bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Staffing a Multiskilled Workforce with Varying Levels of Productivity: An Analysis of Cross‐training Policies*
Authors: Brusco Michael J. , Johns Tony R.
Published: June 2007

Service operations that utilize cross‐trained employees face complex workforce staffing decisions that have important implications for both cost and productivity. These decisions are further complicated when cross‐trained employees have different productivity levels in multiple work activity categories. A method for policy analysis in such environments can be beneficial in determining low‐cost staffing plans with appropriate cross‐training configurations.

In this paper, we present an integer linear programming model for evaluating cross‐training configurations at the policy level. The objective of the model is to minimize workforce staffing costs subject to the satisfaction of minimum labor requirements across a planning horizon of a single work shift. The model was used to evaluate eight cross‐training structures (consisting of 36 unique cross‐training configurations) across 512 labor requirement patterns. These structures, as well as the labor requirement patterns, were established based on data collected from maintenance operations at a large paper mill in the United States. The results indicate that asymmetric cross‐training structures that permit chaining of employee skill classes across work activity categories are particularly useful.
Will a Risk‐averse Decision Maker Ever Really Prefer an Unfair Gamble?*
Authors: Horowitz Ira
Published: June 2007

Prakash, Chang, Hamid, and Smyser (1996) purport to show that with sufficient preference for positive skewness, risk‐averse managers might elect to engage in unfair gambles. Their “proof'’of the impossible assumes the existence of a differentiable risk‐preference function that satisfies certain assumptions about the first three derivatives. The fundamental flaw in their argument is that no differentiable function exists for which risk aversion and the participation in an unfair gamble are compatible.
The Effect of Misclassification Costs on Neural Network Classifiers
Authors: Berardi Victor L. , Zhang G. Peter
Published: June 2007

The potential of neural networks for classification problems has been established by numerous successful applications reported in the literature. One of the major assumptions used in almost all studies is the equal cost consequence of misclassification. With this assumption, minimizing the total number of misclassification errors is the sole objective in developing a neural network classifier. Often this is done simply to ease model development and the selection of classification decision points. However, it is not appropriate for many real situations such as quality assurance, direct marketing, bankruptcy prediction, and medical diagnosis where misclassification costs have unequal consequences for different categories. In this paper, we investigate the issue of unequal misclassification costs in neural network classifiers. Through an application in thyroid disease diagnosis, we find that different cost considerations have significant effects on the classification performance and that appropriate use of cost information can aid in optimal decision making. A cross‐validation technique is employed to alleviate the problem of bias in the training set and to examine the robustness of neural network classifiers with regard to sampling variations and cost differences.
An Empirical Investigation of the Contribution of Strategic Sourcing to Manufacturing Flexibilities and Performance*
Authors: Narasimhan Ram , Das Ajay
Published: June 2007

Empirical studies for achieving manufacturing flexibility goals have centered around the uses and advantages of advanced technology. Few studies have examined alternative ways of attaining flexibility objectives. Strategic sourcing finds mention in the literature as a potential route to manufacturing flexibility. However, little empirical evidence exists to validate this view. Literature also describes manufacturing flexibility as a multidimensional concept but fails to adequately examine the synergies among the different dimensions. This research investigates the influence of strategic sourcing and advanced manufacturing technologies on specific manufacturing flexibilities, and examines relationships among different flexibilities. The results are tied to manufacturing cost reduction. The findings suggest that strategic sourcing can assist in the achievement of modification flexibilities. Volume and modification flexibility are found to influence new product flexibility. Modification flexibility is found to influence manufacturing cost reduction. The results show that strategic sourcing can be used to target specific manufacturing flexibilities and that interflexibility synergies need to be considered while formulating flexibility‐based manufacturing strategies.
The Auditor's Going‐Concern Disclosure as a Self‐Fulfilling Prophecy: A Discrete‐Time Survival Analysis*
Authors: Louwers Timothy J. , Messina Frank M. , Richard Michael D.
Published: June 2007

The question of how an auditor's going‐concern disclosure affects a client's future operations has long troubled the auditing profession. In an attempt to provide further understanding of this issue, we introduce Discrete‐Time Survival Analysis (DTSA) to examine the aftermath of 231 first‐time going‐concern disclosures on clients' subsequent continuance. DTSA represents a significant refinement over traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic (LOGIT) regression in that it provides not only a probability estimate, but also an estimate of the timing of the event occurrence. The addition of this extra dimension (event timing) aids decision makers by providing more complete information about event probabilities.

