Managing flexibility in downstream supply chains

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Supply chain management entails better matching supply with demand. However, this goal is constantly challenged by prevalent risks and uncertainties. One of the most effective countermeasures towards these issues is to increase the flexibility of supply chain. While there exists a holistic literature on upstream supply chain flexibility that studies how manufacturing/supply activities can be adjusted towards being more responsive upon demand uncertainties, those related to downstream supply chain flexibility - how distribution strategies/demand can be manipulated to cater the fluctuations/randomness in supply, are rather limited in operational context.**I plan to explore the value of incorporating downstream flexibility in supply chains and also pursue its connection with upstream supply chain flexibility. Various downstream-flexible mechanisms including flexible pricing, flexible products and flexible distribution channels will be studied from an operational perspective. The target is to investigate how downstream supply chain flexibility should be properly designed, operationalized, and aligned with upstream flexible mechanisms. The proposed projects include (1) identifying the benefit of various downstream-flexible mechanisms in hedging supply risks as well as demand risks; (2) characterizing the corresponding capacity/inventory control policies for respective mechanisms; (3) exploring the potential for cooperation among multiple suppliers in taking advantage of downstream flexibilities. **The study will enrich the literature by expanding the understanding of supply chain flexibility towards a new dimension. The results are expected to deliver important messages upon industries where upstream flexibility is difficult or expensive to achieve. Traditional discussions of risk and uncertainty management, inventory/capacity controls, and supply chain coordination will be analyzed from a completely different angle. All these will have strong implications to the Canadian/global industries and also for business/engineering school teaching.****