"The objective of the project is to understand the impact of supply chain capabilities such as responsiveness, short lead times of procurement, production, and design on competitiveness of retailers and manufacturers. This will be achieved by building mathematical models of supply chains and characterizing their optimal and equilibrium decisions using inventory theory, consumer choice models, and game theoretical analysis. The project also includes a data collection stage and empirical analysis to test the theoretical findings. This topic is of immediate importance to manufacturers and retailers in Turkey and Europe in today’s globalized competition. European firms can gain sustainable competitive advantages by developing responsive and agile supply chains to take advantage of their location being close to markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa.The first part studies how a firm should choose its initial position in a product line and possibly revise its product position after observing demand signals. The objective is to investigate how a firm should react in a competitive environment where other firms may or may not have similar capabilities. This will be achieved by characterizing the equilibrium inventory levels and properties of the product assortment offered to customers for all firms in the industry.The second part studies responsive supply chain strategies in the presence of strategic (forward-looking) customers, who may choose to wait for a product that will better match their preferences in the future rather than buying the product currently offered. The results would suggest how a firm should manage its new product introduction frequency and inventory levels as the fraction of customers that are strategic increases.The third part aims to collect firm-level data on supply chain and market characteristics and conduct an empirical study of key drivers of when and how responsive supply chain strategies work."