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University of Massachusetts Boston
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
- Discipline
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- Management Information Systems (17)
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (17)
- Operations and Supply Chain Management (7)
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics (4)
- Statistics and Probability (3)
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- Business Administration, Management, and Operations (2)
- Strategic Management Policy (2)
- Applied Statistics (1)
- Business and Corporate Communications (1)
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- Organizational Behavior and Theory (1)
- Other Statistics and Probability (1)
- Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration (1)
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (1)
- Keyword
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- Journal Articles (14)
- Outsourcing (5)
- Decision analysis (3)
- Innovation (3)
- Service quality (3)
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- Social media (3)
- Supplier competition (3)
- Absorptive capacity (2)
- Information systems assimilation (2)
- Institutional theory (2)
- Service Competition (2)
- Strategic Information Systems (2)
- Strategy (2)
- System Quality (2)
- Value of information (2)
- Web 2.0 (2)
- 24/7 operations (1)
- A1 (1)
- A2 (1)
- Alternative generation (1)
- BI System (1)
- Behavioral Operations Management (1)
- Behavioral Operations Management; Outsourcing; Inventory Competition; Service Competition; Optimal Mechanism (1)
- Book Chapters (1)
- Born-global firms (1)
- Boston (1)
- Business Intelligence (BI) (1)
- Business-to-business industries (1)
- Call Centers (1)
- Cognition and Reasoning (1)
Articles 1 - 30 of 37
Full-Text Articles in Business
Do Competing Suppliers Maximize Profits As Theory Suggests? An Empirical Evaluation, Ehsan Elahi, Roger Blake
Do Competing Suppliers Maximize Profits As Theory Suggests? An Empirical Evaluation, Ehsan Elahi, Roger Blake
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
This research compares results from laboratory experiments with predictions from theory for decisions made by competing suppliers. We consider a supply chain in which a single buyer outsources the manufacture of a commodity product to suppliers not on the basis of price, but rather on service. Three different criteria on which suppliers compete are evaluated: 1) a guaranteed specific inventory fill-rate, 2) guaranteed level of base-stock, and 3) a parameter optimizing the supply chain in the buyer’s favor. Our results show that in most cases, suppliers’ decisions are significantly different than the Nash equilibrium, meaning that they do not maximize …
Better Knowledge With Social Media? Exploring The Roles Of Social Capital And Organizational Knowledge Management, Pratyush Bharati, Wei Zhang, Abhijit Chaudhury
Better Knowledge With Social Media? Exploring The Roles Of Social Capital And Organizational Knowledge Management, Pratyush Bharati, Wei Zhang, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore social media’s impact on organizational knowledge quality through the theoretical lens of social capital and resource exchange. Design/methodology/approach – Theory-confirming, quantitative study using panel data collected through web-based survey Findings – The results show that while social media affect structural capital and cognitive capital directly, it only affects relational capital indirectly through structural and cognitive capital. Moreover, overall social media and the enhanced social capital do help promote organizational efforts in knowledge management, which subsequently leads to higher level of organizational knowledge quality. Research limitations/implications – All survey respondents were …
Global Delivery Models: The Role Of Talent, Speed And Time Zones In The Global Outsourcing Industry, Stephan Manning, Marcus Larsen, Pratyush Bharati
Global Delivery Models: The Role Of Talent, Speed And Time Zones In The Global Outsourcing Industry, Stephan Manning, Marcus Larsen, Pratyush Bharati
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
We investigate antecedents and contingencies of location configurations supporting global delivery models (GDMs) in global outsourcing. GDMs are a new form of IT-enabled client-specific investment promoting services provision integration with clients by exploiting client proximity and time-zone spread allowing for 24/7 service delivery and access to resources. Based on comprehensive data we show that providers are likely to establish GDM configurations when clients value access to globally distributed talent pools and speed of service delivery, and in particular when services are highly commoditized. Findings imply that coordination across time zones increasingly affects international operations in business-to-business and born-global industries.
