Temporary help agencies are among the largest employers of American workers today. Depending upon the interpretation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts between 3 and 30 million Americans in contingent and part-time work arrangements. We model firms' use of contingent labor in maximizing...

This paper examines the staffing, division of labor, and resulting profitability of primary care physician practices. We develop a theoretical model of how practice profit is determined by the number and mix of support staff and how tasks are delegated to support staff. A key element of the...

We model a spot market in a make-to-stock industry with two types of suppliers: A type 1 supplier faces stochastic contracted demand and has access to the spot market for liquidating surplus, while a type 2 supplier produces only for the spot market. We find the production quantity equilibrium...

This paper studies service systems with gatekeepers who diagnose a customer problem and then either refer the customer to an expert or attempt treatment. The probability of successful treatment by a gatekeeper decreases as the problem's complexity increases. We determine the optimal staffing...