Consistent with the “self‐fulfilling prophecy effect,” the risk profiles developed from DTSA indicate that the first year subsequent to the initial going‐concern disclosure was the most dangerous in terms of risk of bankruptcy. However, after the first year, the incidence of bankruptcy decreases significantly. Thus, DTSA is able to provide a richer perspective on this perplexing issue than previously considered.
Cautions on the Use of the SERVQUAL Measure to Assess the Quality of Information Systems Services
Authors: Van Dyke Thomas P. , Prybutok Victor R. , Kappelman Leon A.
Published: June 2007

The SERVQUAL questionnaire (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988) is one of the preeminent instruments for measuring the quality of services as perceived by the customer. In a recent Decision Sciences article, Kettinger and Lee (1995) suggested the use of a modified SERVQUAL instrument to assess the quality of the services supplied by an information services provider. However, a number of problems with the SERVQUAL instrument are discussed in the literature. This article provides an illustrative example utilizing data collected from 138 executive and information systems professional customers of a multibillion dollar information services provider in order to examine the validity and reliability of Kettinger and Lee's (1995) modified SERVQUAL instrument. Results of analyses do not confirm the findings of Kettinger and Lee. Moreover, it appears that the use of difference scores in calculating SERVQUAL contributes to problems with the reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, and predictive validity of the measure. These findings suggest that caution should be exercised in the use of SERVQUAL scores and that further work is needed in the development of measures for assessing the quality of information services.
A Framework for Examining the Interface between Operations and Information Systems: Implications for Research in the New Millennium*
Authors: Grover Varun , Malhotra Manoj K.
Published: June 2007

Even though much research has been published in operations and information systems, both functional areas find their roots in other disciplines. While operations management evolved from operations research in the 1960s, the field of information systems is of more recent vintage and traces its original roots to computer science. Both disciplines now naturally have come closer together as information and process‐technology‐based changes force manufacturing firms to become more efficient and customer focused. Market and technology‐driven e‐commerce initiatives that are likely to dominate business strategies in the future cannot be successfully achieved without a successful integration of operations and information systems. In this paper, we present a unifying framework that can be used to better understand the management of the functional interface between operations and information systems. We also categorize and highlight the contributions of the articles that appear in this special research focus issue. Finally, research directions that emerge from our understanding of this interface are outlined in an effort to stimulate further thinking and research that can advance our knowledge of this interface area.
An Analysis of the Production Line versus the Case Manager Approach to Information Intensive Services*
Authors: Apte Uday M. , Beath Cynthia M. , Goh Chon‐Huat
Published: June 2007

The production line approach has been beneficially used in manufacturing companies to yield consistent‐quality standard products at relatively low cost. For this reason, service firms have also employed this approach, which embodies a division of labor, sequential flow processes, and standardization of services. Today's customers, however, are demanding customized services and shorter cycle times—outcomes that the production line approach finds difficult to achieve. An alternative process design proposed for information intensive services is the emerging “case manager” approach, in which all the steps required to deliver a service are performed by a single information technology‐enabled individual. This paper uses queuing theory to compare the waiting time performance of the production line and the case manager approaches. This comparison shows that when the number of process steps under the production line approach is relatively large, the relative efficiency of the case manager is sufficiently high, system utilization rate is moderate, and the size of staff downsizing is small, the case manager approach is preferred. Critical issues for the design of enabling information technology are then discussed. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research on the case manager approach.
A Performance Measure for Software Reuse Projects
Authors: Rothenberger Marcus A. , Dooley Kevin J.
Published: June 2007

The efficient development of software has become a critical factor to the success of many organizations. Significant competitive advantage can be realized by reducing the time to complete software development, while maintaining or improving quality levels. Project management activities, including the measurement of performance at the level of the project, can help the organization to both control projects and learn from experience. Traditionally, the productivity of a software development project has been measured as the complexity of code produced per unit of labor involved. An increasing number of organizations, however, are adopting the practice of software reuse, and under such conditions, such a traditional measure of productivity does not fully capture all the relevant elements of the reuse‐driven development environment. This research develops a new performance measure that considers four major components of performance: productivity associated with development of new code, productivity associated with the reuse of previously written code, quality of the reuse decision, and relative value of reuse to the company. To illustrate the feasibility of the measure, a real‐world productivity assessment is presented for an example company, and related implementation issues are discussed.
Limits to Concurrency*
Authors: Hoedemaker Geert M. , Blackburn Joseph D. , Van Wassenhove Luk N.
Published: June 2007

