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作者：Chan, Tian Heong; Mihm, Jurgen; Sosa, Manuel
作者单位：Emory University; INSEAD Business School; INSEAD Business School
摘要：Problem definition: Is teamwork better than working alone for creating breakthrough inventions? We challenge the widely accepted affirmative answer to this question. Academic/practical relevance: Extant research has consistently found that lone inventors significantly underperform teams in creating breakthroughs; thus it extols the benefits of teamwork while neglecting the role of single inventors. This paper offers an important counterweight to those empirical results by identifying a fundame...
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作者：Musalem, Andres; Olivares, Marcelo; Schilkrut, Ariel
作者单位：Universidad de Chile
摘要：Problem definition: We consider the development of an efficient and scalable video-analytics approach to measure customer assistance and its mediating role in the relationship between staffing levels and revenues. Academic/practical relevance: Staffing decisions account for a large portion of a retailer's operational costs. Researchers have studied the extent to which an increase in staffing levels translates into greater revenues, without emphasizing the underlying mechanisms that generate th...
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作者：Bernstein, Fernando; DeCroix, Gregory A.; Keskin, N. Bora
作者单位：Duke University; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
摘要：Problem definition: This paper explores the impact of competition between platforms in the sharing economy. Examples include the cases of Uber and Lyft in the context of ride-sharing platforms. In particular, we consider competition between two platforms that offer a common service (e.g., rides) through a set of independent service providers (e.g., drivers) to a market of customers. Each platform sets a price that is charged to customers for obtaining the service provided by a driver. A portio...
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作者：Chen, Annie, I; Graves, Stephen C.
作者单位：University of Southern California; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要：Problem definition: This paper studies an online retailer's problem of choosing fulfillment centers in which to place items. We formulate the problem as a mixed-integer program that models thousands or millions of items to be placed in dozens of fulfillment centers and shipped to dozens of customer regions. The objective is to minimize the sum of shipping and fixed costs over one planning period. Academic/practical relevance: A good placement plan can significantly reduce the operational cost,...
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作者：Yom-Tov, Galit B.; Yedidsion, Liron; Xie, Yueming
作者单位：Technion Israel Institute of Technology
摘要：Problem definition: We study the problem of designing a dynamic invitation policy for proactive service systems with finite customer patience under scarce capacity. In such systems, prior knowledge regarding customer value or importance is used to decide whether the company should offer service or not. Academic/practical relevance: Proactive service systems are becoming more popular, as data availability and machine-learning techniques are developed to forecast customer needs. However, very li...
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作者：Cui, Ruomeng; Li, Jingyun; Li, Meng; Yu, Lili
作者单位：Emory University; California State University System; California State University Stanislaus; Rutgers University System; Rutgers University New Brunswick; Rutgers University Camden; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China, CAS
摘要：Problem definition: We investigate wholesale price discrimination in a global sourcing marketplace. Academic/practical relevance: Previous research has found price discrimination in business-to-consumer markets, in which buyers are end customers. There is limited research on suppliers' price-quoting behaviors and price discrimination in business-to-business (B2B) markets. It is unclear whether certain characteristics of B2B buyers, who are often representatives of firms and not end customers, ...
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作者：Legros, Benjamin; Jouini, Oualid; Koole, Ger
作者单位：Universite Paris Saclay; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
摘要：Problem definition: We consider a revenue-generating call center with inbound and outbound calls, where service and sales activities are blended. For maximizing the call center's revenue, the call center manager exercises two levels of control: agent reservation for inbound calls and call outsourcing. Given the influence of waits on purchase probability, we investigate the strategy of outsourcing customers who have waited already as opposed to outsourcing customers directly at arrival. Academi...
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作者：Yang, Luyi
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Berkeley
摘要：Problem definition: This paper studies the optimal design of referral priority programs, in which customers on a waiting list can jump the line by inviting their friends to also join the waiting list. Academic/practical relevance: Recent years have witnessed a growing presence of referral priority programs as a novel customer-acquisition strategy for firms that maintain a waiting list. Different variations of this scheme are seen in practice, raising the question of what should be the optimal ...
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作者：Hu, Ming; Liu, Jingchen; Zhai, Xin
作者单位：University of Toronto; Nanjing University; Peking University
摘要：Problem definition: We study a special form of group buying: the group buying succeeds only if the number of sign-ups reaches a preset threshold, with no duration constraint. Customers with heterogeneous valuations arrive sequentially and decide between signing up for the group buying or purchasing a regular product. To decide whether to join the group buying, customers need to estimate their expected waiting time, which varies depending on the cumulative sign-ups by the time of their arrival....
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作者：Angelus, Alexandar; Ozer, Ozalp
作者单位：Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station; Mays Business School; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas
摘要：Problem definition: We study how to optimally control a multistage supply chain in which each location can initiate multiple flows of product, including the reverse flow of orders. We also quantify the resulting value generated by reverse logistics and identify the drivers of that value. Academic/practical relevance: Reverse logistics has been gaining recognition in practice and theory for helping companies better match supply with demand, and thus reduce costs in their supply chains. Neverthe...
