Operations Research in Development Sector

The inventory management of new products becomes crucial because demand of such products is highly dynamic and has less predictable growth behavior. This is because there is strong relationship between nature of demand and procurement policy of the products. It becomes more significant when the concept of permissible delay in payments is also taken into account. There are numerous inventory models which do not incorporate the effect of permissible delay in payments which is unfortunate in the field of developing inventory models for new products. The permissible delay in payments is a kind of marketing tool which plays a significant role in influencing the demand of the products and it becomes more crucial when one discusses the inventory policies of new products. This paper discusses the economic ordering policies for new products where supplier offers trade credit period to the retailer and no interest is charged by the supplier to the retailer during this period. The concept of inflation and time value of money is also incorporated into the model. A solution procedure in the form of algorithm has been developed to solve the model numerically. A numerical example followed by comprehensive sensitivity analysis has been discussed to know the applicability of the model in the market.

In order to deal with a problem with incomplete information or in uncertain and ambiguous situation, fuzzy programming and chance-constrained programming technique have been developed. This paper presents a chance constrained programming approach to a single-period inventory model in which the storage space is treated as fuzzy random variable. Here the uncertain parameter is considered as log-normally distributed fuzzy random variable whose mean and variance are type-1 fuzzy number. We present a solution procedure for solving single-period inventory fuzzy probabilistic model (SPIFPM) in which the storage space in the constraint is a FRV considered as log-normal distribution. Also the purchasing cost, selling price, salvage value are type-1 fuzzy numbers and the demand is a FRV whose mean and variance are type-1 fuzzy numbers in the objective function of the given model. A mathematical technique has been developed to transform the fuzzy model into a crisp model and a numerical example is given to explain the methodology.

In this study, we have developed a methodology to solve multi-objective linear programming problem with multi-choice random parameter. Multi-choice random parameters are those parameters which requires choosing one value from a number of alternatives which are random variables. To tackle the multi-choice nature of the parameters, we have applied Lagrange’s interpolating polynomial technique. Replacing multi-choice parameters by corresponding interpolating polynomials, we obtain a transformed multi-objective mixed integer stochastic programming problem from which we establish deterministic multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming problem by using chance constraints programming technique. We extend the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution called TOPSIS to obtain the compromise solution of the multi-objective problem. An example is presented to illustrate the model and methodology.

In this paper the duality results for a pair of symmetric duals in non-convex programming are obtained by using complementarity. The functions considered are strong pseudo-convex and strong pseudo concave.

A deterministic inventory model with constant demand and return on the base of economic order quantity (EOQ) is considered. We consider a firm that can manufacture new products and recover the value of a used product through remanufacturing with dismantling for parts. The firm provides product at a constant demand rate. Product consists of two parts. Each part is manufactured separately and placed in inventory, then two parts are assembled. The dismantling operation yields two spare parts. Products are returned according to the return rate, other products are disposed of. The returned product is dismantled for parts, any part is inspected whether it is usable or not and then is placed in inventory. Both parts are usable at the different rate. The usable parts are then remanufactured or directly reused, other parts are disposed of.

This paper presents a methodology for solving multi-choice multi-objective fuzzy stochastic transportation problem, where the uncertain parameter presents in the supply constraint. In this case fuzzy random variable is assumed to be fuzzy Laplace random variable. The parameters which are present in demand constraint are multi-choice in nature. Fuzziness, randomness, and multi-choiceness are present under one roof. First fuzziness is removed by using alpha-cut technique. In second step randomness is removed by using chance constraint method. In third step multi-choice parameters are handled using interpolating polynomial approaches. Then multi-objective is transformed into a single-objective mathematical model by using weighting mean method. The deterministic equivalent of the model is a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem, which is solved by standard mathematical programming tool and technique. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed methodology.

Agriculture has occupied a crucial position in India’s economic development and economy since past times. In recent times, Government of India, concerned with the welfare of the farming community, have either encouraged or directly participated in setting up of risk-sharing institutions. Crop insurance is a basic tool by which farmers can stabilize their financial gain through farms and their investment against fatal results of losses due to natural hazards or low market prices. An academic literature review of crop insurance schemes that have been applied in Indian scenario is presented. This paper addresses the gaps between various crop insurance schemes. Further, the mathematical techniques for crop insurance used all over the world based on probabilistic approach, optimization approach and statistical approach is reviewed in brief. The findings of this review clearly show that insurance companies in India are not able to start up with the proper crop insurance schemes. The reason behind this is that the risk involved in agriculture is highly unpredictable and in addition, there is no historical data available on which any risk assessment model could be designed. Focusing over farmer’s decision to choose crop insurance scheme based on his awareness and perception, this paper finally concludes with some issues/future work pertaining to success of crop insurance schemes in India.

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify the best practices and the lessons learnt from successful adoption of electronic public services. Governments worldwide are developing multiple capabilities to deliver e-Services to citizens. India is also working hard to keep pace with similar efforts. Most of the studies in this field are done taking cases from developed countries. Case study research literature on use of electronic public services for developing world context is inadequate. Using case studies research on e-Filing system of Income Tax department of India in terms of e-Services usage, we attempted to fill this gap. Projects documents were analysed and structured interview of key stakeholders were conducted. Some of the key outputs of those were compared with the analysed output of the database of the system. In this study, we highlighted the applicability of the technology adoption models in the context of use of the e-Services in India. We found that citizens’ satisfaction—Ease of Use, usability along with flexibility are important factors for adoption of an e-Service. We also find that Managed Services model for e-Governance projects through public private partnership in India is a “Success” and replicable. It was recommended that the same finding are to be collaborated using the survey based quantitative research and also similar study to be conducted on a state level e-Government project in India. The findings can be extended in context of general e-Services in India.