Discretionary service industries are those in which customers prefer not to wait in line, but also derive more value from a longer service time; this is common in healthcare interactions or repair settings. In such settings, the service provider often can obtain not only a fixed fee for the...

Problem definition: We study how a manufacturer shall manage the retail channel in the presence of a direct channel and strategic customers. We consider two periods, in which the manufacturer can sell through a single retailer or two different retailers in sequence with static or dynamic...

Video games have become a major contributor to the US and global economy. This paper studies network externalities in the online video game industry. Even though network externalities are recognized as a major driver of new product diffusion, testing the existence and the impact of network...