Social Media Assimilation In Firms: Investigating The Roles Of Absorptive Capacity And Institutional Pressures, Pratyush Bharati, Chen Zhang, Abhijit Chaudhury
Social Media Assimilation In Firms: Investigating The Roles Of Absorptive Capacity And Institutional Pressures, Pratyush Bharati, Chen Zhang, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Firms are increasingly employing social media to manage relationships with partner organizations, yet the role of institutional pressures in social media assimilation has not been studied. We investigate social media assimilation in firms using a model that combines the two theoretical streams of IT adoption: organizational innovation and institutional theory. The study uses a composite view of absorptive capacity that includes both previous experience with similar technology and the general ability to learn and exploit new technologies. We find that institutional pressures are an important antecedent to absorptive capacity, an important measure of organizational learning capability. The paper augments theory …
An Experimental Investigation Of Outsourcing Through Competition, Ehsan Elahi, Roger Blake
An Experimental Investigation Of Outsourcing Through Competition, Ehsan Elahi, Roger Blake
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Our research uses laboratory experiments to examine the theoretical results of competition between suppliers in an outsourcing setup. We consider a supply chain in which a single buyer needs to outsource the manufacturing of a product among N potential suppliers. The buyer allocates demand to suppliers not on the basis of price, but rather on service. We analyze the levels of service suppliers will decide to provide when competing on three different criteria specified by the buyer. For the first, suppliers compete by providing the buyer a specific service level (fill-rate), and for the second by maintaining a specific quantity …
Value Of Information: Facilitating Targeted Information Acquisition In Decision Processes, Jeffrey Keisler
Value Of Information: Facilitating Targeted Information Acquisition In Decision Processes, Jeffrey Keisler
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
No abstract provided.
Outsourcing Through Competition: What Is The Best Competition Parameter?, Ehsan Elahi
Outsourcing Through Competition: What Is The Best Competition Parameter?, Ehsan Elahi
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
In this paper we consider a single buyer who wants to outsource the manufacturing of a product to N potential suppliers. The buyer’s objective is to maximize the service level she receives from the suppliers. The suppliers compete for the buyer’s demand based on a competition parameter which the buyer announces along with an allocation rule. We model each supplier as a make-to-stock queueing system. Using a simple proportional allocation function, we compare two competition parameters: service level and inventory level. We show that inventory competition creates a higher overall service level for the buyer. We also show an optimal …
Product Bundling: Impacts Of Product Heterogeneity And Risk Considerations, Mehdi Sheikhzadeh, Ehsan Elahi
Product Bundling: Impacts Of Product Heterogeneity And Risk Considerations, Mehdi Sheikhzadeh, Ehsan Elahi
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Bundling has been extensively studied in the literature and its benefits have been manifested through three perspectives of achieving better price discrimination, helping to save costs, and preserving the power for deterring a potential entrant. In this study, we examine two aspects of bundling which have not been studied before. We examine the impact of product heterogeneity on bundling decisions. We also address risk considerations in a bundling problem. Specifically, we consider a retailer who has the option of selling a bundle of two products (pure bundling policy), or selling the products separately (no-bundling policy). The retailer could also face …
How Risk Management Can Turn Into Competitive Advantage: Examples And Rationale, Ehsan Elahi
How Risk Management Can Turn Into Competitive Advantage: Examples And Rationale, Ehsan Elahi
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
In light of the occurrence of many disruptive events since the beginning of this millennium, we can observe a change in the way risks and uncertainties are being viewed in the business world. To put this change into perspective we compare the evolution in the companies’ perception of risk management with the evolution in how companies look at their supply chain management. The main driver behind the change in the way companies view risk management is the increased level of uncertainties. There are many evidences that suggest the current very high level of volatilities in the business world is going …
Social Media Assimilation In Firms: Investigating The Roles Of Absorptive Capacity And Institutional Pressures, Pratyush Bharati, Chen Zhang, Abhijit Chaudhury
Social Media Assimilation In Firms: Investigating The Roles Of Absorptive Capacity And Institutional Pressures, Pratyush Bharati, Chen Zhang, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Firms are increasingly employing social media to manage relationships with partner organizations, yet the role of institutional pressures in social media assimilation has not been studied. We investigate social media assimilation in firms using a model that combines the two theoretical streams of IT adoption: organizational innovation and institutional theory. The study uses a composite view of absorptive capacity that includes both previous experience with similar technology and the general ability to learn and exploit new technologies. We find that institutional pressures are an important antecedent to absorptive capacity, an important measure of organizational learning capability. The paper augments theory …
How Can We Improve The Performance Of Supply Chain Contracts? An Experimental Study, Ehsan Elahi, Narasimha Lamba, Chinthana Ramaswamy
How Can We Improve The Performance Of Supply Chain Contracts? An Experimental Study, Ehsan Elahi, Narasimha Lamba, Chinthana Ramaswamy
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Although optimal forms of supply chain contracts have been widely studied in the literature, it has also been observed that decision makers fail to make optimal decisions in these contract setups. In this research, we propose different approaches to improve the performance of supply chain contracts in practice. We consider revenue sharing and buyback contracts between a rational supplier and a retailer who, unlike the supplier, is susceptible to decision errors. We propose five approaches to improve the retailer’s decisions which are in response to contract terms offered by the supplier. Through laboratory experiments, we examine the effectiveness of each …
Project Management Decisions With Uncertain Targets, Jeffrey Keisler, Robert Bordley
Project Management Decisions With Uncertain Targets, Jeffrey Keisler, Robert Bordley
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
No abstract provided.