In the global race to bring new products to market, many firms have adopted concurrent engineering as a technique to shrink development lead time. Due to the many concurrent engineering success stories in the business and engineering literature, a common misconception has grown that more concurrency is always better. The major contribution of this paper is a rigorous demonstration that limits to concurrency exist even in the simplified situation in which concurrency is modeled as the number of design modules to be executed in parallel. As complexities such as communication linkages between modules are layered onto our basic model, we show that the expected project completion time is minimized at a finite number of modules, a number that decreases with increasing problem complexity. In general, the more complex the project, the stricter the limits to concurrency. This strongly suggests that project managers should be cognizant of the potentially adverse effects of pushing concurrency too far.
The Effects of Learning, Forgetting, and Relearning on Decision Rule Performance in Multiproject Scheduling
Authors: Ash Robert , Smith‐Daniels Dwight E.
Published: June 2007

Product development occurs in multiproject environments where preemption is often allowed so that critical projects can be addressed immediately. Because product development is characterized by time‐based competition, there is pressure to make decisions quickly using heuristics methods that yield fast project completion. Preemption heuristics are needed both to choose activities for preemption and then to determine which resources to use to restart preempted activities. Past research involving preemption has ignored any completion time penalty due to the forgetting experienced by project personnel during preemption and the resulting relearning time required to regain lost proficiency. The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of learning, forgetting, and relearning (LFR) on project completion time when preemption is allowed. We present a model for the LFR cycle in multiproject development environments. We test a number of priority rules for activity scheduling, activity preemption, and resource assignment subsequent to preemption, subject to the existence of the LFR cycle, for which a single type of knowledge worker resource is assigned among multiple projects. The results of the simulation experiments clearly demonstrate that LFR effects are significant. The tests of different scheduling, preemption, and resource reassignment rules show that the choice of rule is crucial in mitigating the completion time penalty effects of the LFR cycle, while maintaining high levels of resource utilization. Specifically, the worst performing rules tested for each performance measure are those that attempt to maintain high resource utilization. The best performing rules are based on activity criticality and resource learning.
Presenting Geographic Information: Effects of Data Aggregation, Dispersion, and Users' Spatial Orientation
Authors: Swink Morgan , Speier Cheri
Published: June 2007

Geographic information systems (GIS) have taken on an increasingly important role supporting decision making in many organizations. GIS have been used to support a breadth of tasks including oil and mineral exploration, facility location, logistics support, and facilities management decisions. The effectiveness of GIS as a decision support tool comes primarily from the visual display of data in the form of maps. When presenting information as a geographic map, the level of data aggregation potentially affects aspects of task complexity such as information load and the potential for pattern recognition by the user. Other task attributes expected to be related to data aggregation effects include problem size, the degree of data dispersion, and users' spatial orientation skills.

We conducted an experiment to study these effects and their interactions. Subjects used a GIS including map‐based information characterized by different levels of problem size, data dispersion, and data aggregation. Spatial orientation skill was examined as a covariate in the experimental treatments. The results indicate that all of these geographic information characteristics have significant impacts on decision performance. Moreover, many interactions are present among the factors. We evaluate these interactions in order to derive implications for practice and for future research.
The Influence of Task Interruption on Individual Decision Making: An Information Overload Perspective
Authors: Speier Cheri , Valacich Joseph S. , Vessey Iris
Published: June 2007

Interruptions are a common aspect of the work environment of most organizations. Yet little is known about how interruptions and their characteristics, such as frequency of occurrence, influence decision‐making performance of individuals. Consequently, this paper reports the results of two experiments investigating the influence of interruptions on individual decision making. Interruptions were found to improve decision‐making performance on simple tasks and to lower performance on complex tasks. For complex tasks, the frequency of interruptions and the dissimilarity of content between the primary and interruption tasks was found to exacerbate this effect. The implications of these results for future research and practice are discussed.
Optimizing Natural Gas Flows with Linear Programming and Scenarios
Authors: Butler John C. , Dyer James S.
Published: June 2007

Recently, we developed a linear programming model to aid an electric utility company in evaluating several long‐term operating decisions. Variations of this model provide insights into daily operations and valuation of supply contracts. This paper outlines the important characteristics of this class of network models including the usage of a gas storage facility, the use of market forecasts of gas prices, and the accommodation of gas contract structures. In addition, we develop a scenario optimization procedure in which demand forecasts provide scenarios. We also describe ways in which these models were automated to drive a decision support system.
A Structural Analysis of the Effectiveness of Buying Firms' Strategies to Improve Supplier Performance
Authors: Krause Daniel R. , Scannell Thomas V. , Calantone Roger J.
Published: June 2007

