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作者：Li, Zhaolin
作者单位：City University of Hong Kong
摘要：This paper studies a single-period assortment optimization problem with unequal cost parameters. The consumer choice process is characterized by a Multinomial Logit (MNL) model. When the store traffic is a continuous random variable, we explicitly derive the structure of the optimal assortment. Our approach is to use a comprehensive measure-profit rate to evaluate the profitability of each variant and then determine which product should be offered. We demonstrate that the optimal assortment co...
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作者：Bensoussan, Alain; Cakanyildirim, Metin; Sethi, Suresh P.
作者单位：University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas
摘要：Information delays exist when the most recent inventory information available to the Inventory Manager (IM) is dated. Such situations arise when it takes a while to process the demand data, count the inventory, and pass the results to the IM. We show that the optimal total inventory-related cost decreases when the length of the information delay decreases. The amount of the decrease is an important datum for an IM interested in considering whether or not to invest in reducing the delay. The in...
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作者：Sisselman, Michael E.; Whitt, Ward
作者单位：Columbia University
摘要：Telephone call centers and their generalizations-customer contact centers-usually handle several types of customer service requests (calls). Since customer service representatives (agents) have different call-handling abilities and are typically cross-trained in multiple skills, contact centers exploit skill-based routing (SBR) to assign calls to appropriate agents, aiming to respond properly as well as promptly. Established agent-staffing and SBR algorithms ensure that agents have the require...
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作者：Thomas, Douglas J.; Warsing, Donald P.
作者单位：Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; North Carolina State University
摘要：We study the benefit obtained by exploiting modular product design in fulfilling exogenous demand for both a complete assembly and its components in a service parts inventory system. Our goal is to reduce overall service system costs by allowing assembly and/or disassembly (A/D) to occur at some unit cost per A/D action. In an extensive set of computational experiments, we compare a naive stocking and operating policy that treats all items independently and ignores the modular product structur...
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作者：Ferguson, Mark E.; Koenigsberg, Oded
作者单位：University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology; Columbia University
摘要：Firms selling goods whose quality level deteriorates over time often face difficult decisions when unsold inventory remains. Since the leftover product is often perceived to be of lower quality than the new product, carrying it over offers the firm a second selling opportunity, a product line extension to new and unsold units, and the ability to price discriminate. By doing so, however, the firm subjects sales of its new product to competition from the leftover product. We present a two period...
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作者：Chen, Frank Y.; Chen, Jian; Xiao, Yongbo
作者单位：Chinese University of Hong Kong
摘要：The problem studied in this paper is a predigestion of the decision faced by online retailers (etailers) that advertise on publisher or comparison-shopping websites. An etailer may sell its product not only through its online and bricks-and-mortar stores, but also through the websites of one or more third parties (e.g., Yahoo.com). However, the etailer has to pay a certain amount to such third parties in an action-based payment scheme, such as a cost-per-click (CPC) scheme. Under the CPC schem...
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作者：Sethi, Suresh P.; Yan, Houmin; Zhang, Hanqin; Zhou, Jing
作者单位：University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; Chinese University of Hong Kong; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Academy of Mathematics & System Sciences, CAS; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Charlotte
摘要：We study a single-period two-stage service-constrained supply chain with an information update. The buyer has two procurement opportunities with the second one after observing a market signal, which updates the demand forecast. He also commits to a service level after observing the market signal. We derive his optimal ordering decisions and show that the critical market signal, the optimal first-stage order quantity, and the optimal expected profit are monotone with respect to the target servi...
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作者：Liu, Dengpan; Dawande, Milind; Mookerjee, Vijay
作者单位：University of Alabama System; University of Alabama Huntsville; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas
摘要：We study the problem of optimally sequencing the creation of elements in a software project to optimize a time-weighted value objective. As elements are created, certain parts of the system (referred to as groups) become functional and provide value, even though the entire system has not been completed. The main tradeoff in the sequencing problem arises from elements that belong to multiple groups. On the one hand, creating groups with common elements early in the project reduces the effort re...
