Service Decisions Research Articles

Value‐added service decision and coordination under fresh produce e‐commerce considering order cancelation

AbstractThis paper proposes an analytic model under fresh produce e‐commerce considering value‐added service and order cancelation behavior. We first examine the optimal prices, value‐added service decisions, and profits in the centralized and decentralized channels. Then, the revenue‐cost‐sharing contract is designed to eliminate the double marginal effect in the decentralized channel. The main findings are threefold. First, with the improvement of product quality, the optimal value‐added service may increase and then decrease in both centralized and decentralized channels. Second, compared with the centralized channel, the decentralized channel prefers a lower retail price only when both salvage value coefficient and product quality are high. Besides, the proposed revenue‐cost‐sharing contract performs well in improving the value‐added service and profits in the decentralized channel.

Effects of competition on software and service decisions in a co-opetition supply chain

This study examines an IT supply chain with two software developers, a service integrator, and client enterprises, where developer A directly sells its software to the clients and developer B authorizes its software to the integrator for sale. Our analysis shows that developer A will increase (decrease) its software sales price and decrease (increase) its extended warranty service (EWS) sales price to compete with the integrator when the unit EWS cost is low (high) and the intensity of software competition between them increases; while the integrator will compete with developer A by sacrificing (improving) the pre-sales services (Pr-SS) quality and reducing its software sales price. Especially, when they are engaged in software competition and service cooperation, the profit of developer A surprisingly increases with the intensity of competition; when they are only engaged in software competition, the profit of developer A may still increase with the competitive intensity. Moreover, when the unit EWS cost is higher than a certain threshold, the profit of integrator increases with the competitive intensity. Under certain conditions, both the profit of developer A and that of integrator surprisingly increase with the competitive intensity.

PENGARUH KOMPONEN BRAND IMAGE TERHADAP KEPUTUSAN PEMBELIAN LAYANAN TELEKOMUNIKASI INDIHOME DI KOTA YOGYAKARTA

The Purpose of this study is to identify the impact of the brand image both partial and simultaneous and to identify the variables that have a dominant impact on purchasing decisions in the IndiHome telecommunication services. The independent variables in this study are the corporate image (X1), user image (X2), and product image (X3). Whereas the dependent variable is purchasing decision (Y).
 The study employed quantitative research methods with descriptive and causality research. In this study the population is a consumer that uses the indihome telecommunication services. And this study uses 100 respondents as research samples.
 In analyzing data using linear regressions, t tests, F tests, and determinative coefficients. According to partial testing (t), the corporate image has a significant impact on the decision of the purchase with a significant value of 0,005 < 0,05 then, the corporate image has a partial influence on the decision to purchase the IndiHome telecommunication services. User image has a significant effect on the purchase decision with a significant value of 0,007 < 0,05 then, the user image has a partially influential on the purchase of purchase of IndiHome’s telecommunication services products. The product image has a significant value of 0,004 < 0,05 then, the product image has a partially influential on the decision of purchasing the product of the indihome entrance. 
 As for the results of the simultaneous test (test F) in this study showed significant value of F is 0,000 < 0,05 which means that brand image consisting of corporate image, user image, and product image together have a significant effect on purchasing decision. Adjusted R Square value on this study is 0,309. This means that 30,9 % of purchase decision can be explained by all three independent variables of corporate image (X1), user image (X2), and product image (X3). The rest of the 69,1 % was affected by other unexamined variables in the study.

Minimizing Age-Upon-Decisions in Bufferless System: Service Scheduling and Decision Interval

The data freshness at decision epochs of time-sensitive applications, e.g., auto-driving vehicles and autonomous underwater robots, is jointly affected by the statistics of update process and decision process. This work considers an update-and-decision system with a Poisson-arrival bufferless queue, where updates are delivered and processed for making decisions with exponential or periodic intervals. We use age-upon-decisions (AuD) to characterize timeliness of updates at decision moments, and the missing probability to specify whether updates are useful for decision-making. Our theoretical analyses 1) present the average AuDs and the missing probabilities for bufferless systems with exponential or deterministic decision intervals under different service time distributions; 2) show that for service scheduling, the deterministic service time achieves a lower average AuD and a smaller missing probability than the uniformly distributed and the negative exponentially distributed service time; 3) prove that the average AuD of periodical decision system is larger than and will eventually drop to that of Poisson decision system along with the increase of decision rate; however, the missing probability in periodical decision system is smaller than that of Poisson decision system. The numerical results and simulations verify the correctness of our analyses, and demonstrate that the bufferless systems outperform the systems applying infinite buffer size.