Many manufacturing firms have increased the amount of component parts and services they outsource, while refocusing on their core capabilities. Outsourcing parts and services to independent, external suppliers means that suppliers' performance is increasingly critical to the long‐term success of these buying firms. Buying firms are increasingly using disparate supplier development strategies to improve supplier performance including supplier assessment, providing incentives for improved performance, instigating competition among suppliers, and direct involvement of the buying firm's personnel with suppliers through activities such as training of suppliers' personnel. Using resource‐based theory, internalization theory, and structural equation modeling, we examine the impact of these supplier development strategies on performance. We conclude that direct involvement activities, where the buying firm internalizes a significant amount of the supplier development effort, play a critical role in performance improvement.
An Empirical Investigation of Costs in Batching Decisions*
Authors: Rummel Jeffrey L.
Published: June 2007

This paper examines the use of costs and cost functions to model lot‐sizing decisions in batch manufacturing. The cost functions used to model a wide variety of manufacturing systems are typically derived from average cost models of unconstrained inventory problems. The use of setups and average inventories as the basis for modeling the economics of a typical batch manufacturing cell is shown to be inadequate. An alternative physical model that focuses on lead times provides a model that more closely represents the underlying value of such a cell.
Multiperiod Capacity Expansion in Globally Dispersed Regions
Authors: Syam Siddhartha S.
Published: June 2007

Multiperiod capacitated location (MCL) models specify where and when capacity expansions should be made, and how large they should be. The MCL model developed in this paper incorporates a shift from manufacturing for overseas markets to manufacturing in overseas markets. While MCL models generally have not provided lower bounds on the optimal solution, the methodology of this paper provides both upper and lower bounds. Computational results are given for problems involving up to 200 locations/destinations and 10‐year planning horizons. Near‐optimal solutions are provided in reasonable computing times with average convergence less than 2%. Representative variations in cost between regions are simulated in the test problems, and the managerial implications of alternative diversification strategies are also assessed.
Sensitivity Analysis for Dependent Variables*
Authors: Reilly Terence
Published: June 2007

Decision analysts use sensitivity analysis to identify influential variables, to determine which input variables to model stochastically, and to characterize scenarios that could affect a change in the rank ordering of the alternatives. A frequently recommended sensitivity analysis technique is “one‐way” sensitivity analysis, which determines a variable's influence by the degree to which the objective function changes as that variable is varied while all other variables are held fixed. Disadvantages of one‐way analysis are that it measures the influence of only one variable at a time and it assumes independence among the input variables. Clearly, however, there are situations when dependencies exist among the input variables that could possibly affect the sensitivity analysis results. This research develops a strategy that incorporates dependence relations among the input variables into the sensitivity analysis using rank correlations. Only decision problems with a finite number of alternatives and continuous state variables are considered.
Sequential Search and Selection Problem Under Uncertainty
Authors: Chun Young H.
Published: June 2007

This paper formulates and discusses a series of sequential decision problems of the following common structure: A decision alternative of multiple attributes‐that is, a job, an employee, or an investment alternative‐is to be selected within a certain fixed length of time. An unknown number of alternatives are presented sequentially, either deterministically or in a random manner. The decision maker can rank all the alternatives from best to worst without ties, and the decision to accept or reject an alternative is based solely on the relative ranks of those alternatives evaluated so far. The nonparametric sequential decision problem is first studied for a model involving a discrete time period and then generalized in terms of continuous time. Also considered is a variant of this problem involving a Bayesian estimation of (1) the uncertain probability of having an alternative at a given stage in the discrete‐time model and (2) the arrival rate of alternatives in the continuous‐time model. The optimal selection strategy that maximizes the probability of selecting the absolute best alternative is illustrated with the job search problem and the single‐machine job assignment problem.
Swiftness and Intensity of Administrative Innovation Adoption: An Empirical Study of TQM in Information Systems
Authors: Ravichandran T.
Published: June 2007

Considerable attention has been directed toward developing a more complete understanding of innovation adoption by Information Systems (IS) departments. Much of this research has focused on the adoption of technological innovations, and limited research has focused on the adoption of administrative innovations. This paper focuses on an administrative innovation that is increasingly becoming popular among IS departments, namely Total Quality Management (TQM) in systems development. A synthesis of the IS innovation and TQM literatures was conducted to identify environmental, organizational, and task‐related factors that should relate to both the swiftness and the intensity of TQM adoption. The relationships between the identified variables and TQM adoption were examined using data collected from 123 IS departments in Fortune 1000 firms and large government agencies in the U.S. The results indicate that TQM adoption in systems development is influenced by the host organization's quality orientation and factors internal to the IS department including IS management support for quality, the presence of a separate quality assurance function, and the structural complexity of the IS department. Implications of this study for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.
A Note on SERVQUAL Reliability and Validity in Information System Service Quality Measurement
Authors: Jiang James J. , Klein Gary , Crampton Suzanne M.
Published: June 2007

