2016 INFORMS Annual Meeting Program

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INFORMS Nashville – 2016
217
MD27
201A-MCC
New Frontiers in Operations Management
Sponsored: Manufacturing & Service Oper Mgmt
Sponsored Session
Chair: Retsef Levi, Sloan School of Management, 100 Main Street,
Building E62-562, Cambridge, MA, 02142, United States,
1 - Exploration Vs. Exploitation: Reducing Uncertainty In
Operational Problems
Yaron Shaposhnik, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States,
Chen Attias, Robert Krauthgamer, Retsef Levi
We study a broad class of multistage stochastic combinatorial optimization models
that capture a fundamental tradeoff between performing work and making
decisions under uncertainty (exploitation) and investing capacity to reduce the
uncertainty in the decision making (exploration). Unlike existing models that
take a Bayesian approach to learning (through sampling), we study a learning
mechanism called testing (also known as probing or querying), in which exact
realizations from known distributions are observed. We derive insightful
structural results on the optimal policies that include the optimality of local
decision rules.
2 - Competitive Analysis Of Online Scheduling Algorithms For
Infusion Center Appointments
Michael Hu, MIT, Cambridge, MA, United States,
Kimia Ghobadi, Retsef Levi
We study the problem of minimizing resource requirements of infusion centers
through the use of optimized appointment scheduling. We do this by developing a
modeling framework that generalizes online bin packing. We then describe 3
different online scheduling algorithms for the problem and analyze their
performance via competitive analysis. Our main result in this work is an online
algorithm that is 2-competitive under certain assumptions on the appointment
requests. We also establish lower bounds on the competitive ratios for all 3 online
algorithms in both the most general setting and when assumptions are made on
the appointment data.
3 - Incentivized Actions In Freemium Games
Lifei Sheng, PhD Candidate, UBC, 2053 Main Mall, Vancouver,
BC, Canada, , Christopher Ryan,
Mahesh Nagarajan
We study the common phenomena of mobile game companies offering users
“virtual” benefits to take actions in-game that earn the game company revenue
from third parties. Examples of “incentivized actions” include paying users in
“gold coins” to watch video advertising or to fill out a survey. We explore the
costs and benefits of offering incentivized actions as users progress in their
engagement with the game. We find sufficient conditions for when it is optimal to
follow a threshold strategy of offering incentivized actions to low-engaged users
and then remove them once a user is sufficiently engaged. We also provide
insights into what types of games benefit most from offering incentivized actions.
4 - Process Capacity: Exact Analysis And The Bottleneck Formula
Yang Bo, Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of
Texas at Dallas, 2200 Waterview Pkwy, Apt. 27304, Richardson,
TX, 75080, United States,
Milind Dawande, Tim Huh, Ganesh Janakiraman,
Mahesh Nagarajan
We offer a rigorous understanding of process capacity for a single-product process,
culminating in a precise expression for this quantity. We also contrast this with
the widely used formula based on bottle-neck capacity.
MD28
201B-MCC
Operations Management for Fashion Goods
Sponsored: Manufacturing & Service Oper Mgmt
Sponsored Session
Chair: Robert Swinney, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States,
1 - Attribute-based Modeling Of Product Recommendations
Sajad Modaresi, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States,
, Fernando Bernstein
We study product recommendations through data analytics in the context of
fashion retailing. Using a Bayesian semi-parametric approach, we identify
customers with similar preferences for products, which is the basis for the product
recommendation system. We test our results using a dataset from a large
European clothing manufacturer.
2 - Managing Online Content To Build A Follower Base
Felipe Caro, UCLA Anderson School of Management,
, Victor Martínez-de-Albéniz
Content providers typically manage a dual objective of generating interest for
current followers and at the same time reaching out to new audiences that may
become repeat visitors. The pace at which content is created must thus take into
account how much it contributes to maintain the follower base. We formulate a
simple model to study follower base build-up dynamics under the assumption
that the attractiveness of past content decays over time. Using stochastic dynamic
programming we develop heuristics for content release and an upper bound to
assess performance. We then apply our model to the case of blogs.
3 - Inventory And Channel Integration In The Presence Of
Strategic Consumers
Arian Aflaki, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States,
, Robert Swinney
We study the impact of inventory and channel integration on a firm that sells a
product to consumers that are strategic in two dimensions: they decide “whether”
and “when” to visit the firm based on the availability risk, cost to visit, and price
of the product. The firm decides whether to operate in a multichannel setting and
dedicate separate inventory to multiple markets, or to integrate the system and
combine the inventory between the markets. We show that integration can be
much less valuable in the presence of strategic consumers and may even possess a
negative value.
4 - Fast And Furious? The Impact Of Delivery Lead-times In Online
Buyer Behavior
Eduard Calvo, Assistant Professor, IESE, Barcelona, Spain,
, Víctor Martínez-de-Albéniz, Alex Thiele
Many e-commerce firms implement efforts to reduce their lead-times believing
that faster deliveries make online buyers “happier” and thus more likely to buy
more. However, the specific mechanisms through which lead-time reductions
connect with sales growth are still not well understood. In this work, we leverage
user and click-level activity data from an e-commerce player to find evidence of
this connection. The data spans a period of time during which the firm undertook
several lead-time cutting initiatives, and we build a structural model that allows
us to study the impact of those on online buyer behaviour as described by traffic,
conversion rates, and average ticket values.
MD29
202A-MCC
Innovative Models in CLSC: Returns,
Remanufacturing, Recycling, and Servicization
Sponsored: Manufacturing & Service Oper Mgmt, Sustainable
Operations
Sponsored Session
Chair: Gal Raz, Ivey Business School, 1255 Western Rd., London, ON,
N6G 0N1, Canada,
1 - Recycling As A Strategic Supply Source
Gal Raz, Ivey Business School, Western Unversity,
We investigate how recycling can be used as a strategic source of supply in the
presence of competition and a powerful material supplier. We examine the
economic and environmental impact of a manufacturer’s decision to recycle its
products and the implications for its customers, supplier, and society. We show
that the result depends on the type of recycling the manufacturer does as well as
on the market dynamics and price of recycling.
2 - Servicizing Business Models: A Supply Chain Perspective
Jeremy John Kovach, Assistant Professor, Texas Christian
University, TCU Box 298530, Fort Worth, TX, 76129,
United States, , Ioannis Bellos
In recent years we have observed several auto manufacturers introducing car
sharing programs. In this paper we study the different types of supply chain
structures that manufacturers can use to sell cars and provide car sharing services.
3 - The Effect Of Regulation on DfE Innovation
Cheryl Druehl, George Mason University, ,
Gal Raz, Vered Blass
We examine the DfE innovations, use stage and refurbishing, of a firm selling
new primary market products and refurbished products in a secondary market.
The firm determines innovations, prices, and fraction collected. Using LCA data
from cell phones, we compare EPR and Use stage regulations on profits and
environmental impact.
MD29