Managing competition in professional services and the burden of inertia

Professional services require certain organizational patterns in order to avoid information asymmetries and external effects. These same patterns are used within production structures involving various degrees of monopoly. However, competitive restraints are justified today only when substantial external effects are clearly present, whereas information asymmetries hardly justify such restraints because reputational investments have become widespread in the economy and are relatively efficient in overcoming such asymmetries. As a consequence, innovation in the production of externalities can make competitive constraints unnecessary.professions, competition, lawyers, notaries, pharmacists

Early aspects: aspect-oriented requirements engineering and architecture design

This paper reports on the third Early Aspects: Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design Workshop, which has been held in Lancaster, UK, on March 21, 2004. The workshop included a presentation session and working sessions in which the particular topics on early aspects were discussed. The primary goal of the workshop was to focus on challenges to defining methodical software development processes for aspects from early on in the software life cycle and explore the potential of proposed methods and techniques to scale up to industrial applications

다유형의 고객과 배달원이 존재하는 음식배달 플랫폼에서의 최적 가격과 임금에 대한 연구

학위논문(석사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 산업공학과, 2023. 2. 박건수.This study developed a food delivery platform comprising multiple types of customers and couriers to derive optimal service price and wage per service and achieve profit maximization. The developed platform faced price- and time-sensitive customers with heterogeneous delivery distances and earning-sensitive couriers with heterogeneous transportation modes. Furthermore, we formulated the model using multi-class multi-pool system and incorporated multiple types and differing service times upon class-pool set. To solve this complex problem, we proposed an approximation algorithm to derive optimal values. Finally, extensive numerical experiments were conducted, and practical managerial insights were driven.본 논문에서는 여러 유형의 고객과 배송업체가 있는 음식 배달 플랫폼을 고려한다. 플랫폼의 목표는 이익 극대화를 달성하기 위해 최적 서비스 가격과 서비스 당 임금을 도출하는 것이다. 그러나 플랫폼은 다양한 배송 거리와 서로 다른 서비스의 가치 평가 를 가진 가격과 시간에 민감한 고객과 다양한 운송수단과 서로 다른 기회 비용을 가진 수익에 민감한 배달원에 직면해 있다. 본 논문에서는 multi-class multi-pool 시스템을 사용하여 모델링을 진행하여 고객-배달원 조합에 따라 달라지는 서비스 시간을 모델에 적용하였다. 이 복잡한 문제를 해결하기 위해 최적해를 도출하기 위한 근사 알고리즘을 제안한다. 광범위한 수치 실험이 실시되었고 이를 통해 실질적인 경영적 통찰이 도출되었다.Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Problem Description 1 1.2 Research Motivation and Contribution 5 1.3 Organization of the Thesis 6 Chapter 2 Literature Review 7 2.1 On-demand Platforms 7 2.2 Multiple Types of Customers and Service Providers 8 Chapter 3 Problem 10 3.1 Problem Definition 10 3.1.1 Realized Customer Demand λi and Price pi 13 3.1.2 Realized Customer Average Waiting Time Wi 13 3.1.3 Realized Courier Supply kj and Wage wj 15 3.2 Problem Formulation 16 Chapter 4 Model : Two-class Two-pool system 19 4.1 Mean service time and Expected waiting time 19 4.2 Model Formulation 20 4.3 Approximation Scheme 22 4.4 Approximation Algorithm 25 4.5 Scalability 26 Chapter 5 Numerical Experiments 28 5.1 Two-class Two-pool 28 5.2 Real Data Implementation 34 Chapter 6 Conclusion 38 6.1 Summary 38 6.2 Future Direction 38 Bibliography 40 국문초록 43 감사의 글 44석

Patient Streaming as a Mechanism for Improving Responsiveness in Emergency Departments

