We study a capacity sizing problem in a service system that is modeled as a single-class queue with multiple servers and where customers may renege while waiting for service. A salient feature of the model is that the mean arrival rate of work is random (in practice this is a typical consequence...

Reputational concerns have commonly been perceived to have a positive effect on auditing firms' execution of their monitoring and attesting functions. This paper demonstrates that this need not always be the case by studying a two-period game of repeated interaction between a manager and an...

Recently, large-scale, Web-based service marketplaces, where many small service providers compete among themselves in catering to customers with diverse needs, have emerged. Customers who frequent these marketplaces seek quick resolutions and thus are usually willing to trade prices with waiting...

Provision of real-time information by a firm to its customers has become prevalent in recent years in both the service and retail sectors. In this paper, we study a retail operations model where customers are strategic in both their actions and in the way they interpret information, whereas the...

We consider a firm that invests in capacity under demand uncertainty and thus faces two related but distinct types of risk: mismatch between capacity and demand and profit variability. Whereas mismatch risk can be mitigated with greater operational flexibility, profit variability can be reduced...

This paper studies how judicious resource allocation in networks mitigates risk. Theory is presented for general utility functions and mean-variance formulations and is illustrated with networks featuring resource diversification, flexibility (e.g., inventory substitution), and sharing...

This article studies the optimal prices and service quality grades that a queuing system---the "firm"---provides to heterogeneous, utility-maximizing customers who measure quality by their experienced delay distributions. Results are threefold: First, delay cost curves are introduced that allow...

We investigate how dynamic resource substitution in service systems impacts capacity requirements and responsiveness. Inspired by the contrasting network strategies of FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS), we study when two service classes (e.g., express or regular) should be served by...

When designing a sourcing strategy in practice, a key task is to determine the average order rates placed to each source because that affects cost and supplier management. We consider a firm that has access to a responsive nearshore source (e.g., Mexico) and a low-cost offshore source (e.g.,...

This article presents a comparative analysis of possible postponement strategies in a two-stage decision model where firms make three decisions: capacity investment, production (inventory) quantity, and price. Typically, investments are made while the demand curve is uncertain. The strategies...