Randomization Approaches for Network Revenue Management with Customer Choice Behavior

In this study, we present new approximation methods for the network revenue management problem with customer choice behavior. Our methods are sampling‐based and so can handle fairly general customer choice models. The starting point for our methods is a dynamic program that allows randomization. An attractive feature of this dynamic program is that the size of its action space is linear in the number of itineraries, as opposed to exponential. It turns out that this dynamic program has a structure that is similar to the dynamic program for the network revenue management problem under the so called independent demand setting. Our approximation methods exploit this similarity and build on ideas developed for the independent demand setting. We present two approximation methods. The first one is based on relaxing the flight leg capacity constraints using Lagrange multipliers, whereas the second method involves solving a perfect hindsight relaxation problem. We show that both methods yield upper bounds on the optimal expected total revenue. Computational experiments demonstrate the tractability of our methods and indicate that they can generate tighter upper bounds and higher expected revenues when compared with the standard deterministic linear program that appears in the literature.     

Customer Behavior Modeling in Revenue Management and Auctions: A Review and New Research Opportunities

Customer behavior modeling has been gaining increasing attention in the operations management community. In this paper we review current models of customer behavior in the revenue management and auction literatures and suggest several future research directions.     

A New Dynamic Programming Decomposition Method for the Network Revenue Management Problem with Customer Choice Behavior

In this paper, we propose a new dynamic programming decomposition method for the network revenue management problem with customer choice behavior. The fundamental idea behind our dynamic programming decomposition method is to allocate the revenue associated with an itinerary among the different flight legs and to solve a single‐leg revenue management problem for each flight leg in the airline network. The novel aspect of our approach is that it chooses the revenue allocations by solving an auxiliary optimization problem that takes the probabilistic nature of the customer choices into consideration. We compare our approach with two standard benchmark methods. The first benchmark method uses a deterministic linear programming formulation. The second benchmark method is a dynamic programming decomposition idea that is similar to our approach, but it chooses the revenue allocations in an ad hoc manner. We establish that our approach provides an upper bound on the optimal total expected revenue, and this upper bound is tighter than the ones obtained by the two benchmark methods. Computational experiments indicate that our approach provides significant improvements over the performances of the benchmark methods.     

Lean Control for Make‐to‐Order Companies: Integrating Customer Enquiry Management and Order Release

A lead time that is short, predictable, and reliable is an increasingly important criterion in supplier selection. Although many companies may achieve this through lean implementation, high‐variety manufacturers, for example, small and medium‐sized make‐to‐order companies, have found that lean's planning and control techniques do not apply. This article outlines a planning and control concept known as workload control (WLC) that integrates customer enquiry management, including a due‐date setting rule, with order release control. Simulation is then used to assess its impact on shop performance. Results demonstrate that an integrated WLC concept can reduce the percentage of tardy jobs—so short lead times can be realistically quoted—while also reducing and stabilizing workloads. WLC can level demand and production over time when work is not standardized and it is not possible to synchronize flows on the shop floor. Results are shown to be robust to changes in routing characteristics, the mix of orders with due dates specified by the customer and proposed internally, and the strike rate (or order‐winning probability). Hence, an integrated approach to WLC represents an important step toward achieving lean in make‐to‐order companies.     

First Step in Social Media: Measuring the Influence of Online Management Responses on Customer Satisfaction

With the growing influence of online social media, firms increasingly take an active role in interacting with consumers in social media. For many firms, their first step in online social media is management responses, where the management responds to customers' comments about the firm or its products and services. In this article, we measure the impact of management responses on customer satisfaction using data retrieved from a major online travel agency in China. Applying a panel data model that controls for regression toward the mean and heterogeneity in individual preference for hotels, we find that online management responses are highly effective among low satisfaction customers but have limited influence on other customers. Moreover, we show that the public nature of online management responses introduces a new dynamic among customers. Although online management responses increase future satisfaction of the complaining customers who receive the responses, they decrease future satisfaction of complaining customers who observe but do not receive management responses. The result is consistent with the peer‐induced fairness theory.     

战略人力资源管理与组织绩效关系研究的新框架：理论整合的视角

人力资本理论、行为理论和资源理论是研究者们研究战略人力资源管理和组织绩效之间关系的常用理论基础,但单一的理论基础不能完全揭示战略人力资源管理对组织绩效的作用机制。为此,首先分析比较了3种理论基础各自的研究框架及研究现状;然后,基于理论整合的视角构建了战略人力资源管理与组织绩效关系研究的新框架;最后,对该领域研究的未来发展趋势进行了展望。     

The Management of Violence in a Conflict Organization: The Case of the Abu Sayyaf

The Abu Sayyaf is an organization which has left a trail of mayhem and murder in the southern Philippines for more than a decade. It has gained international notoriety through several high profile mass kidnappings. This article looks at how the Abu Sayyaf has managed to survive and at times prosper despite the state's efforts to eradicate it. By using organizational analysis the paper demonstrates how the Abu Sayyaf has developed structures and processes which make it such a deadly force. The organization has succeeded in gaining considerable fit with the environment in which it operates.     

