Gray markets, also known as parallel imports, are marketplaces for trading genuine products that are diverted from authorized distribution channels. They have created fierce competition for manufacturers in many industries and each year billions of dollars worth of products are traded in these...

Every year, companies that produce consumer tax preparation software struggle with a massive amount of work imposed by thousands of state and federal changes to tax laws and forms. With their release not even beginning before August, these changes still must be processed and incorporated into...

In this paper, we propose a hierarchical framework for organizing and staffing a product development process at a leading software company that produces tax software. Every year, starting in August, the firm struggles with a high workload imposed by thousands of changes in tax rules announced by...