1 research outputs found
Understanding Retail Productivity by Simulating Management Practise
Intelligent agents offer a new and exciting way of understanding the world of
work. In this paper we apply agent-based modeling and simulation to investigate
a set of problems in a retail context. Specifically, we are working to
understand the relationship between human resource management practices and
retail productivity. Despite the fact we are working within a relatively novel
and complex domain, it is clear that intelligent agents could offer potential
for fostering sustainable organizational capabilities in the future. Our
research so far has led us to conduct case study work with a top ten UK
retailer, collecting data in four departments in two stores. Based on our case
study data we have built and tested a first version of a department store
simulator. In this paper we will report on the current development of our
simulator which includes new features concerning more realistic data on the
pattern of footfall during the day and the week, a more differentiated view of
customers, and the evolution of customers over time. This allows us to
investigate more complex scenarios and to analyze the impact of various
management practices