面向中国管理实践的组织与人力资源管理:反思与探索——首届“中国人力资源管理论坛(2012)”观点评述

全球化和知识经济时代动荡复杂的环境,对中国企业的组织形态和人力资源管理模式形成了严峻挑战。同时,近年来主流西方管理理论在中国遭遇的"水土不服",也需要中国管理学界在深刻反思的基础上积极探索中国式管理之路。基于对组织和人力资源管理领域回应现实课题和理论创新的双重要求,2012年5月26～27日在南开大学商学院召开的首届"中国人力资源管理论坛(2012):组织创新与人力资源管理变革"学术研讨会上,与会学者就中国人力资源管理的挑战和学科建设方向、人力资源管理研究的方法论、战略人力资源管理、组织行为与领导力、组织学习与变革等专题进行了深入研讨。鉴于此,在介绍诸多学术观点的基础上,对相关问题进行简要评述。     

守安身立命之地,走继往开来之路——简评《管理学报》近期的系列争鸣文章

《管理学报》近期的系列争鸣文章,提出了管理学发展的方向问题。西方管理学在学术研究和企业实践上存在双轨制,中国则演化为学术、咨询、实业的"三岔口"。如何使"三岔口"变为"铁三角",影响着管理学在中国的发展方向。圣吉作为非学术的咨询家,对其进行剖析可以更清楚地分析咨询和学术的关系。管理学的安身立命之地,在于学术本位,而学术本位的活力来源于面向实践和哲学思考。学术讨论和争鸣有利于推动学术共同体的形成和健全:管理学界应以中外学术争鸣为范例,继往开来,奠定管理学在中国发展的良好根基;《管理学报》这一平台应在其中发挥重要作用。     

Chaos and Transformation Theories: A Theoretical Analysis with Implications for Organization Theory and Public Management

Chaos and transformation theories have emerged as new currencies in social sciences in general and in systems design and management, and in futuristic studies in particular. This article analyzes chaos and transformation theories in historical and contemporary perspectives, their contributions to social science in general, and organization theory and public management in particular. The notions of chaos and order, change and continuity, and uncertainty and certainty are analyzed along with the growing realization of complexity and non-linear dynamic features of modern organizations and the hard reality of a constant necessity to acquire new knowledge and learn to manage organizations with flexibility and innovation. Finally, the article addresses some of the limitations of chaos theory and outlines a number of implications for organization theory and public management in the age of globalization.     

ISO 31000:2009—Setting a New Standard for Risk Management

Last year saw the publication of IS0 31000:2009, a new globally accepted standard for risk management together with a new, associated vocabulary in ISO Guide 73:2009. These were developed through a consensus‐driven process over four years, through seven drafts, and involving the input of hundreds of risk management professionals around the world. The new standard supports a new, simple way of thinking about risk and risk management and is intended to begin the process of resolving the many inconsistencies and ambiguities that exist between many different approaches and definitions. While most decisionmakers seem to welcome the new standard and it has so far received very good reviews, it does create challenges for those who use language and approaches that are unique to their area of work but different from the new standard and guide. The need for compromise and change is the inevitable consequence of standardization     

Planning training programmes to support business initiatives: a model for business and training partnership

The ‘Model for Business and Training Partnership’ (MBTP) draws upon insights of HRD and adult education programme-planning scholars, integrating training and development processes with a typical business-planning model. It is a practical, client-focused programme-planning model designed to promote strategic alliances between the HRD practitioner and business manager at all levels and development phases. The model may be utilized on a cross-functional group project for implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) system or other large system change initiative within a large organization. This model has not been tested empirically.     

Functional Assessment and Intervention for Organizational Behavior Change: Improving the Timeliness of Staff Meetings at a Human Services Organization

We implemented functional behavioral assessment (FBA) at a human services organization to reduce the tardiness of scheduled staff meetings. Following baseline, FBA focused on antecedent and consequence conditions that affected staff arriving on time to scheduled meetings. These data were subsequently presented at a staff meeting in which staff planned an intervention to improve the timeliness of meetings. The intervention, composed of premeeting reminders, positive reinforcement for arriving on time, and meeting termination criteria (to facilitate meeting-to-meeting transitions), was implemented in a multiple baseline design across 3 types of meetings. As a result of the intervention, the number of minutes late that meetings started decreased. We discuss FBA within organizational behavior management that targets performance improvement objectives.     

Adaptive Management: A Paradigm for Remediation of Public Facilities Following a Terrorist Attack

Terrorist actions are aimed at maximizing harm (health, psychological, economical, and political) through the combined physical impacts of the act and fear. Immediate and effective response to a terrorist act is critical to limit human and environmental harm, effectively restore facility function, and maintain public confidence. Though there have been terrorist attacks in public facilities that we have learned from, overall our experiences in restoration of public facilities following a terrorist attack are limited. Restoration of public facilities following a release of a hazardous material is inherently far more complex than in industrial settings and has many unique technical, economic, social, and political challenges. For example, there may be a great need to quickly restore the facility to full operation and allow public access even though it was not designed for easy or rapid restoration, and critical information is needed for quantitative risk assessment and effective restoration must be anticipated to be incomplete and uncertain. Whereas present planning documents have substantial linearity in their organization, the “adaptive management” paradigm provides a constructive parallel paradigm for restoration of public facilities that anticipates and plans for uncertainty, inefficiencies, and stakeholder participation. Adaptive management grew out of the need to manage and restore natural resources in highly complex and changing environments with limited knowledge about causal relationships and responses to restoration actions. Similarities between natural resource management and restoration of a public facility after a terrorist attack suggest that integration of adaptive management principles explicitly into restoration processes will result in substantially enhanced and flexible responses necessary to meet the uncertainties of potential terrorist attacks.