Today's information system function includes a large service component. Recent research has examined the SERVQUAL instrument as a possible measure to assist managers and researchers in evaluating service quality. To further examine the appropriateness of the SERVQUAL measure, a large industry sample serves to verify the anticipated structure of the instrument. In addition, a high correlation with a common measure of user satisfaction indicates that the SERVQUAL metric may indeed represent accurate views of user perception. As such, the SERVQUAL instrument can serve as a useful indicator for information system managers attempting to identify areas of needed service improvement and to researchers seeking a success measure of information system services.
Marketing Category Forecasting: An Alternative of BVAR‐Artificial Neural Networks*
Authors: Jiang James J. , Zhong Maosen , Klein Gary
Published: June 2007

Analyzing scanner data in brand management activities presents unique difficulties due to the vast quantity of the data. Time series methods that are able to handle the volume effectively often are inappropriate due to the violation of many statistical assumptions in the data characteristics. We examine scanner data sets for three brand categories and examine properties associated with many time series forecasting methods. Many violations are found with respect to linearity, normality, autocorrelation, and heteroscedasticity. With this in mind we compare the forecasting ability of neural networks that require no assumptions to two of the more robust time series techniques. Neural networks provide similar forecasts to Bayesian vector autoregression (BVAR), and both outperform generalized autoregressive conditional herteroscedasticty (GARCH) models.
Cost Efficiency Benchmarking for Operational Units with Multiple Cost Drivers
Authors: Troutt Marvin D. , Gribbin Donald W. , Shanker Murali , Zhang Aimao
Published: June 2007

We consider the activity‐based costing situation, in which for each of several comparable operational units, multiple cost drivers generate a single cost pool. Our study focuses on published data from a set of property tax collection offices, called rates departments, for the London metropolitan area. We define what may be called benchmark or most efficient costs per unit of driver. A principle of maximum performance efficiency is proposed, and an approach to estimating the benchmark unit costs is derived from this principle. A validation approach for this estimation method is developed in terms of what we call normal‐like‐or‐better performance effectiveness. Application to longitudinal data on a single unit is briefly discussed. We also consider some implications for the more routine case when costs are disaggregated to subpools associated with individual cost drivers.
Organizational Learning in Global Purchasing: A Model and Test of Internal Users and Corporate Buyers*
Authors: Hult G. Tomas M. , Hurley Robert F. , Giunipero Larry C. , Nichols Ernest L.
Published: June 2007

This research examines a model centered on organizational learning in purchasing. Two different studies are conducted to test the hypotheses among purchasing users (Study 1) and buyers (Study 2). The user sample consists of users representing 355 strategic business units of a Fortune 500 multinational corporation. The buyer sample consists of corporate buyers of 200 multinational corporations drawn from the membership directory of the National Association of Purchasing Management (NAPM). In each study, the focus is on the learning relationships between corporate buyers and internal users in the purchasing organization. Based on the two studies, the results suggest that organizational learning in the purchasing process is influenced by the organizational culture factors of localness, transformational leadership, and openness. Organizational learning has a positive effect on information processing in the purchasing system, which, in turn, has a positive influence on the cycle time of the purchasing process.
Ranking State Financial Management: A Multilevel Fuzzy Rule‐based System
Authors: Ammar Salwa , Wright Ronald , Selden Sally
Published: June 2007

In 1996 the Alan K. Campbell Institute in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University was awarded a grant to rate management performance of state and local governments and selected federal agencies. The project includes several parallel initiatives to evaluate government performance. This article contains a description of a multilevel fuzzy rule‐based system developed to evaluate state government performance. The objective is to measure effectiveness in state financial management and produce a relative ranking of performance. The system incorporates evaluation criteria and expert judgment. It utilizes survey and other publicly available information relevant to state financial management. Fuzzy set theory is used to represent imprecision in evaluated information and judgments. The results of this evaluation are compared to a parallel journalistic effort to rank state performance. The article highlights the differences between the two approaches and outlines the advantages of the fuzzy rule‐based system.
Testing the Interaction Effects of Task Complexity in Computer Training Using the Social Cognitive Model
Authors: Bolt Melesa Altizer , Killough Larry N. , Koh Hian Chye
Published: June 2007

