro De Giovanni","doi":"10.1111/itor.13543","DOIUrl":"10.1111/itor.13543","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study examines how smart food-sharing platforms (SFSP) can help reduce food waste and suggests a method for using smart contracts to share extra food among different partners effectively. For smart contracts to work automatically and prevent food wastage, artificial intelligence systems can recognize how smart clauses should be executed. This will involve analyzing several factors like the selling price, expiration dates, offers from other partners, transport costs, wholesale price, shelf life, donation rates, and demand rates. The findings indicate that adopting an SFSP is an efficient solution for preemptively adopting redistribution strategies and improving social outcomes through donations as well as achieving positive environmental outcomes through reduced waste. However, we also identify cases in which reducing food waste to achieve social sustainability may negatively impact economic performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"2893-2920"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/itor.13543","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142216751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The influences of Nash bargaining fairness concerns on financing strategies and operational decisions of an EVSC","authors":"Xinjie Fan, Peng Ma","doi":"10.1111/itor.70141","DOIUrl":"10.1111/itor.70141","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper establishes an electric vehicle supply chain (EVSC), which consists of a capital-constrained electric vehicle (EV) retailer and a dominant EV manufacturer. Two types of financing, that is, manufacturer credit financing (MF) and bank credit financing, are available for the EV retailer. By incorporating fairness concerns, we characterize how they affect the EVSC members’ financing strategies and operational decisions. Additionally, we develop the extension model and further capture the impacts of Nash bargaining fairness concerns. The analytical results reveal that the MF strategy is more profitable in most cases. And its adoption region under Nash bargaining fairness concerns is a bit larger than that under fairness concerns. We also find that fairness concerns lead to lower wholesale prices and EV green levels. Counterintuitively, the EV retailer also reduces retail prices in response. Under Nash bargaining fairness concerns, the EV manufacturer makes less sacrifice and invests more in green innovation of EV, and the EV retailer sets higher retail prices. It indicates that different fairness benchmarks change members’ decisions. The results we derive give useful guidelines and insights for EVSC members’ financing strategies and operational decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3309-3335"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mikael Rönnqvist, Patrik Flisberg, Anna Pernestål, Lovisa Engberg Sundström, Oskar Gustavsson
{"title":"Integrated routing of heavy electrical and diesel trucks in forest transports","authors":"Mikael Rönnqvist, Patrik Flisberg, Anna Pernestål, Lovisa Engberg Sundström, Oskar Gustavsson","doi":"10.1111/itor.70144","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.70144","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Fossil-free forestry transports are important to reach climate goals. In Sweden, road transports account for around 50% of the industry's CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and almost 20% of the road freight volumes. Previous studies have shown that electrification is a cost-effective way for carbon abatement, while at the same time the requirements for flexibility in routing make electrification of forestry transport challenging. The current trend is to introduce more electrical vehicles in different sectors. However, there are challenges for the forest industry, including long distances, heavy weights, multiple shifts, and a lack of recharging stations. We propose an analytical decision tool that solves an integrated vehicle routing problem. This model includes detailed energy consumption and recharging requirements for each route generated. The solution method consists of phases where we first identify full truckloads and then generate a set of generic routes. These are later used to construct routes for individual trucks. The coordination to find the best route for each truck is found by solving a mixed integer programming model. We use a case study to analyze the impact of an increasing proportion of electrical trucks.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3088-3109"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/itor.70144","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Profitability of private brands of e-commerce platforms offering competing national brands under agency selling","authors":"Salma Karray, Simon P. Sigué","doi":"10.1111/itor.70129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.70129","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper investigates the impact of a private brand (PB) introduction by an e-commerce platform. Contrary to previous research, the platform allows competing manufacturers to sell their national brands (NBs) directly to consumers for an agency fee. Our game-theoretic analysis allows us to derive the following key insights. The levels of competition between NBs, and NBs and the PB, as well as the agency fees manufacturers pay to the platform are critical in determining the profitability of introducing PBs. Introducing a PB may not benefit the platform, especially when the PB and the NBs are asymmetric and are competing closely. However, when the platform can profit by introducing a PB, it is at the expense of NB manufacturers as they are pressured to reduce their prices and also experience a decline in sales. Finally, introducing PBs enhances consumer welfare by reducing NB prices and expanding consumer demand in the product category.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3336-3358"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/itor.70129","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Circular economy business strategies and public schemes: a game theory-based survey","authors":"Vinay Ramani, Pietro De Giovanni","doi":"10.1111/itor.70031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.70031","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper develops a selected survey based on game theory in circular economy (CE) by complementing two perspectives: the CE business strategies and the public schemes (PS) available to implement CE systems. These perspectives are concentrated in six CE business strategies (circular inputs, sharing platforms, product-as-a-service (PaaS), product life extension, product use extension, and resource recovery) and 20 different public incentives. We focus on the game theory literature since firms struggle to select the best CE strategies to adopt considering the public mechanisms in place while the governments fixes the PS to sponsor the implementation of CE systems according to the firms’ capacity to adopt CE strategies. Our results highlight that previous research has most likely focused on resource recovery business strategy, investigating predominantly four schemes: material taxation, environmental producer responsibility on contract duration and conditions, tradable recycling credit schemes, and subsidy. While few game theory papers investigate the product life extension and product use extension strategies, other CE strategies linked to circular inputs, sharing platforms, and PaaS turn out to be fully unexplored, independent of the PS used. Finally, we identify several research gaps that can help future research in game theory to contribute in the crossing domain of CE strategies and PS to implement CE systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"2827-2869"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/itor.70031","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exact resolution of a simultaneous vehicle routing and crew scheduling problem in long-haul transport","authors":"Mauro Lucci, Daniel Severín, Paula Zabala","doi":"10.1111/itor.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This work focuses on exact methods for a simultaneous vehicle routing and crew scheduling problem in long-haul transport. Pickup-and-delivery requests with time windows must be fulfilled over a multi-day planning horizon. Unlike some classic approaches, the correspondence between trucks and drivers is not fixed and they can be exchanged in some locations and at any time. Drivers can also travel for free as truck passengers or take external taxis for an additional cost. The objective is to minimise the truck and taxi travel costs and the penalties for late deliveries. Routes for trucks and drivers are represented separately as directed paths in certain digraphs and then synchronised in time and space. Three compact integer linear programming formulations are proposed, and many families of valid inequalities are described. Extensive computational experiments are conducted on randomly generated instances. The formulations are experimentally compared, and the effectiveness of the proposed valid inequalities as cutting planes in a branch-and-cut algorithm is evaluated.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"3158-3186"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interaction and optimal decisions of sourcing strategy and selling mode in online platforms","authors":"Huiming Cui, Bin Zheng, Sijie Li, Jingjing Xue","doi":"10.1111/itor.70046","DOIUrl":"10.1111/itor.70046","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In recent years, online platforms such as Amazon and JD.com have increasingly introduced private labels (PL) to enhance their competitive edge, leading to conflicts with national brands (NB). A critical decision for these platforms lies in sourcing of PL products: either from third-party manufacturers (strategy T) or NB manufacturers (strategy M). In turn, NB manufacturers must strategically determine their selling modes on platforms, opting for either reselling or agency mode, in response to the platform's PL sourcing strategy. This study explores the intricate interactions between platform's PL sourcing strategies and NB manufacturer's selling mode choices, revealing several significant insights. When commission rates are low (high), NB manufacturers prefer the agency (reselling) mode. Interestingly, their preferences for selling modes differ under varying sourcing strategies. Specifically, under strategy T, NB manufacturers favor the agency mode when commission rates are moderate and the market size of PL products is large, while under strategy M the reselling mode becomes more advantageous. Furthermore, heightened competition increases the appeal of the agency mode under strategy T and the reselling mode under strategy M for NB manufacturers. From the platform's perspective, strategy M is preferred when brand spillover effects are significant and the market size of PL products is relatively small. However, under high competition intensity, the platform tends to favor strategy T with reselling mode and strategy M with agency mode. Notably, as competition intensifies, the sales quantity of PL products consistently decreases, while the sales quantity of NB products shows potential for increase.</p>","PeriodicalId":49176,"journal":{"name":"International Transactions in Operational Research","volume":"33 5","pages":"2921-2949"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147683213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}