Journal of Applied Mathematics and Decision Sciences
Volume 5 (2001), Issue 1, Pages 47-59
doi:10.1155/S1173912601000049
Three different operations research models for the same (s,S) policy
Department of Business Administration, College of Administrative Sciences, King Saud University, PO Box 2459, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Copyright © 2001 Omar Ben-Ayed. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Operations Research techniques are usually presented as distinct models. Difficult as it may often be, achieving linkage between these models could reveal their interdependency and make them easier for the user to understand. In this article three different models, namely Markov Chain, Dynamic Programming, and Markov Sequential Decision Processes, are used to solve an inventory problem based on the periodic review system. We show how the three models converge to the same (s,S) policy and we provide a numerical example to illustrate such a convergence.