1st Edition

Decision Making in Service Industries A Practical Approach

    466 Pages 73 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    465 Pages 73 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    In real-life scenarios, service management involves complex decision-making processes usually affected by random or stochastic variables. Under such uncertain conditions, the development and use of robust and flexible strategies, algorithms, and methods can provide the quantitative information necessary to make better business decisions. Decision Making in Service Industries: A Practical Approach explores the challenges that must be faced to provide intelligent strategies for efficient management and decision making that will increase your organization’s competitiveness and profitability.

    The book provides insight and understanding into practical and methodological issues related to decision-making processes under uncertainty in service industries. It examines current and future trends regarding how these decision-making processes can be efficiently performed for better design of service systems by using probabilistic algorithms as well as hybrid and simulation-based approaches.

    Traditionally, many quantitative tools have been developed to make decisions in production companies. This book explores how to use these tools for making decisions inside service industries. Thus, the authors tackle strategic, tactical, and operational problems in service companies with the help of suitable quantitative models such as heuristic and metaheuristic algorithms, simulation, or queuing theory.

    Generally speaking, decision making is a hard task in business fields. Making the issue more complex, most service companies’ problems are related to the uncertainty of the service demand. This book sheds light on these types of decision problems. It provides studies that demonstrate the suitability of quantitative methods to make the right decisions. Consequently, this book presents the business analytics needed to make strategic decisions in service industries.

    Section 1 Services and Decision Making
    Stochastic Decision Making in Information Technology Services Delivery, Aliza R. Heching and Mark S. Squillante
    Simulation-Based Studies on Dynamic Sourcing of Customers under Random Supply Disruptions, Sanad H. Liaquat, Pragalbh Srivastava, and Lian Qi
    Customer Perceptions of Quality and Service System Design, George N. Kenyon and Kabir C. Sen
    Data Mining and Quality in Service Industry: Review and Some Applications, Teresa Oliveira, Amilcar Oliveira, and Alejandra Perez-Bonilla
    Software for Solving Real Service-Management Problems, Elena Perez-Bernabeu, Horia Demian, Miguel Angel Selles, and Maria Madela Abrudan

    Section 2 Decision Making in Health Services
    Logistics and Retail Pharmacies: Providing Cost-Effective Home Delivery of Prescriptions, Yi-Chin Huang, Michael J. Fry, and Alex C. Lin
    Improving Pharmacy Operations Using Computer Simulation, Alberto Isla, Alex C. Lin, and W. David Kelton
    Patient Prioritization in Emergency Departments: Decision Making under Uncertainty, Omar M. Ashour and Gul E. Okudan Kremer
    Using Process Mapping and Capability Analysis to Improve Room Turnaround Time at a Regional Hospital, John F. Kros and Evelyn C. Brown

    Section 3 Decision Making in Logistic Services
    Decision Making in Logistics Outsourcing from the Standpoint of Hiring Companies, Renata Albergaria de Mello Bandeira, Luiz Carlos Brasil de Brito Mello, and Antonio Carlos Gastaud Macada
    Revenue Management of Transportation Infrastructure during the Service Life Using Real Options, Hongyan Chen and Ruwen Qin
    Evaluating Different Cost-Benefit Analysis Methods for Port Security Operations, Galina Sherman, Peer-Olaf Siebers, David Menachof, and Uwe Aickelin
    Vehicle Routing in Service Industry Using Decision Support Systems, Buyang Cao and Burcin Bozkaya

    Section 4 Decision Making in Other Service Areas
    Decision Support for Information Technology (IT) Service Investments under Uncertainty, Magno Jefferson de Souza Queiroz and Jacques Philippe Sauve
    An Inventory Criticality Classification Method for Nuclear Spare Parts: A Case Study, Natalie M. Scala, Jayant Rajgopal, and Kim LaScola Needy
    Service Technology, Pricing, and Process Economics in Banking Competition, David Y. Choi, Uday S. Karmarkar, and Hosun Rhim
    Index

    Biography

    Javier Faulin, Angel A. Juan, Scott E. Grasman, Michael J. Fry

    "… shows that regardless of the place (company, hospital, etc..) or the decision maker (manager, nurse, etc.), decision making is done in an uncertain environment and therefore requires using rigorous methods to reduce this risk. Those methods are clearly described and applied to make this book a handbook of applications in decision making."
    —Sabrina Hammiche, Université de Rennes 1, France

    "An excellent collection of applications and models to improve decision making in a wide array of services. … can help professionals and researchers to broaden their practical knowledge in service scenarios under uncertainty."
    Esteban García-Canal, University of Oviedo, Spain

    "… edited by internationally renowned researchers. … presents interesting contributions from several areas in service industries … an interesting book for practitioners, researchers, and students starting from the senior undergraduate level. The uniqueness of this book lies in the linkage between service industries and quantitative decision support techniques."
    —Patrick Hirsch,
    University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria