European Journal of Operational Research最新文献

{"title":"Partial vertical ownership cooperation between manufacturers and sharing economy platforms","authors":"Fei Ye, Debing Ni, Kevin W. Li, Xiang Fang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.015","url":null,"abstract":"Given that manufacturers increasingly enter the sharing economy market via equity investment in third-party sharing platforms, this paper establishes a game-theoretical model to characterize such partial vertical ownership (PVO) cooperation. We consider a manufacturer (M) interacting with a retailer (R) and sharing economy platform (SEP), where M first negotiates a transfer payment to SEP for their PVO cooperation and, then, employs two wholesale price contracts for SEP and R to induce operational interactions. We obtain the following results. First, the PVO cooperation level affects SEP’s selection of a P2P or hybrid business model only if M’s marginal sales cost to SEP is moderate. Second, the negotiated transfer payment from M to SEP increases (is constant) in its cooperation level if M’s capital constraint on the transfer payment is non-binding (binding), but it is always strictly lower than the operational profit distribution from SEP to M. Third, without M’s capital constraint, PVO cooperation is always achievable and given a negotiated transfer payment for this cooperation, a higher PVO cooperation level benefits M, R, SEP, consumers, and the social planner, but PVO cooperation is attainable only if its level is capped within a reasonable range under a binding capital constraint for M. Therefore, M, R, and SEP should enhance PVO cooperation to improve overall supply chain efficiency. Moreover, the transfer payment for PVO cooperation does not satisfy the equal value principle typically applicable to arm’s length transactions, as the equity exchange between M and SEP must consider their ensuing operational interactions.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924102","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}

{"title":"Controlling antithetic variates","authors":"Reiichiro Kawai","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.027","url":null,"abstract":"We establish and investigate a theoretical framework for controlling covariance matrices in the method of antithetic variates through control variates to further reduce estimator variance. Instead of preemptively and carefully designing an estimator vector with negatively correlated components, the proposed framework starts with a predefined estimator vector that incorporates specified control variates. The weights and control matrix are then analytically determined through matrix algebra. The joint optimality of the resulting estimator variance is ensured with respect to both the weights and the control matrix, with closed-form implementable formulas derived for the optimal parameter pair. Numerical results are provided for various typical examples to illustrate the effectiveness, potential, and challenges of the proposed framework.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924108","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}

{"title":"A dynamic programming algorithm for the maximum [formula omitted]-club problem on trees","authors":"José Alberto Fernández-Zepeda, Alejandro Flores-Lamas, Matthew Hague, Joel Antonio Trejo-Sánchez","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.031","url":null,"abstract":"Computing cliques in an undirected graph <mml:math altimg=\"si1.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>G</mml:mi><mml:mo linebreak=\"goodbreak\" linebreakstyle=\"after\">=</mml:mo><mml:mrow><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>V</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>G</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>,</mml:mo><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>E</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>G</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:mrow></mml:math> is a fundamental problem in social network analysis. However, in some cases, the strict definition of a clique (a subset of vertices pairwise adjacent in <mml:math altimg=\"si2.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>G</mml:mi></mml:math>) often limits its applicability in real-world settings. To address this issue, we study the <mml:math altimg=\"si265.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math>-club: a clique relaxation that induces a subgraph of diameter at most <mml:math altimg=\"si265.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math>. Note that a clique is simply a 1-club. Computing a maximum <mml:math altimg=\"si265.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math>-club is a computationally challenging problem, as it is NP-hard for any positive integer <mml:math altimg=\"si265.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math> in arbitrary graphs. Thus, this paper presents a simple dynamic programming algorithm that efficiently computes a maximum <mml:math altimg=\"si265.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math>-club on an <mml:math altimg=\"si8.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:math>-vertex tree in <mml:math altimg=\"si9.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>O</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mi>s</mml:mi><mml:mi>⋅</mml:mi><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:mrow></mml:math> time. This algorithm outperforms existing algorithms for trees in theory and practice. This approach is a stepping stone towards computing maximum <mml:math altimg=\"si265.svg\" display=\"inline\"><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:math>-clubs on tree-like graphs.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924106","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}

{"title":"Competitive insurance pricing in a duopoly","authors":"Tim J. Boonen, Bonsoo Koo, Fotios Mourdoukoutas, Athanasios A. Pantelous","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.026","url":null,"abstract":"A single-period stochastic insurance duopoly is formulated to examine the pre-assignment of roles to the insurance game’s players. This paper considers two information structures. In the first structure, one insurer assumes the role of the Stackelberg leader by setting the premium first, while the competitor, acting as the Stackelberg follower, responds after observing the leader’s premium. In the second structure, both insurers act as Nash players, setting premiums simultaneously without considering the competitor’s premium. This paper shows the existence of Stackelberg and Nash equilibria in these settings and identifies which information structure leads to superior utility when the decision to disclose the premium to the competitor is endogenous. A decision game is developed to determine the conditions under which both insurers prefer sequential over simultaneous premium setting in terms of utility.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924116","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}

