AN INTEGRATED WORK SHIFT SCHEDULING SYSTEM

An integrated work shift scheduling system is developed and applied in the scheduling of 2600 telephone operators in 43 locations of the General Telephone Company of California. The system involves the forecasting of calls on a half-hourly basis, the conversion to operator requirements, the scheduling of tours by a heuristic algorithm, the assignment of operators to tours, and the operation of the system.     

MANAGERIAL USE OF DYNAMIC STRUCTURAL MODELS*

Dynamic structural models were introduced as early as 1958 as “Industrial Dynamics, but there has been little managerial use and little response in the academic world. Yet, the basic modeling methods provide an important mode for examining the broad interacting effects of large systems. More recent work appears to make structural and dynamic models understandable and accessible to individuals not trained in the decision sciences. The nature of the modeling methods is such that managers and policy makers in public systems can be involved directly in the model building process. The authors hope that this survey paper may help rekindle interest.     

ON THE COST OF NEW ISSUES OF COMMON STOCK: AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTANT GROWTH MODEL

Expansion decisions by corporate managements are importantly influenced by their perceptions of the firm's cost of capital and especially the cost of common equity. Their decision making is then influenced by the common perception that new issues of common stock are more costly than retained earnings because of the flotation costs inherent in new issues. Thus a rate of expansion that requires new issues is downgraded in decision making. In this paper the authors show that in actuality new issues of common equity may be less costly than retained earnings. Thus different decision-making implications are clearly involved.