Using a Modified Social Cognitive Theory framework, this study examines the behavior modeling and lecture‐based training approaches to computer training. It extends the existing Social Cognitive Model for computer training by adding the task complexity construct to training method, prior performance, computer self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, and performance. A sample of 249 students from a large state university served as participants in a laboratory experiment that was conducted to determine the task complexity*training method and task complexity* self‐efficacy interaction effects on performance. Structural equation modeling with interaction effects was used to analyze the data. The results show that behavior modeling outperforms lecture‐based training in a measure of final performance when task complexity is high. Further, it is found that computer self‐efficacy has a greater positive effect on performance when task complexity is high than when task complexity is low. Prior performance is also found to be an important variable in the model.
An Exploratory Analysis of the Value of the Skills of IT Personnel: Their Relationship to IS Infrastructure and Competitive Advantage
Authors: Byrd Terry Anthony , Turner Douglas E.
Published: June 2007

Determining and assessing the requisite skills of information technology (IT) personnel have become critical as the value of IT has risen in modern organizations. In addition to technical skills traditionally expected of IT personnel, softer skills like managerial, business, and interpersonal skills have been increasingly cited in previous studies as mandatory for these employees. This paper uses a typology of IT personnel skills—technology management skills, business functional skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills—and investigates their relationships to two information systems (IS) success variables, IS infrastructure flexibility and the competitive advantage provided by IS. The study investigates these relationships using the perceptions of chief information officers (CIOs) from mostly Fortune 2000 companies. The contributions of this study are: IT personnel skills do affect IS success, technical skills are viewed as the most important skill set in affecting IS infrastructure flexibility and competitive advantage, and modularity is viewed as more valuable to competitive advantage than integration. Several explanations are offered for the lack of positive relationships between the softer IT personnel skills and the dimensions of IS success used in this study.
Lot‐sizing Decisions Under Limited‐time Price Reduction*
Authors: Ramasesh Ranga V. , Rachamadugu Ram
Published: June 2007

We consider the optimal lot‐sizing policy for an inventoried item when the vendor offers a limited‐time price reduction. We use the discounted cash flow (DCF) approach in our analysis, thereby eliminating the sources of approximation found in most of the earlier studies that use an average annual cost approach. We first characterize the optimal lot‐sizing policies and their properties, then develop an algorithm for determining the optimal lot sizes. We analytically demonstrate that the lot sizes derived using an average annual cost approach for the different variants of the problem are, in general, larger than the DCF optimum. While DCF analysis is more rigorous and yields precise lot sizes, we recognize that the associated mathematical models and the solution procedure are rather complex. Since simple and easy‐to‐understand policies have a strong practical appeal to decision makers, we propose a DCF version of a simple and easy‐to‐implement heuristic called the “Early Purchase” (EP) strategy and discuss its performance. We supplement our analytical developments with a detailed computational analysis and discuss the implications of our findings for decision making.
Effects of Information Sequence and Irrelevant Distractor Information When Using a Computer‐based Decision Aid*
Authors: Reneau J. Hal , Blanthorne Cindy
Published: June 2007

Computer‐based decision aids are intended to support and improve human judgments. Frequently, the largest portion of the design effort is devoted to the technical aspects of the system; behavioral aspects are often overlooked. As a result, the decision aid may be ineffective. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of two information structure variables that theoretically affect judgments: information sequence and irrelevant distractor information. Auditor subjects made continuing existence judgments for client‐banks after interacting with one of four alternative decision aids. The decision aids are modifications of a system developed by an international CPA firm. Judgments were predicted to be more accurate when: (1) diagnostic information is presented late rather than early in the information sequence and (2) when no irrelevant distractor information is presented. Further, judgment confidence was predicted to be unrelated to either information sequence or irrelevant distractor information. The experimental data support all three predictions.
Optimizing Service Attributes: The Seller's Utility Problem*
Authors: Easton Fred F. , Pullman Madeleine E.
Published: June 2007

Service designers predict market share and sales for their new designs by estimating consumer utilities. The service's technical features (for example, overnight parcel delivery), its price, and the nature of consumer interactions with the service delivery system influence those utilities. Price and the service's technical features are usually quite objective and readily ascertained by the consumer. However, consumer perceptions about their interactions with the service delivery system are usually far more subjective. Furthermore, service designers can only hope to influence those perceptions indirectly through their decisions about nonlinear processes such as employee recruiting, training, and scheduling policies. Like the service's technical features, these process choices affect quality perceptions, market share, revenues, costs, and profits.