{"title":"Integrated scattered storage and picker routing in picker-to-parts warehouses","authors":"Ran Chen, Jingjing Yang, Yugang Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.018","url":null,"abstract":"Scattered storage is a common operational approach in business-to-consumer online retailing, where each Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is stored at multiple locations within the warehouse. This approach aims to increase the likelihood of having items per SKU nearby consistently, thereby reducing unproductive walking time during order picking. However, reaping these benefits necessitates additional decision-making in selecting items while planning the picker’s route. In addition, previous studies have tackled storage assignment and picker routing independently. In this paper, we investigate the integrated scattered storage, picking selection and picker routing problem and three special cases with predefined routing policies (return, S-shape, and midpoint) in picker-to-parts warehouses. The objective is to minimize the weighted sum of travel distance for both storage and order picking. These problems are formulated as mixed-integer programming models and proved to be NP-hard. To solve real-size instances, we propose an efficient adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm, where the commercial solver is used in the repair step, so that the new solution after the repair step is always feasible and never worse than the current one, and the search procedure becomes faster. Through numerical experiments, it is demonstrated that the algorithm yields high-quality solutions in a reasonable computation time. Compared to methods commonly used in practice, our algorithm can reduce the objective value by up to 14%. Moreover, our findings underscore the potential value of a simultaneous approach for enhancing the efficiency of operations in warehouses.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924112","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}

{"title":"The Vehicle Routing Problem with Pickups, Deliveries, and Scheduled Linehauls","authors":"Casper Bazelmans, Siem ter Braake, Albert Schrotenboer, Rolf van Lieshout, Tom Van Woensel","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.07.070","url":null,"abstract":"We study the joint collection and distribution of less-than-truckload freight in a multi-depot setting. Linehauls between the depots allow for an increased freight consolidation, saving cost and greenhouse gas emissions. However, to realize these benefits, the linehauls must be coordinated with daily pickup-and-delivery routes from the depots to collect and distribute products. The routes are subject to loading constraints, which restrict pickups and deliveries based on the vehicles’ distribution and collection loads. In collaboration with a major European logistics provider, we define this problem as the Vehicle Routing Problem with Pickups, Deliveries, and Scheduled Linehauls. We propose a set-covering formulation and solve this via a novel restricted master heuristic where the associated labeling algorithm effectively incorporates the time synchronization between the departure times of generated routes and associated linehauls. Moreover, we develop an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) algorithm that finds high-quality solutions quickly. The ALNS also populates the route sets and provides initial solutions within the restricted master heuristic. Computational results show that for instances with up to 45 customers, the restricted master heuristic enforced with the ALNS finds solutions with only a 0.04% gap relative to the linear relaxation at the root node. A case study at our industry partner based on 24 days of operations reveals that our methods can save up to 17.4% of costs. Additionally, we explore the impact of implementing service area restrictions per depot, a common industry practice that simplifies operations by transforming the problem into single-depot variants. Our findings show that this results in an average cost increase of 4.9%.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924110","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}

{"title":"A rollout strategy for electric vehicle charging stations in urban European environments: Ensuring long-term sustainability","authors":"Bryan Coulier, Hatice Çalık, Thijs Becker, Greet Vanden Berghe","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.024","url":null,"abstract":"The electrification of the transportation sector is a key component of the global transition to green energy. As European countries increasingly adopt Electric Vehicles (EVs), they are in the process of rapidly deploying EV Charging Stations (CSs) to meet ever-increasing demand. However, the current approach to CS deployment is highly reactive and typically requires a manual case-by-case response from city planners. This reactive strategy stems from a lack of tools to provide a full understanding of the situation and the consequences of different rollout strategies. There are two key questions concerning the long-term sustainability of the current approach: (i) how certain can we be that decisions currently being made regarding CS placement will not eventually lead to detrimental strain on the electricity grid and (ii) what financial savings are possible by adopting an integrated approach to CS deployment which simultaneously considers both the demand for CSs as well as their impact on the grid. In this paper we investigate how to deploy CSs while mitigating electricity grid congestion and maximizing the utilization of valuable resources. We introduce a decision support algorithm for optimal CS placement within European low-voltage networks. The computational results for large-scale urban instances demonstrate that an integrated rollout strategy results in significant cost savings and reduces grid congestion. By comparing our integrated approach against the current strategy adopted by city planners, we provide valuable insights concerning how to avoid foreseeable problems and achieve cost-effective, future-proof CS infrastructure deployment.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"110 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144900166","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}

