In this paper we present and analyze a model for clustering in networks that offer Software as a Service (SaaS). In this problem, organizations requesting a set of applications have to be assigned to clusters such that the costs of opening clusters and installing the necessary applications in...

Quite often transportation companies face two types of jobs, ones which they can plan themselves and ones which have to be done on call. In this paper we study the scheduling of these jobs, while we assume that job durations are known beforehand as well as windows in which the jobs need to be...

In response to customer specific time guarantee requirements, service providers can offer differentiated services. However, conventional customer differentiation methods often lead to high holding costs and may have some practical drawbacks. We compare two customer differentiation policies:...

This paper studies the inventory system of a retailer who orders his products from two supply sources, a local one that is responsive and reliable, but expensive, and a global one that is low-cost but less reliable. The deliveries from the global source only partially satisfy the quality...