Customer variability is a problem for service providers because it can have a significant adverse affect on service quality, and hence on customer loyalty. Drawing on the work of Frei [Breaking the trade-off between efficiency and service. <italic>Harvard Business Review</italic>, <italic>84</italic>(11), 92--101 (2006)] and...

The conventional method for selecting a suitable equipment supplier may have disadvantages such as failing to consider the supplier's technical experience and knowledge and inability of supplier management to make further forecast analysis to aid the decision maker in strategy optimisation. The...