Green Manufacturing Service Decision Method Based on Consumer Behavior

Green Manufacturing Service Decision Method Based on Consumer Behavior

Neuromarketing as a platform for the internationalization of hotel services in Colombia

The objective of this article is to analyze the incidence of neuromarketing in organizations that internationalize hotel services in the city of Bogota, Colombia, based on the importance of this activity as an emerging alternative for market research. Methodologically, Spearman's Rho correlation coefficient is used to associate the size of the companies studied with the influential factors provided by neuromarketing in the internationalization of hotel services in the Colombian capital. The main results determine that elements such as business development, eye-tracking, product and web page design as an application of neuromarketing for the internationalization of hotel services are fundamental for these organizations. It is concluded that ensuring a favorable user experience when obtaining the hotel service and facilitating service decision making through stimuli are relevant benefits of neuromarketing for the hotel market.

Determinants of Customers Decision to Choose an Islamic Bank

The formulation of the research problem is whether there is an influence of location, service, and promotion on customer decisions in choosing a sharia bank. The discussion in this study is a theory related to location, service, promotion, and customer decisions. This research is a quantitative study, the data source is primary data, data collection using questionnaires and interviews. The research sample consisted of 30 samples with saturated sampling technique, the research analysis used statistics, namely SPSS 20. The results of the study it was found that the variable location had an effect on customer decisions in choosing Islamic banks while the service and promotion has no effect on customer decisions. Then based on the results of the F test, it is known that the variables of location, service, and promotion affect customer decisions in choosing Islamic banks in the Nagasaribu village, Kec. Padang Bolak Tenggara.

Dynamic Pricing and Logistics Service Decisions for Crowd Logistics Platforms with Social Delivery Capacity

With the development of sharing economy, more and more enterprises choose crowd logistics for distribution. Because the crowd logistics platform uses social freelancers, the service quality is difficult to guarantee. Considering the reward-penalty mechanism, dynamic differential game models are constructed to study the optimal pricing and quality of crowd logistics services under stochastic demand based on the optimal control theory and Pontryagin maximum principle. The numerical simulation results show that the optimal dynamic decisions change with the fluctuation of demand dynamically. Furthermore, the platform needs to adjust the value of the reward-penalty factor to ensure the level of service quality and revenue in different situations.

Modi Mangoes: managing an uncertain future

Learning outcomes The case primarily focused on a real-life problem and shows that existing operations management tools can be used to solve a complex problem. Through this case, the participants will learn the application of the factor loading method and aggregate planning. Case overview/synopsis This case revolves around the Modi Agro Pvt. Ltd, a mango procurement and distribution business established in 1994 by Mr Dhanush Modi in Mumbai, India. Mr Mahendra Modi, son of the company owner, observed that the different seasons of cultivation and varied customer demands lead to changing workforce requirements during the procurement process. In addition, the production quality, variety, available resources, procurement location and cost play a significant role in establishing a long-term relationship with the customers. This case highlights the problem faced by Mahendra in determining an appropriate location among all available options for mango procurement and the optimal workforce for each month to meet the varying customers’ demands. Complexity academic level The case can be used as teaching material for participants of the course Service Operations Management, Operations Management, Decision Analysis and Quantitative Techniques Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

Linguistic Features of Public Service Encounters: How Spoken Administrative Language Affects Citizen Satisfaction

Abstract Spoken administrative language is a critical element in the relationship between citizens and the state, especially when it comes to face-to-face interactions between officials and citizens during the delivery of public services. But preceding work offers little insights into the verbal features of street-level bureaucracy. Drawing on communication studies, we argue that administrative language differs along both a relational and an informational linguistic component. To test the consequentiality of this theory, we design a factorial survey experiment with a representative sample of 1,402 German citizens. Participants evaluated audio recordings of a hypothetical service encounter where we systematically varied the language used by the official and the service decision, measuring participants’ service satisfaction as the main outcome. Based on regression analysis, we find that relational elements of administrative language improve citizen satisfaction, independent of the service outcome, but that the effect does not hold for the informational component. These findings emphasize the importance of relational communication in citizen-state interactions, which tends to be neglected in public administration theory and practice.

