The staff scheduling problem in the retail business is considered for which a new mathematical model and new solution methods are introduced. The problem is formalized as a set covering type problem. Columns represent feasible weekly working time patterns of one sales clerk. Rows correspond to...

The sales force deployment problem is considered which arises in many selling organizations. As a solution a novel mixed-integer formulation is introduced which is specifically characterized by an infinite number of variables. A column generation approach is proposed to obtain upper and lower...