{"title":"When Should Metaverse Technology be Adopted in Live Streaming Considering Consumer Returns?","authors":"Xiaoping Xu, Dianming Chen, T.C.E. Cheng, Tsan-Ming Choi","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.019","url":null,"abstract":"Consumer returns are common in live streaming selling, and metaverse technology is gradually advocated to solve the issue of consumer returns since this technology can significantly enhance the live streaming shopping experience. We consider a supply chain composed of a manufacturer and a retailer with two live streaming scenarios: ML and RL. In scenario ML (RL), the manufacturer (retailer) invites an influencer to open a live streaming channel. We explore the impacts of influencer power and consider the integration of metaverse technology. Our analytical results reveal the following: Under scenario ML, the adoption of metaverse technology increases the manufacturer’s optimal profit at a moderate unit cost of metaverse technology with high influencer power or at a low unit cost. When the manufacturers introduce live streaming, they should adopt metaverse technology when choosing influencers with relatively high influencer power as the unit cost is moderate in the development phase of metaverse technology. Under scenario RL, the retailer should only adopt metaverse technology at a high unit cost with low influencer power or at a low unit cost with high influencer power. This implies a counterintuitive strategy: when cooperating with influencers with lower influencer power, the retailers should adopt metaverse technology despite high costs. Furthermore, regardless of metaverse technology adoption, scenario RL (ML) brings more profit to the manufacturer if influencer power is low (high). This indicates that manufacturers and retailers should choose influencers with greater influence power when introducing live streaming. By extending our model, we examine the robustness of our findings under the scenarios involving channel competition, omni-channel strategy, and live streaming slicing. This study is the first to explore the adoption strategies of metaverse technology in different live streaming supply chain structures considering consumer returns, providing valuable guidance for manufacturers and retailers on when to adopt metaverse technology.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144901756","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}

{"title":"Planning Bayesian reliability demonstration tests via a generalized test statistic","authors":"Zan Li, Jianyu Xu, Chengjie Wang, Xiao-Lin Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.011","url":null,"abstract":"Reliability demonstration testing (RDT) has been extensively employed to verify whether a product meets specific reliability requirements at a desired confidence level. Driven by intense market competition and constrained test resources, manufacturers are motivated to seek effective strategies to reduce the testing efforts required for RDT. In this paper, we propose a method that utilizes existing knowledge and information obtained from the product design and development phase to construct a Bayesian prior distribution of the product’s reliability. Based on this prior, a preliminary disposition decision on whether to accept or reject the product is made. A subsequent demonstration test is needed only when the prior information is deemed insufficient for an immediate disposition. A RDT planning method is developed based on the posterior distribution of the product’s reliability, which is applicable to general cases involving non-conjugate priors. We study two types of demonstration testing: binomial and exponential. For each, we prove the existence of an optimal test plan and develop an efficient searching algorithm to determine it. Numerical studies are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, supplemented by a case study on RDT for systems of different configurations. Overall, this work provides a unified and effective framework for reliability demonstration under the Bayesian paradigm.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"163 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144900313","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}

{"title":"Rethinking green technology interventions: Strategic motivations under uncertain regulations","authors":"Chong Huang, Shaofu Du, Wenzhi Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2025.08.014","url":null,"abstract":"Governments increasingly rely on industry capability to assess the feasibility of implementing stricter environmental regulations. Rather than passively awaiting their imposition, this trend incentivizes firms to shape future regulations through green activities. To investigates how firms with different cost structures and market power strategically adopt and invest in green technology under uncertain regulations, this paper proposes a three-period game model. The equilibrium outcomes reveal the strategic motivations behind green technology adoption. Specifically, when unit green cost is high, technology-leading firms voluntarily adopt green technology to lobby for stricter regulations, thereby raising rivals’ costs and strengthening their competitive advantage. Conversely, when unit green cost is low, these firms adopt green technology to preempt potential threats from technology-following firms, who could dominate the green market through early adoption. Interestingly, our findings show that green technologies most likely to face industry resistance are not the most expensive, but those with moderate production costs. In such cases, regulatory uncertainty fosters tacit collusion, where competing firms collectively resist green technology adoption to reduce regulation probability and improve profits, even though adoption is economically feasible. To counter this strategic resistance, this paper identifies the most effective intervention mechanisms, such as subsidies or penalties. The results suggest that the optimal intervention strategy differs from the traditional approach of subsidizing high-cost green technologies and penalizing low-cost ones. Instead, it should focus on leveraging firms’ strategic motivations for voluntary green adoption. These insights are vital for governments to design more effective and feasible environmental regulations.","PeriodicalId":55161,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Operational Research","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144900169","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}