Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2002
Publication Source
Transportation Quarterly
Abstract
We propose improved pricing and market mix can improve the profitability of the freight transportation provider through the reduction of equipment repositioning costs. We hypothesize that because of complexities surrounding pricing and equipment repositioning costing, existing pricing strategies in freight transportation fail to fully consider these costs. We test this hypothesis in an applied setting in which Monte Carlo simulation captures the stochasticity of market conditions inherent in the problem. We use a heuristic to improve the nondifferentiable, discontinuous objective function.
Our results from test cases show with high confidence that current prices are not optimal, as indicated by a strong correlation between recommended increases and decreases in market prices and the internalized repositioning costs.
Our hypothesis is further supported by a high confidence that the obtained profit level distribution is significantly (statistically) higher than the current profit levels.
Inclusive pages
135-148
ISBN/ISSN
0278-9434
Document Version
Published Version
Copyright
Copyright © 2002, ENO Transportation Foundation
Publisher
ENO Transportation Foundation
Volume
56
Issue
1
Peer Reviewed
yes
eCommons Citation
Gorman, Michael F., "Pricing and Product Mix Optimization in Freight Transportation" (2002). MIS/OM/DS Faculty Publications. 36.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/mis_fac_pub/36
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Databases and Information Systems Commons, Management Information Systems Commons, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons, Operations and Supply Chain Management Commons, Other Computer Sciences Commons
Comments
This document is provided for download by permission of the publisher. Permission documentation is on file.