This paper reports on research carried out during the summer of 2000, within a National Health hospital in the West Midlands region of England. It looks specifically at the queuing problems in the busiest clinic of the hospital, and involves the observation and questioning of 280 patients. The...

Purpose – Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach – This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to carry out queuing analysis to analyse patient load in outpatient and inpatient services to facilitate more realistic resource planning. Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts an analytical approach based on real life data (e.g. not a priori...

Considers computer simulation as a method for studying the behaviour of business systems under a variety of assumed conditions for analysing the simultaneous interaction of many variables to produce valuable insights into problems. Looks at how simulations can help to provide answers to complex...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider queuing systems where captive repeat customers select a service facility each period. Are people in such a distributed system, with limited information diffusion, able to approach optimal system performance? How are queues formed? How do...

Suggests that while businesses have made great efforts to reduce the length of time customers wait for service, little attention has been paid to the actual experience of waiting. Argues that the final service encounter is crucial for reinforcing customers′ performance expectations. Suggests...

We develop a new dynamic equilibrium model with heterogeneous households that captures the most important frictions that arise in housing rental markets and explains the political popularity of affordable housing policies. We estimate the model using data collected by the New York Housing...