This paper considers a multi-periodic multi-shift call center staffing problem with two types of jobs: calls and emails. The arrival rate of calls is random and the workforce presents some flexibility: the agents can be affected to one job type in real-time. At each period of the day, a service quality constraint limits the waiting time for a call. The staffing problem is modeled as a newsboy-t...

This paper demonstrates that an important role of intermediaries in supply chains is to reduce the ®nancial risk faced by retailers. It is well known that risk averse retailers when faced by the classical single-period inventory (newsvendor) problem will order less than the expected value maximizing (newsboy) quantity. We show that in such situations a risk neutral distributor can o€er a menu o...

The single-period problem (SPP), also known as the newsboy or newsvendor problem, is to "nd the order quantity which maximizes the expected pro"t in a single-period probabilistic demand framework. Previous extensions to the SPP include, in separate models, the simultaneous determination of the optimal price and quantity when demand is price-dependent, and the determination of the optimal order ...

New theoretical foundations for analyzing the newsboy problem under incomplete information about the probability distribution of random demand are presented. Firstly, we reveal that the distribution-free newsboy problem under the worst-case and best-case demand scenarios actually reduces to the standard newsboy problem with demand distributions that bound the allowable distributions in the sens...

It is only an order quantity which is decided for a spot selling time in the classical newsboy problem. Both the purchase timing and the time-variant variance of the demand are neglected. When the vendor gives a price discount for early purchase, the buyer purchases the quantities of price discount at the cost of forecast bias. The buyer has to forecast the demand early before purchase ahead of...

We analyze a newsboy problem with resalable returns. A single order is placed before the selling season starts. Purchased products may be returned by the customer for a full refund within a certain time interval. Returned products are resalable, provided they arrive back before the end of the season and are undamaged. Products remaining at the end of the season are salvaged. All demands not met...