Performance Analysis and Optimization of Inbound Call Centers

Performance Analysis and Optimization of Inbound Call Centers
Author: Raik Stolletz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642555063

The material presented in this book is a result of my work in the field of call center management during the period 1999-2002. The focus is on the perfor mance analysis and optimization of inbound call centers. Since call arrivals and call-handling times are often random in inbound call centers, this thesis concentrates on the performance analysis and optimization using queueing models. This book describes mathematical methods and algorithms to relate the number of agents and telephone trunks of a given call center configuration to technical as well as economic performance measures. This book has been accepted as a PhD thesis in Business Administration at the Technical University of Clausthal, Germany. I am indebted to many people for their support during the process of writing this thesis. First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Prof. Dr. Stefan Helber, for motivating my research to call center related problems. He gently pushed me in fruitful directions and encouraged me to strike a balance between mathematical results and economic implications. Many other helpful suggestions came from him, and his constructive comments on draft versions of this book are invaluable. I am thankful to him and to Prof. Dr. Rolf Schwinn for refereeing this thesis.

Call Center Optimization

Call Center Optimization
Author: Ger Koole
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9082017903

This book gives an accessible overview of the role and potential of mathematical optimization in call centers. It deals extensively with all aspects of workforce management, but also with topics such as call routing and the scheduling of multiple channels. It does so without going into the mathematics, but by focusing on understanding its consequences. This way the reader will get familiar with workload forecasting, the Erlang formulas, simulation, and so forth, and learn how to improve call center performance using it. The book is primarily meant for call center professionals involved in planning and business analytics, but also call center managers and researchers will find it useful. There is an accompanying website which contains several online calculators.

Operations Research Proceedings 2003

Operations Research Proceedings 2003
Author: Dino Ahr
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642170226

This volume contains a selection of papers referring to lectures presented at the symposium "Operations Research 2003" (OR03) held at the Ruprecht Karls-Universitiit Heidelberg, September 3 - 5, 2003. This international con ference took place under the auspices of the German Operations Research So ciety (GOR) and of Dr. Erwin Teufel, prime minister of Baden-Wurttemberg. The symposium had about 500 participants from countries all over the world. It attracted academians and practitioners working in various field of Opera tions Research and provided them with the most recent advances in Opera tions Research and related areas in Economics, Mathematics, and Computer Science. The program consisted of 4 plenary and 13 semi-plenary talks and more than 300 contributed papers selected by the program committee to be presented in 17 sections. Due to a limited number of pages available for the proceedings volume, the length of each article as well as the total number of accepted contributions had to be restricted. Submitted manuscripts have therefore been reviewed and 62 of them have been selected for publication. This refereeing procedure has been strongly supported by the section chairmen and we would like to express our gratitude to them. Finally, we also would like to thank Dr. Werner Muller from Springer-Verlag for his support in publishing this proceedings volume.

Evolution of Non-Expected Utility Preferences

Evolution of Non-Expected Utility Preferences
Author: Sven von Widekind
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2008-01-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540768459

The theory on the evolution of preferences deals with the endogenous formation of preference relations in strategic situations. It is related to the field of evolutionary game theory. In this book we analyze the role and the influence of general, possibly non-expected utility preferences in such an evolutionary setup. In particular, we demonstrate that preferences which diverge from von Neumann-Morgenstern expected utility may potentially prove to be successful under evolutionary pressures.

Partner Choice and Cooperation in Networks

Partner Choice and Cooperation in Networks
Author: Aljaž Ule
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2008-01-10
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3540730168

In this book, a social dilemma with partner selection is introduced and studied with the methods of formal game theory, experimental economics and computer simulations. It allows exploration of simultaneous dynamics of the network structure and cooperative behavior on this structure. The results of this study show that partner choice strongly facilitates cooperation and leads to networks where free-riders are likely to be excluded.

Computer-aided Systems in Public Transport

Computer-aided Systems in Public Transport
Author: Mark Hickman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2008-01-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3540733124

This volume consists of selected papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Computer-Aided Scheduling of Public Transport. Coverage includes the use of computer-aided methods and operations research techniques to improve: information management; network and route planning; vehicle and crew scheduling and rostering; vehicle monitoring and management; and practical experience with scheduling and public transport planning methods.

Strategic Trading in Illiquid Markets

Strategic Trading in Illiquid Markets
Author: Burkart Mönch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2006-01-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540263152

The Area of Research and the Object of Investigation In this thesis we will investigate trading strategies in illiquid markets from a market microstructure perspective. Market microstructure is the academic term for the branch of financial economics that investigates trading and the organization of security markets, see, e. g. , Harris (2002). Historically, exchanges evolved as a location, where those interested in buy ing or selling securities could meet physically to transact. Thus, traditionally security trading was organized on exchange floors, where so-called dealers arranged all trades and provided liquidity by quoting prices at which they were willing buy or sell. Consequently, the initial surge of the market mi crostructure literature focused predominantly on this type of market design, which is often referred to as quote-driven. Nowadays, the interest is shifting towards order-driven markets. Beginning with the Toronto Stock Exchange in the mid 1970s and increasing in fre quency and scope, this market structure has emerged as the preeminent form of security trading worldwide. In order-driven markets, exchanges arrange trades by matching public orders, often by employing automatic execution systems. Introduction A major difference between a quote-driven and an order-driven market arises from the transparency pre- and post-trade. The pre-trade transparency con cerns the question whether the order book is visible to the keeper only, or whether it is open to the public.

Consumption Structure and Macroeconomics

Consumption Structure and Macroeconomics
Author: Reto Foellmi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2006-03-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 354028513X

This book offers a novel perspective that allows to incorporate changing consumption and production structure into models of economic growth. Starting from the empirical observation that income and consumption structure are closely related, it develops a tractable theoretical framework which enables to analyze macroeconomic models consistent with these empirical facts. As a result, central macroeconomic phenomena are better understood: the reasons behind long-run growth, structural change, and the influence of inequality on innovations and growth.

Time Continuity in Discrete Time Models

Time Continuity in Discrete Time Models
Author: Christopher Suerie
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2006-01-17
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3540272909

Production planning problems containing special characteristics from process industries are addressed in this book. The main subject is the development of mathematical programming models that allow to model production plans which are not disrupted by discretization of time. However, discrete time models are used as a basis and are subsequently enhanced to include aspects of time continuity. Their integration is achieved by different building blocks which may be combined freely according to the specific planning situation at hand. The primary area of application of these kinds of models are process industries.

Economic Evolution and Equilibrium

Economic Evolution and Equilibrium
Author: Marco Lehmann-Waffenschmidt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2007-06-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540686649

This work uses various model frameworks to study the evolution of equilibria in an open loop evolving economy in which the model characteristics evolve without any directional restrictions except for continuity. Applying mathematical methods, it is shown that equilibria can always be adapted in a piecewise gradual, non bang-bang way.