Cooperative game theory and inventory management

Supply chain management is related to the coordination of materials, products and information flows among suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and customers involved in producing and delivering a final product or service. In this setting the centralization of inventory management and coordination of actions, to further reduce costs and improve customer service level, is a relevant issue. In this paper, we provide a review of the applications of cooperative game theory in the management of centralized inventory systems. Besides, we introduce and study a new model of centralized inventory: a multi-client distribution network. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.