Channel structure and evolutionary stability analysis between traditional and green service supply chains

This paper aims to explore the optimal pricing and green service decisions and discuss the evolutionary stability strategy (ESS) of vertical channel structure strategic interaction between the traditional and green service supply chains (TSSC and GSSC). Considering these two supply chains could choose between the centralized (C) and decentralized (D) channel structures, current research establishes four channel models, namely, Models DD, DC, CD and CC, wherein Model DD(CC) means that both supply chains adopt channel D(C) and Model DC(CD) refers to GSSC adopting channel D(C) while TSSC using channel C(D). Furthermore, an evolutionary game is developed to explore the ESSs of the dynamic competitive system. The research results show that the stronger the integration between upstream and downstream firms of GSSC is, the higher green service the supply chain would provide when TSSC adopts channel D. Besides, when the market competition is sufficiently low, only point (0,0) is the ESS; when it is moderate, there exist two ESSs, i.e., ESS (0,0) and ESS (1,1); when it is extremely high, only point (1,1) is the ESS. The numerical examples show that the green service level increases in market competition while some retailing and wholesale prices under specific models would not be affected by it or show an inverted U shape, and the initial states of two supply chains’ channel strategies significantly impact the system’s ESSs.

Human Services or Non-Human Services? How Online Retailers Make Service Decisions

With the development of Internet technology, online shopping has become increasingly popular. Owing to the improvement of living standards, the quality of e-service has become one of the important criteria for online shopping, with online shopping consultation being one of the key services. At the same time, the emergence of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligent (AI) has allowed online retailers to increase the availability of non-human online shopping consultation services. Therefore, this paper investigates the service decision problem between human and non-human online shopping consultation services for online retailers in the online duopoly market. By constructing a Hotelling improvement model and applying it in a new way, considering consumer preferences for human services, this paper explores the impact of the optimal service level of human online shopping consultation services and consumers’ sensitivity to the service level of human services on online retailers’ pricing, service decisions, etc. Our research results show that consumers’ sensitivity to the service level of human online shopping consultation services has an impact on the demand and profit of online retailers. In addition, human online shopping consultation services are not always beneficial to the profitability. Furthermore, when two online retailers compete, the utility of the non-human online retailer’s service to consumers can influence the service decisions of the other online retailer.

Hardware Solutions for Low-Power Smart Edge Computing

The edge computing paradigm for Internet-of-Things brings computing closer to data sources, such as environmental sensors and cameras, using connected smart devices. Over the last few years, research in this area has been both interesting and timely. Typical services like analysis, decision, and control, can be realized by edge computing nodes executing full-fledged algorithms. Traditionally, low-power smart edge devices have been realized using resource-constrained systems executing machine learning (ML) algorithms for identifying objects or features, making decisions, etc. Initially, this paper discusses recent advances in embedded systems that are devoted to energy-efficient ML algorithm execution. A survey of the mainstream embedded computing devices for low-power IoT and edge computing is then presented. Finally, CYSmart is introduced as an innovative smart edge computing system. Two operational use cases are presented to illustrate its power efficiency.

Perception and Decision of Public Transport Users in Palu City

Public transport users in Palu City are decreasing every year. The low quality of public transport services is the main reason people are reluctant to use them. Based on this condition, the research was conducted to understand the user’s perceptions and decisions of public transportation services, exceptionally public transport, in Palu City. The method used in this research is the distribution of questionnaires to respondents from 8 sub-districts in Palu City. Data processing on 361 respondents was carried out by descriptive analysis. The results of the study illustrate that the people of Palu City, in general, do not use public transportation (91.9%) for various reasons, including long waiting times (67.2%), unclear routes (43.8%), inadequate stopping places (32.8%), non-uniform fares (8.8), poor vehicle conditions (33.7), poor driver behaviour (7.65), and low level of safety (18.5). The level of satisfaction for users of public transportation is satisfied (31.3%) and for users of private vehicles is not satisfied (41.5%) and uncomfortable (33.7%). The data also shows that 77.3% of respondents use motorcycles in their daily travel activities. This study shows that implementing online applications and free tariffs will increase public transport users by 61.7% dan 70.3%, respectively.

