Managerial flexibility has value in the context of uncertain R&D projects,as management can repeatedly gather information about uncertain project and market characteristics and, based on this information,change its course of action.This value is now well accepted and referred to as real option...

Industry trends such as product customization, radical innovation, and local production accelerate the adoption of mixed‐model assembly lines (MMALs) that can cope with a widening gap between model processing times and true build to order capabilitiy. The existing high work content deviations...

In their loyalty reward programs, large retailers adopt category-specific targeted promotions as an effective means to increase shoppers' basket values. However, neither the literature nor observed marketing practice provides category selection methods that maximize the promotion's...

Online e-tailers face return rates of up to 50%, sharply reducing profits. They pursue two classes of mitigation-actions: First, proactive returns management controls the number of returns by adjusting, e.g., retail price, restocking fee, and hassle costs. This makes returns less attractive, yet...

Free-return policies are a critical aspect of online retailing, since they encourage consumers to purchase even when product fit (e.g., regarding size and taste) is not certain. Scholars usually explain the appeal of such policies in terms of increasing consumers' net utility. In contrast, we...

In a time of increasingly frequent disruptions with a global pandemic being the latest crisis, supply chain resilience becomes a priority for most executives. The basic roadmap to supply chain resilience is well established and generally understood by managers, however, implementation and...

In leading manufacturing companies, many improvement ideas and productivity enhancements originate bottom-up. Employee-initiated improvements give a competitive advantage to firms that mobilize this resource, so knowledge of what triggers such behavior is valuable. We examine the antecedents of...

Today, leading manufacturing and service companies rely on Lean Management, Total Productive Maintenance and alike to foster continuous improvement and organizational learning. However, analyzing the effect of daily practiced leadership efforts by managers of operating units remains a black box....

Consumer's personality traits have a strong influence on their shopping behavior. Hence, e-tailers, rather than merely targeting broad consumer segments, should tailor their shop to those personality traits. However, there is no guidance on how e-tailers can assess a consumer's personality...