We consider a firm that provides multiple services using both specialized and flexible capacity. The problem is formulated as a two-stage single-period stochastic program. The firm invests in capacity before the actual demand is known and optimally assigns capacity to customers when demand is...

We describe an approximation procedure to estimate the performance of a queueing system with two types of customers and two server categories. Specialized servers can process only one customer type, while flexible servers handle both types. The procedure divides the system's state space into...

We examine how operational changes in customer flows in retail stores affect the rate of COVID-19 transmission. We combine a model of customer movement with two models of disease transmission: direct exposure when two customers are in close proximity and wake exposure when one customer is in the...

The majority of COVID-19 vaccines currently available are typically administered in two doses, with a prescribed number of weeks separating the two doses. Because of uncertainty in vaccine supply, many vaccination managers have saved doses in inventory to ensure on-time second doses. However,...

A well-studied problem in the literature on airline revenue (or yield) management is the optimal allocation of seat inventory among fare classes given a demand distribution for each class. In practice, the seat allocation decisions of one airline affect the passenger demands for seats on other...

Major airlines are selling increasing numbers of interline itineraries, in which flights operated by two or more airlines are combined and sold together. One reason for this increase is the rapid growth of airline alliances, which promote the purchase of interline itineraries and therefore...

We consider a firm that provides multiple services using both specialized and flexible capacity. The problem is formulated as a two-stage single-period stochastic program. The firm invests in capacity before the actual demand is known and optimally assigns capacity to customers when demand is...

When customers arrive, service providers often collect information to generate delay forecasts. We study how delay data-collection and forecasting systems can be designed to improve customer satisfaction. We assume that customers may be loss-averse in the sense that an increase in the expected...

Two important defensive mechanisms available to governments combating terrorism are warnings and the deployment of physical resources. Warnings are relatively inexpensive to issue but their effectiveness suffers from false alarms. Physical deployments of trained security personnel can directly...

Firms increasingly use contingent labor to flexibly respond to demand in many environments. Labor supply agencies are growing to fill this need. As a result, firms and agencies are engaging in long-term contracts for labor supply. We develop mathematical models of the interaction between firms...