Warehouse Renting Policies with Storage Space Usufruct Lateral Transfer in Products Return Logistics: Definite Distribution and Distribution Free

In this paper we consider a warehouse space rent problem in product return logistics with consideration of the usufruct lateral transfer. The problem is discussed for the two situations of definite and free distribution functions for the returned products, respectively. First, an optimal usufruct lateral transfer policy is derived in the form of complete pooling. Then, we obtain the optimal rent policy and Nash equilibrium equations for the centralized and decentralized models, respectively. Furthermore, we re-consider the problem under the distribution free situation for the centralized and decentralized decision models, and the optimal bound and Nash equilibrium are respectively derived against the worst case. Finally, managerial insights are derived to analyze the practical meanings of the results, which are combined with our numerical examples for a clear knowledge.