We propose a heuristic for the NP‐hard service design problem that integrates realistic service delivery cost models with conjoint analysis. The resulting seller's utility function links expected profits to the intensity of a service's influential attributes and also reveals an ideal setting or level for each service attribute. In tests with simulated service design problems, our proposed configurations compare quite favorably with the designs suggested by other normative service design heuristics.
Utility‐consistent Brand Demand Systems with Endogenous Category Consumption: Principles and Marketing Applications*
Authors: Baltas George
Published: June 2007

This paper introduces the design and implementation of utility‐consistent, brand, and category demand systems. It extends formal demand analysis to the area of brand and category demand, which directly concerns marketing researchers and managers. The proposed brand demand system is a set of interrelated demand functions that are derived explicitly from a utility function describing consumer preferences. The model generalizes by the integration of category expenditures, which are determined endogenously. The theoretical plausibility of the proposed demand model is demonstrated first and, subsequently, brand and category level systems are derived. Econometric methods for estimating the systems are also developed and illustrated in empirical data. The results yield empirically determined, quantitative insights into the structure of consumer demand for brands and product categories. The proposed approach has the attractive feature of structuring the interdependencies of consumer decisions and ensuring an explicit role for theory in applied research.
A Cascaded Inference Model for Evaluation of the Internal Audit Report*
Authors: Krishnamoorthy Ganesh
Published: June 2007

This paper provides a normative framework for how external auditors should evaluate internal audit (IA) work, with a view to assessing the risk of material misstatement. The central issue facing the external auditor when evaluating IA work is the reliability of IA work. Reliability assessments are structured using the cascaded inference framework from behavioral decision theory, in which attributes of source reliability are explicitly modeled and combined using Bayes' rule in order to determine the inferential value of IA work. Results suggest that the inferential value of an IA report is highly sensitive to internal auditor reporting bias, but relatively insensitive to reporting veracity. Veracity refers to internal auditors' propensity to report truthfully, whereas bias refers to the propensity to misreport findings. Results also indicate that this sensitivity to reporting bias is conditional on the level of internal auditor competence, thus suggesting significant interaction effects between the objectivity and competence factors. Collectively, these findings suggest that the impact of source reliability attributes may be more complex than portrayed in the auditing standards and that recognizing these subtleties may lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness.
A Decision Support System for Production/ Distribution Planning in Continuous Manufacturing
Authors: Mallya Sudhir , Banerjee Snehamay , Bistline William G.
Published: June 2007

This paper presents a decision support system (DSS) for managing production/distribution planning in a continuous manufacturing environment. The vendor has multiple plants and distribution centers (DCs). The trading partners have widely varying independent demand patterns. The DSS is designed for use in a multiproduct environment with overlapping raw materials and processing requirements. The production and distribution lead times at plants may span multiple planning periods. The impact of any manual override of a suggested solution can also be evaluated. The DSS is based on a linear programming model with a rolling horizon and was originally designed for a large process industry. Results of a pilot implementation using actual data are also presented, which show potential for significant savings for the company.
Data Mining for Network Intrusion Detection: A Comparison of Alternative Methods*
Authors: Zhu Dan , Premkumar G. , Zhang Xiaoning , Chu Chao‐Hsien
Published: June 2007

Intrusion detection systems help network administrators prepare for and deal with network security attacks. These systems collect information from a variety of systems and network sources, and analyze them for signs of intrusion and misuse. A variety of techniques have been employed for analysis ranging from traditional statistical methods to new data mining approaches. In this study the performance of three data mining methods in detecting network intrusion is examined. An experimental design (3times2x2) is created to evaluate the impact of three data mining methods, two data representation formats, and two data proportion schemes on the classification accuracy of intrusion detection systems. The results indicate that data mining methods and data proportion have a significant impact on classification accuracy. Within data mining methods, rough sets provide better accuracy, followed by neural networks and inductive learning. Balanced data proportion performs better than unbalanced data proportion. There are no major differences in performance between binary and integer data representation.
Service Package Switching in Hotel Revenue Management Systems
Authors: Baker Tim , Murthy Nagesh N. , Jayaraman Vaidyanathan
Published: June 2007

Revenue Management Systems (RMS) are commonly used in the hotel industry to maximize revenues in the short term. The forecasting‐allocation module is a key tactical component of a hotel RMS. Forecasting involves estimating demand for service packages across all stayover nights in a planning horizon. A service package is a unique combination of physical room, amenities, room price, and advance purchase restrictions. Allocation involves parsing the room inventory among these service packages to maximize revenues. Previous research and existing revenue management systems assume the demand for a service package to be independent of which service packages are available for sale. We develop a new forecasting‐allocation approach that explicitly accounts for this dependence. We compare the performance of the new approach against a baseline approach using a realistic hotel RMS simulation. The baseline approach reflects previous research and existing industry practice. The new approach produces an average revenue increase of at least 16% across scenarios that reflect existing industry conditions.
Estimating Moments of Subjectively Assessed Distributions*
Authors: Reilly Terence
Published: June 2007