Crisis level overcrowding conditions in Emergency Departments (ED's) have led hospitals to seek out new patient flow designs to improve both responsiveness and safety. One approach that has attracted attention and experimentation in the emergency medicine community is a system in which ED beds and care teams are segregated and patients are "streamed" based on predictions of whether they will be discharged or admitted to the hospital. In this paper, we use a combination of analytic and simulation models to determine whether such a streaming policy can improve ED performance, where it is most likely to be effective, and how it should be implemented for maximum performance. Our results suggest that the concept of streaming can indeed improve patient flow, but only in some situations. First, ED resources must be shared across streams rather than physically separated. This leads us to propose a new "virtual-streaming" patient flow design for ED's. Second, this type of streaming is most effective in ED's with (1) a high percentage of admitted patients, (2) longer care times for admitted patients than discharged patients, (3) a high day-to-day variation in the percentage of admitted patients, (4) long patient boarding times (e.g., caused by hospital "bed-block"), and (5) high average physician utilization. Finally, to take full advantage of streaming, physicians assigned to admit patients should prioritize upstream (new) patients, while physicians assigned to discharge patients should prioritize downstream (old) patients.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85792/1/1162_Hopp.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85792/4/2012Jan18WHopp#1162.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85792/6/1162_Hopp_mar12.pd

An Integrative framework of buyer-supplier negative relationship quality and dysfunctional interfirm conflict

Purpose: Problems of relationship quality and interfirm conflict in business to business settings are serious concerns that need to be addressed. Thus, the authors have engaged in an extensive review to promote an understanding of these complex issues. This paper develops an integrated framework for analyzing wide-ranging relations between individual representatives and patterns of interfirm incompatibility for managerial control. Methodology/Approach: The review involves numerous sources that include articles and monographs. A theoretical framework is constructed to integrate fragmented empirical data. In particular, social identity and commitment-trust theories are mobilized for this framework. Findings: The review of studies has a substantial consistency with the theoretical framework. The paper outlines a causal chain from interpersonal agent dissimilarities to dysfunctional buyer-supplier relations, culminating in interfirm pathological conflict. Moderating factors in the causal chain are: agent identity differentiation (for interpersonal dissimilarity), supplier relations mismanagement (for buyer-supplier relationship quality), and interfirm opportunism (for interfirm pathological conflict). Buyer-supplier interfirm incompatibility mediates the causal link between interpersonal dissimilarity and buyer-supplier relationship quality. Identity differentiation, the validation of one’s self-image, is introduced as a process that determines buyer-supplier agent interpersonal dissimilarity judgments. This framework employs a contextual perspective. It describes interactions between observations of micro-level phenomena of interpersonal dissimilarities and macro-level models of interfirm fit. From a managerial perspective, interpersonal relations between individual buyer and supplier agents may be further strengthened by such strategies as expanding the scope of the interpersonal relationship, relaxation of role responsibilities, and volunteering business-related contact referrals. Originality/Value: A new theoretical framework has been devised to predict and explain relationship quality and interfirm pathological conflict in the B to B context. The framework contributes to the value of the knowledge base by serving as a means for building new diagnostic tools for assessment of interfirm behavioral issues affecting exchanges. New concepts are introduced to enhance current literature on B to B marketing. The framework provides concrete indicators that operationally define ideas and enable or improve measurement for empirical modeling

Bryant University 10th Research and Engagement Day Program

Program with schedule and descriptions of events for Bryant University\u27s 10th Research and Engagement Day

Opportunities, language, and time

Opportunity has different meanings in entrepreneurial practice and academic scholarship, entwined with the distinct activities of dealing with practical contingencies and capturing theoretical necessities. The language and time of an academic stance sidestep defining aspects of the entrepreneurial experience: its indeterminate situations, instrumental role of language, and role of knowledge as guide to action. Seeking attunement with these aspects, the paper outlines the evolution of opportunity from language dependence to language independence within a process of transition from individual aspirations to social structure. This opens up promising research directions, in which the scholar-entrepreneur relationship is redefined in terms of solidarity rather than objectivity. Alongside the traditional emphasis on theoretical contribution, research could seek design and phronetic contributions, in an open-ended search for better ideas for coping with a contingent reality

Opportunities, language, and time

Opportunity has different meanings in entrepreneurial practice and academic scholarship, entwined with the distinct activities of dealing with practical contingencies and capturing theoretical necessities. The language and time of an academic stance sidestep defining aspects of the entrepreneurial experience: its indeterminate situations, instrumental role of language, and role of knowledge as guide to action. Seeking attunement with these aspects, the paper outlines the evolution of opportunity from language dependence to language independence within a process of transition from individual aspirations to social structure. This opens up promising research directions, in which the scholar-entrepreneur relationship is redefined in terms of solidarity rather than objectivity. Alongside the traditional emphasis on theoretical contribution, research could seek design and phronetic contributions, in an open-ended search for better ideas for coping with a contingent reality