Omnichannel Retail Strategy Considering Cost-Sharing and Consumer Heterogeneity under Different Power Structures

This paper explores two Omnichannel retail models consisted of one online platform and one brick-and-mortar store under different power structures considering cost-sharing mechanisms. In retail supply chain dominated by the online platform and brick-and-mortar store, respectively, under a “Buy online and pick up in store” strategy, the influences of the cost-sharing ratio and the proportion of traditional consumers on pricing and service decisions, the demands of various groups of consumers, and the performance of the retail system have been examined. In addition, the results of decision-making and profitabilities of retailers under different power structures have also been considered. The key findings show that the optimal price and service level first increase and then decrease with the cost-sharing ratio in a retail system dominated by the online platform. In contrast, the price and service level increase with the cost-sharing ratio only when the proportion of traditional consumers is relatively large in a retail system dominated by brick-and-mortar store. The symmetry demand increases as the scale of traditional consumers shrinks when the cost-sharing ratio is relatively large in a retail system dominated by the online system. At the same time, it only increases when the cost-sharing ratio is in the range of 5/8,5/6 in a retail system dominated by the brick-and-mortar store. No matter what the power structure is, the profit of the retail system always first increases and then decreases with the proportion of traditional consumers. Additionally, when the cost-sharing ratio and the proportion of traditional consumers are relatively small, the total demand in the retail system dominated by the online platform is higher than that in the retail system dominated by the brick-and-mortar store. The total profit is larger in the online platform-dominated retail system than that in the brick-and-mortar store-dominated retail system when the cost-sharing ratio is relatively high. However, when the cost-sharing ratio is relatively low, the profitability of the brick-and-mortar store-dominated retail system is stronger.

Research on the Emission Reduction Decision of Cost-Sharing Logistics Service Supply Chain in the O2O Model

As an effective way to realize energy savings and environmental protection, cost sharing is gradually becoming an important measure to reduce emissions in the logistics service supply chain under O2O mode in recent years. How to conduct contract selection and design optimization under the cost-sharing situation, and then improve the operational efficiency of the logistics service supply chain is an important issue that needs to be addressed. Firstly, based on the initial market demand for logistics, this paper involves the influence of both online logistics service integrators and onsite functional logistics service providers on logistics market demand in terms of emission reduction and platform brand image and develops a model based on the logistics service demand function in the O2O mode. Secondly, for the role of online and onsite emission reduction services in multi-cycle continuous cooperation to enhance the platform integrator’s brand image, a cost-sharing differential game model between online and onsite services is developed to facilitate providers’ adoption of high-quality emission reduction services. Finally, the HJB equation is used to compare the non-cooperative Nash game, the cost-sharing Stackelberg game, and the cooperative game to make the optimal abatement decision, the optimal benefit, and the cost-sharing ratio of the abatement service supply chain in the non-cooperative Nash game, the cost-sharing Stackelberg game, and the cooperative game. By comparing the results of the three games, we find that the optimal onsite and online abatement service decision is related to the cost, marginal revenue, and the impact of the service on demand; the abatement cost-sharing contract and cooperation are both better than the non-cooperative independent decision state, which can effectively guide the provision of high-quality onsite abatement service and improve the revenue of both parties involved in the logistics service supply chain and the total system’s revenue in the O2O mode. Compared with the cooperative game model, the cost-sharing contract can more effectively facilitate close cooperation between the actors, and the relationship between onsite and online marginal revenue affects the improvement of both parties’ revenue. The findings of the study can provide useful managerial insights for the selection and design optimization of abatement contracts for logistics service supply chains considering cost-sharing via the O2O model.

