Many service firms are pursuing electronic distribution strategies to augment existing physical infrastructure for product and service delivery. But little systematic study has been made for whether and how characteristics or behaviors might differ between customers who use electronic delivery...

This paper uses the context of online banking to investigate the consequences of using self-service distribution channels to alter customer interactions with the firm. Using a sample of retail banking customers observed over a 30-month period at a large U.S. bank, we test whether changes in...

The "productivity paradox" of information systems (IS) is that, despite enormous improvements in the underlying technology, the benefits of IS spending have not been found in aggregate output statistics. One explanation is that IS spending may lead to increases in product quality or variety...

This paper explores the relation between retail banks' branch-based processes and financial performance. There are 11 processes included in this study, which represent the bulk of the activities performed in a typical retail branch (e.g., opening checking accounts). The first finding of this...

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This paper presents a model for the study of operations at an inbound call center. The call center is modeled as a multiclass processor shared loss system, where the interacting effects of human, telecommunication, and information technology resources are explicitly incorporated. Product form...

Choi, DeSarbo and Harker (1990) have recently proposed a numerical methodology for optimal product positioning and pricing under the assumption that the incumbents react only with price changes in the short run. The current note extends this methodology to include incumbents' long-run strategy...

Scale economies are commonplace in operations, yet because of analytical challenges, relatively little is known about how firms should compete in their presence. This paper presents a model of competition between two firms that face scale economies; (i.e., each firm's cost per unit of demand is...

This paper presents a consumer-based methodology for new product pricing and positioning in the face of price competition. The price competition is modelled as a Nash equilibrium for which two complementary approaches are employed: an analytical approach of duopoly provides qualitative insights...

The Analytic Hierarchy Process developed by Saaty (Saaty, T. L. 1980. The Analytic Hierarchy Process. McGraw-Hill, New York.) has proven to be an extremely useful method for decision making and planning. However, some researchers in these areas have raised concerns over the theoretical basis...