Clemen and Winkler (1985) have described the theoretical effectiveness of Winkler's (1981) formula for optimally combining forecasts. The optimality of Winkler's formula is, however, contingent on actually knowing the forecasters' statistical properties, i.e., the variances and covariances of...

The launch of a new product or service via direct marketing is nearly always preceded by a test of that offering. Such a "live" test, conducted with a subset of the entire list of customer prospects, can sometimes be useful in a "go/no-go" decision regarding a full-scale launch of the offering....

This article is concerned with counting and identifying those customers who are still active. The issue is important in at least three settings: monitoring the size and growth rate of a firm's ongoing customer base, evaluating a new product's success based on the pattern of trial and repeat...

Many clinics that offer in vitro fertilization (IVF) have begun to market the following options to couples: (1) an a la carte program where the couple pays $7,500 per attempt regardless of the outcome; or (2) a money-back-guarantee program where the couple pays a $15,000 fee that covers up to...

There are many situations where one is interested in predicting the expected number of events in period 2 given that x events occurred in period 1. For example, insurance companies must decide whether or not to cancel the insurance of drivers who had 3 or more accidents during the previous year....