Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
10-2011
Abstract
This paper analyzes the optimal procurement, processing, and production decisions of a meat-processing company (hereafter, a "packer") in a beef supply chain. The packer processes fed cattle to produce two beef products, program (premium) boxed beef and commodity boxed beef, in fixed proportions, but with downward substitution of the premium product for the commodity product. The packer can source input (fed cattle) from a contract market, where long-term contracts are signed in advance of the required delivery time, and from a spot market on the spot day. Contract prices are taken to be of a general window form, linear in the spot price but capped by upper and lower limits on realized contract price. Our analysis provides managerial insights on the interaction of window contract terms with processing options. We show that the packer benefits from a low correlation between the spot price and product market uncertainties, and this is independent of the form of the window contract. Although the expected revenues from processing increase in spot price variability, the overall impact on profitability depends on the parameters of the window contract. Using a calibration based on the report by the GIPSA (Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration. 2007. GIPSA livestock and meat marketing study, vol. 3: Fed cattle and beef industries. Report, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC), this paper elucidates for the first time the value of long-term contracting as a complement to spot sourcing in the beef supply chain. Our comparative statics results provide some rules of thumb for the packer for the strategic management of the procurement portfolio. In particular, we show that higher variability (higher spot price variability, product market variability, and correlation) increases the profits of the packer, but decreases the reliance on the contract market relative to the spot market.
Keywords
contracting, beef supply chain, commodity risk management, multiproduct newsvendor, window contracts
Discipline
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Research Areas
Operations Management
Publication
Management Science
Volume
57
Issue
10
First Page
1771
Last Page
1787
ISSN
0025-1909
Identifier
10.1287/mnsc.1110.1362
Publisher
INFORMS
Citation
BOYABATLI, Onur; KLEINDORFER, Paul R.; and KOONTZ, Stephen R..
Integrating Long-Term and Short-Term Contracting in Beef Supply Chains. (2011). Management Science. 57, (10), 1771-1787.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3790
Copyright Owner and License
Publisher
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
Published version made available with the permission of INFORMS