Moment‐matching discrete distributions were developed by Miller and Rice (1983) as a method to translate continuous probability distributions into discrete distributions for use in decision and risk analysis. Using gaussian quadrature, they showed that an n‐point discrete distribution can be constructed that exactly matches the first 2n ‐ 1 moments of the underlying distribution. These moment‐matching discrete distributions offer several theoretical advantages over the typical discrete approximations as shown in Smith (1993), but they also pose practical problems. In particular, how does the analyst estimate the moments given only the subjective assessments of the continuous probability distribution? Smith suggests that the moments can be estimated by fitting a distribution to the assessments. This research note shows that the quality of the moment estimates cannot be judged solely by how close the fitted distribution is to the true distribution. Examples are used to show that the relative errors in higher order moment estimates can be greater than 100%, even though the cumulative distribution function is estimated within a Kolmogorov‐Smirnov distance less than 1%.
An Evaluation of Flexible Workday Policies in Job Shops*
Authors: Yang Kum‐Khiong , Webster Scott , Ruben Robert A.
Published: June 2007

Job shops have long faced pressures for improvement in a challenging and volatile environment. Today's trends of global competition and shortening of product life cycles suggest that both the challenges and the intensity of market volatility will only increase. Consequently, the study of tactics for maximizing the flexibility and responsiveness of a job shop is important. Indeed, there is a significant body of literature that has produced guidelines on when and how to deploy tactics such as alternate routings for jobs and transfers of cross‐trained workers between machines.

In this paper we consider a different tactic by adjusting the length of workdays. Hours in excess of a 40‐hour week are exchanged for compensatory time off at time and a half, and the total amount of accrued compensatory time is limited to no more than 160 hours in accordance with pending legislation. We propose several simple flexible workday policies that are based on an input/output control approach and investigate their performance in a simulated job shop. We find significant gains in performance over a fixed schedule of eight hours per day. Our results also provide insights into the selection of policy parameters.
An Analysis of Manufacturer‐Retailer Supply Chain Coordination in Cooperative Advertising*
Authors: Huang Zhimin , Li Susan X. , Mahajan Vijay
Published: June 2007

In the literature of cooperative (co‐op) advertising, the focus of the research is on a relationship in which a manufacturer is the leader and retailers are followers. This relationship implies the dominance of the manufacturer over retailers. Recent market trends have shown a shift in power from manufacturers to retailers. Retailers, as a result, may now possess equal or even greater power than a manufacturer in some instances when it comes to retailing. Based on this new market phenomenon, we intend to explore the role of co‐op advertising in a manufacturer‐retailer supply chain through brand name investments, local advertising expenditures, and sharing rules of advertising expenses. Two co‐op advertising models are developed and compared. The first co‐op advertising model is based on the traditional leader‐follower relationship of a manufacturer and a retailer. The second model incorporates partnership into co‐op advertising coordination. Business examples and managerial implications of the models have been discussed. A cooperative bargaining technique is utilized to implement the partnership co‐op advertising model.
Dynamic Pricing and Lead‐Time Policies for Make‐to‐Order Systems*
Authors: Webster Scott
Published: June 2007

Make‐to‐order firms use different approaches for managing their lead‐times and pricing in the face of changing market conditions. A particular firm's approach may be largely dictated by environmental constraints. For example, it makes little sense to carefully manage lead‐time if its effect on demand is muted, as it can be in situations where leadtime is difficult for the market to gauge or requires investment to estimate. Similarly, it can be impractical to change capacity and price. However, environmental constraints are likely to become less of an issue in the future with the expanding e‐business infrastructure, and this trend raises questions into how to manage effectively the marketing mix of price and lead‐time in a more “friction‐free” setting.

We study a simple model of a make‐to‐order firm, and we examine policies for adjusting price and capacity in response to periodic and unpredictable shifts in how the market values price and lead‐time. Our analysis suggests that maintaining a fixed capacity while using lead‐time and/or price to absorb changes in the market will be most attractive when stability in throughput and profit are highly valued, but in volatile markets, this stability comes at a cost of low profits. From a pure profit maximization perspective, it is best to strive for a short and consistent lead‐times by adjusting both capacity and price in response to market changes.