M. Ali Ülkü

Modeling the impact of donor behavior on humanitarian aid operations

Whether in-kind or cash, coordinated help organizations such as the American Red Cross, count on donations to help those in need when and after disasters happen. Yet, it has been observed that the type (in-kind versus cash) and the quality of donations largely impact the success of meeting urgent demand in humanitarian operations. In particular, unsolicited items hamper the synchronization of logistical operations and hence may create more problems than solutions. This research sheds light on the behavioral and decision making aspects of a donor while developing analytical models of how that behavior can be influenced by soliciting a minimum amount of cash donation, which in turn mitigates the negative impact of unsolicited items. We investigate the literature on donor psychology and feed those extant findings to the analytical model. We provide explicit expressions for the optimal solicitation amount and the impact of that amount on maximizing the donor’s likelihood to donate cash, as opposed to in-kind items. Also provided are some execution insights through extensive sensitivity analysis.

Modelling shipment consolidation and pricing decisions for a manufacturer-distributor

Consider a supply chain with one vendor and multiple buyers. That vendor not only manufactures the goods demanded, but also transports them by its own fleet of trucks to buyers that are densely dispersed in a distribution zone. The buyers are sensitive to both price and delivery-time guarantee. We model and maximise the vendors expected profit rate when the prices charged depend on the arrival times of orders. The optimal profit rate is found to be concave in the vehicle capacity. We illustrate our theoretical findings with numerical examples and sensitivity analyses to furnish managerial insights.

On Physical Internet Logistics: Modeling the Impact of Consolidation on Transportation and Inventory Costs

The physical Internet (PI) is a conceptual, innovative, and contemporary modular distribution logistics system that has garnered the interest of both researchers and practitioners as an alternative to conventional logistics. It aims to be more environmentally friendly, more socially responsible, and also more profitable. The key concept behind the PI logistics system is the routing of highly modular containers through transit centers (called PI hubs) to obtain a very efficient transport network that exploits consolidation opportunities. A systems model of the traditional and PI networks is developed as an aggregation of optimal point-to-point dispatch models between pairs of cities. This is then used to characterize the behavior of the traditional and PI logistics systems for several different logistics system key performance indicators. Based on the modeling assumptions in this paper, it is concluded that the benefits of the PI are in reducing the inventory cost and the total logistics system cost. However, a fewer truck trips are required in the traditional system, which also has a lower total order delivery time. While the transportation cost in the PI and traditional systems are comparable, the total cost of the PI system is significantly lower.

Perspectives on interdisciplinary undergraduate research

Abstract Undergraduate Research (UR) provides deeper experiential learning opportunities for students while increasing their self-efficacy, academic success and motivation to pursue graduate studies. Many real-world problems require an integrated solution and collaboration across different disciplines; therefore, it is important that students develop skills to work across disciplines on challenging research problems. As types and complexity of UR increase, Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research (IDUR) has become more prevalent, but little is known about it. We define IDUR as “student-faculty collaboration to examine, increase, and share new knowledge or works relevant to research questions the investigation of which necessitates an interdisciplinary approach”. From the faculty perspective, and based on the results of a national sample of higher learning institutions in the U.S., we outline the enablers of and barriers to IDUR and provide quantitative and qualitative insights. Survey results show that, irrespective of the size of the institution at which they work, faculty members value mentoring students conducting IDUR although it brings with it some challenges. Our findings may help institutions better facilitate IDUR projects and inform faculty development opportunities that deepen student learning and retention via enhanced curricula in which IDUR is embedded.

On Supply Chain Integration to Free Trade Zones: The Case of the United States of America

The interdependence of resources in a global marketplace, the advancement of technology and rising national economic constraints have compelled companies to excel in their supply chain performance. To that end, Free Trade Zones (FTZs) may help supply chains improve their bottom line while generating economic development to their geographical regions. The shift of manufacturing to overseas and recent changes in global trends, regulations and procedures call for a renewed understanding of FTZs from the perspective of the extended enterprise. Although having significant potential impact on the efficiencies of global supply chains, FTZs in such a context have not been studied in depth in academic literature. With this paper, we aim to modestly draw attention to that gap while providing an overview of the contemporary state of FTZs with a special focus on the USA and the application process therein. We propose a practical decision framework that considers the cost of imported goods and the level of business maturity to help companies make better decisions when they want to integrate with a FTZ.