Cross‐training Decisions in Field Services with Three Job Types and Server–Job Mismatch*

To be cost‐effective, field service managers must balance the high cost of machine downtime with the high cost of cross‐training technicians in multiple skills. We study a field service system with three job types requiring three different skills. Each server has a primary skill, the cost of which is considered sunk, and up to two secondary skills, which is a managerial decision. We model two important characteristics that distinguish field services: server–job mismatch and the ratio of travel time to service time. We use a queueing framework and simulation to study three cross‐training decisions: the number of servers cross‐trained in secondary skills, the number of secondary skills each server should have, and the efficiency in each secondary skill. We find that complete cross‐training is cost‐effective in some field service situations. Typically, efficiency in secondary skills must be close to 100%, but when the probability of mismatch is high and the ratio of travel time to service time is high, efficiency in secondary skills must be less than 100%.     

Restaurant Revenue Management at Chevys: Determining the Best Table Mix

Revenue management has been used in a variety of industries and generally takes the form of managing demand by manipulating length of customer usage and price. Supply mix is rarely considered, although it can have considerable impact on revenue. In this research, we focused on developing an optimal supply mix, specifically on determining the supply mix that would maximize revenue. We used data from a Chevys restaurant, part of a large chain of Mexican restaurants, in conjunction with a simulation model to evaluate and enumerate all possible supply (table) mixes. Compared to the restaurant's existing table mix, the optimal mix is capable of handling a 30% increase in customer volume without increasing waiting times beyond their original levels. While our study was in a restaurant context, the results of this research are applicable to other service businesses.     

Viability of Auction‐Based Revenue Management in Sequential Markets

The Internet is providing an opportunity to revenue management practitioners to exploit the potential of auctions as a new price distribution channel. We develop a stochastic model for a high‐level abstraction of a revenue management system (RMS) that allows us to understand the potential of incorporating auctions in revenue management in the presence of forecast errors associated with key parameters. Our abstraction is for an environment where two market segments book in sequence and revenue management approaches consider auctions in none, one, or both segments. Key insights from our robust results are (i) limited auctions are best employed closest to the final sale date, (ii) counterbalancing forecast errors associated with overall traffic intensity and the proportion of customer arrivals in a segment is more important if an auction is adopted in that segment, and (iii) it is critically important not to err on the side of overestimating market willingness to pay.     

中国企业管理创新及其实现初探

在阐述企业管理创新的基本含义和主要决定因素的基础上,指出主体缺陷、客体不明、环境限制和风险与收益不对称等是导致中国企业管理创新不足的主要成因,进而提出改进和增强中国企业管理创新的实现途径     

Time management as a moderator of relations between stressors and employee strain

The purpose of this study was to examine whether time management behaviours moderated relations between stressors (role conflict, role overload, work-family conflict, and family-work conflict) and strain, as measured by scores on the General Health Questionnaire. It was predicted that use of time management behaviours would be negatively associated with strain. These relations, however, were expected to be mediated by feelings of control over time. It was further predicted that the use of time management behaviours would attenuate stressor-strain relations. Data collected from 525 employed men and women indicated, as predicted, that use of time management behaviours was negatively associated with strain. These relations were partially mediated by feelings of control over time. Moderator tests failed to provide support for time management behaviour as a moderator of stressor-strain relations. Implications of findings are discussed and future directions for time management research are suggested.     

A PLAGUE ON THE PANOPTICON: Surveillance and power in the global information economy

With technological advances in data-manipulation, the increased 'informability' of our daily lives and the potential for social management, surveillance has become a key site for understanding the workings of power within the global informational economy. Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon has, courtesy of Foucault, become a dominant metaphor in surveillance studies. This central eye, aimed at the moral reform of institutionalized bodies and operating through a de facto closure of individual agency, tends to limit our conception of the complex ways surveillance serves and disrupts power. Through analysis of commercial and workplace surveillance, this paper shows that power is contested and agency never completely closed down. To comprehend this negotiated relationship, an alternative framework - 'plague management' - is presented. This envisions surveillance within a social setting operated by multiple agents who themselves are open to the gaze of those surveyed. The aim of this project is to categorize rather than to reform and cure, and moreover space is available for resistance. On the global scale, new technologies have opened up space for informal, local surveillances to be effectively linked to media and Internet audiences. These 'surveillance networks', informal alliances of a variety of actors, have the potential to radically alter orthodox relations of power by evading the information controls of the state and connecting a local gaze with the global community. This paper concludes that although surveillance studies has rightly been concerned with the control capacities of IT, a balance must be actively sought with the facilitative, enabling and even democratic impulses nascent in the new technology.     

Economic Production Lot Sizing with Periodic Costs and Overtime*

Traditional approaches for modeling economic production lot‐sizing problems assume that a single, fixed equipment setup cost is incurred each time a product is run, regardless of the quantity manufactured. This permits multiple days of production from one production setup. In this paper, we extend the model to consider additional fixed charges, such as cleanup or inspection costs, that are associated with each time period's production. This manufacturing cost structure is common in the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, where process equipment must be sanitized between item changeovers and at the end of each day's production. We propose two mathematical problem formulations and optimization algorithms. The models' unique features include regular time production constraints, a fixed charge for each time period's production, and the availability of overtime production capacity. Experimental results indicate the conditions under which our algorithms' performance is superior to traditional approaches. We also test the procedures on a set of lot‐sizing problems facing a national food processor and document their potential economic benefit.     

宜居城市的管理:以上海法租界中部地区为中心

近代上海城区中,较之公共租界与华界的南市与闸北,法租界中部地区以街道整洁、环境幽静、文化氛围浓厚著称,是颇负盛名的宜居城区。考其形成原因,是法租界紧跟国际上对城市进行功能分区的时代潮流,对界内工商业进行统一的规划与严格的分类营业管理。近代上海公共租界、法租界与华界这三界中,法租界工商业发展比较滞后,城市规划与改造成本较低,又实行总领事独裁制,这是法租界中部地区能够发展为宜居街区的物质基础与制度因素。     

地方政府在社会管理中的“不出事”逻辑:一个分析框架

与经济管理中地方政府的行为逻辑有着很大的差异,改革开放以来,地方政府在社会管理中的总体上遵循一种不出事的逻辑,在这种逻辑支配下,地方政府在社会管理中呈现出不恰当的功能和角色。从本质上来说,这种逻辑根源于改革开放之后特殊的中央地方关系体制。在风险社会的今天,这种逻辑面临着越来越大的困境,只有从根本上改变不出事的逻辑,创新地方政府社会管理机制,才能真正实现社会的长久稳定与和谐。     

略论加强对第三批录取本科生的教学管理

自普通高等院校全国招生考试不断扩招以来,各个高校都相应做出政策调整,本文针对第三批录取本科生教学管理,就如何在降低入学门槛的情况下,构建有利于培养学生健全个性的平民教育和大众教育的实践教学体系,探讨如何适应社会需要并使之学而有成而尝试的点滴举措。