I this paper, we examine contracts to coordinate the capacity decision of a vendor who has been hired by a client to provide call center support. We consider a variety of contracts, all based on our observations of contracts used by one large vendor. We examine the role of different contract features such as pay-per-time, payper-call, service-level agreements, and constraints on service rates a...

Existing studies on information technology outsourcing relationships have typically examined partnership factors that influence IT outsourcing effectiveness. This research extends such studies and draws upon relational exchange theory to investigate how relational elements in service level agreements (SLAs) may impact outsourcing relationships. The results show that the effects of a well-struct...

NP refernts 3. Responsibility to the society is the cornerstone ____ this well designed theory.4. Unlimited freedom is the most important point ____ this long discussion.7. Broad education is the largest incepita .____ this famous institution.

In this paper we use the stochastic limit approach (SLA) in order to analyze some generalized versions of the open BCS model first introduced by Buffet and Martin and recently analyzed by the author using the SLA. In particular, considering different models, we discuss the role of a second reservoir interacting with the first one (but not with the system) in the computation of the critical temp...

A supplier stocking goods for delivery to a retailer may face a finite-horizon service-level agreement. In this context, the service-level agreement is a commitment by a supplier to achieve a minimum fill rate over a specified time horizon. This kind of service level agreement is an important, but under-studied coordination mechanism. We focus on the impact of two contract parameters, the lengt...

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The increased reliance of companies on IT outsourcing has turned management attention to a set of skills of managing relationships with service providers. While practitioners proclaimed that a key to managing outsourcing relationships was with SLA, there existed very little understanding of how effectiveness and impact of SLA on IT outsourcing arrangements was measured. Using a conceptual frame...

The goal of this study is to provide a global view of Spanish second language (L2) accent and to identify the sounds and structures that lead to the perception of foreign accent. We designed a list of real Spanish monosyllabic words with various syllable structures that covers all phonemes in Spanish. The words were produced by L2 learners and native speakers and rated by native listeners. We u...