Definition of Planned and Unplanned Transfer of Public Transport Service and User Decisions to Use Routes with Transfers

In the literature, there is a lack of clarity on attributes that classify a planned transfer as being a connection designed by policy makers and public transport network planners. This calls for a proper guideline to be developed to support policy makers and planners in designing “seamless” transfers. The present study has two main objectives. The first is to determine the attributes that define a connection as being planned transfer. The second is to understand the difference in transit users’ perceptions between planned and unplanned transfers and, thus, their decision to use routes with transfers. The proposed definition of planned transfer consist of five attributes: network integration, integrated timed-transfer, integrated physical connection of transfers, information integration, and fare and ticketing integration. A survey was conducted at two major public transport terminals in Auckland, New Zealand. Results support the attributes identified for the definition. Findings suggest that transit users’ willingness to use transfer routes increases when attributes of the connections are more closely aligned to being planned. The study provides a guideline for policy makers and public transport network planners to serve as a basis for planning new and improving existing connections to be planned transfers.

Optimal Omnichannel Development Strategy in O2O Supply Chain under the Impact of Webrooming

This study analyzes how webrooming affects the O2O supply chain of an e-tailer and a brick-and-mortar store. Two types of brick-and-mortar stores are considered: self-owned and franchised. We first determine via game theory the optimal pricing and service decisions for the e-tailer and brick-and-mortar store when prices are uniform or nonuniform online and offline. The results indicate that webrooming benefits both the e-tailer and brick-and-mortar store when prices are nonuniform. For self-owned stores, the online market share and consumer traveling costs weaken the positive webrooming effect on the e-tailer’s profit when the price is nonuniform. For the franchised store, webrooming weakens the positive role of online market share and reinforces the negative effect of traveling costs for the e-tailer. The positive effect of webrooming on franchised stores in the case of nonuniform pricing is more significant than in the case of uniform pricing when online market share or traveling costs are lower. These results have important implications for management and should help e-tailers develop an omnichannel strategy.

Service Decisions in a Two-Echelon Retailing System with Customer Returns

Many manufacturers and retailers have already opened online stores to sell their products. Thus, manufacturers are competing as sellers, and retailers are transforming into dual-channel retailers (DCRs). Such an expansion in business scope and the wide spread of lenient return policies trigger tremendous return volume that requires great deal of logistical efforts. The service levels offered within online stores greatly affect channels’ demand. However, they also influence the channel choice of return for online customers, if applicable, when their purchases are unsatisfactory. Therefore, this paper studies the optimal service level for a centralized DCR. In addition, it examines the optimal levels for a decentralized two-echelon system through the implementation of Nash and Stackelberg theoretical frameworks. Important properties of optimal solutions and vital managerial insights have been devised through analytical and sensitivity analysis. It is found that a DCR may have the following tradeoff: decrease service level to increase the reward from the physical store or increase service level to enhance competitiveness of the online store. The optimal decision depends greatly on how sensitive the customers’ return behavior is to service level. In addition, as the exogenous price increases, the change in the retailer’s offered level depends significantly on the different rates of return.

Determinants of the health care service choices of long-term mechanical ventilation patients: Applying andersen's behavioral model.

AimsThe number of ventilator-dependent patients is rapidly increasing globally. As a result, long-term mechanical ventilation (LTMV) patients face the choice of receiving health care in respiratory care wards (RCWs) rather than at home. In this study, we applied Andersen’s behavioral theoretical model (ABM) to investigate the determinants of the health care service decisions of patients receiving LTMV.MethodsA cross-sectional research design and cluster random sampling were used to select 365 participants from nine RCWs and eight home care facilities in northern Taiwan. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire.ResultsOf the predisposing factors, advanced age and an education level of at least junior high school influenced the choice to use RCW services. Being married, living with extended family, and medium or higher socioeconomic status were associated with the decision to use home care services. Of the enabling factors, patients with more caregivers, those whose family caregivers held strong beliefs about providing care, and those who perceived greater social support from health care providers were more likely to choose home care services. Of the need factors examined, poor cognitive function and higher dependence on assistance for activities of daily living (ADL) increased the probability of patients choosing RCW services. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis indicated that our final model accounted for 44.8% of the observed variance in health care service choice.ConclusionsABM enables an improved understanding of the health care service choices of LTMV patients. Our findings also highlight the importance of rigorously assessing patient needs and helping patients choose the most appropriate health care service.