Connecting Big Data With Big Decisions: Ideas For Synthesizing Analytics And Decision Analysis, Jeffrey Keisler
Connecting Big Data With Big Decisions: Ideas For Synthesizing Analytics And Decision Analysis, Jeffrey Keisler
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
This paper describes an approach to connect decision analysis models with outputs of analytic methods applied to various types of big data. Decision analysis models focus on issues of concern to a decision maker and incorporate use of a range of methods and axioms to develop insights about what the decision maker should do. In particular, decision analysis models typically use subjective judgments from the decision maker to describe beliefs about the likelihood of events and the desirability of outcomes. In order for human judgments to be improved by the availability of large amounts of data and processing power, it …
Communicating Analytic Results: A Tutorial For Decision Consultants, Jeffrey Keisler, Patrick Noonan
Communicating Analytic Results: A Tutorial For Decision Consultants, Jeffrey Keisler, Patrick Noonan
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Good analysis alone may not achieve the goals of decision analysis (DA) engagements. Good communication of the results of that analysis can help stakeholders understand, accept, and implement the recommended course of action. Practitioners can use decision analytic principles when considering the decision of how to communicate results themselves. From this perspective, we consider a range of questions to ask in preparing for communication with the client and other stakeholders. We review standard communication practices in DA engagements. The standard practice can be improved by drawing on insights from other areas of management practice. Decision analysis has both technical and …
Technology Assimilation Across The Value Chain: An Empirical Study Of Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Technology Assimilation Across The Value Chain: An Empirical Study Of Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
No abstract provided.
Using Business Intelligence For Operational Decision-Making In Call Centers, Eric Kyper, Michael Douglas, Roger Blake
Using Business Intelligence For Operational Decision-Making In Call Centers, Eric Kyper, Michael Douglas, Roger Blake
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
This paper proposes an operational business intelligence system to help achieve operational excellence in insurance call centers. We apply a decision tree based solution to collected data using a sliding window approach. Our solution provides two distinct advantages to call center managers. First, the decision trees allow managers to recognize key factors and the role they play in determining service levels. Second, our sliding window approach allows managers to see the effects on service levels of resource reallocation. Collected data from a large U.S. insurance company is analyzed. Initial results provide good insight into factors affecting this firm’s call center …
Optimal Service-Based Competition With Heterogeneous Suppliers, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen L. Donohue
Optimal Service-Based Competition With Heterogeneous Suppliers, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen L. Donohue
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
We investigate how a competition can be designed to maximize expected profit for a buyer who wishes to allocate demand among a diverse set of suppliers when his profit is dependent on the supplier’s service levels. The candidate suppliers are heterogeneous in their capacities and cost structures, and compete for shares of the buyer’s demand based on their promised service levels. To characterize the optimal competition, we first identify a family of allocation functions that are service maximizing, meaning they can intensify the competition to a point where each supplier provides its maximum feasible service level and the outcome of …
An Invitation To Portfolio Decision Analysis, Ahti Salo, Jeffrey Keisler, Alec Morton
An Invitation To Portfolio Decision Analysis, Ahti Salo, Jeffrey Keisler, Alec Morton
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Portfolio Decision Analysis (PDA) – the application of decision analysis to the problem of selecting a subset or portfolio from a large set of alternatives – accounts for a significant share, perhaps the greater part, of decision analysis consulting. By construction, PDA has a sound theoretical and methodological basis, and its ability to contribute to better resource allocation decisions has been demonstrated in numerous applications. This book pulls together some of the rich and diverse efforts as a starting point for treating PDA as a promising and distinct area of study and application. In this introductory chapter, we first describe …
Smes And Competitiveness: The Role Of Information Systems, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Smes And Competitiveness: The Role Of Information Systems, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
In this introductory article for the special issue on “SMEs and Competitiveness—The Role of Information Systems,” we provide a review of the current state of research on information systems and SMEs. A framework is provided that illustrates where the research has been concentrated and which areas are just beginning to be explored. The six articles that constitute this special issue are described in terms of this framework. A brief review of the articles is provided in which we indicate the question addressed, the factors taken into account, the nature of the research, and the dominant theory and perspective used in …
Staff Management In Emergency Evacuation Preparedness And Response, Davood Golmohammadi Phd
Staff Management In Emergency Evacuation Preparedness And Response, Davood Golmohammadi Phd
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
No abstract provided.
Outsourcing Via Service Competition, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen Donohue
Outsourcing Via Service Competition, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen Donohue
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
We consider a single buyer who wishes to outsource a fixed demand for a manufactured good or service at a fixed price to a set of potential suppliers. We examine the value of competition as a mechanism for the buyer to elicit service quality from the suppliers. We compare two approaches the buyer could use to orchestrate this competition: (1) a Supplier-Allocation (SA) approach, which allocates a proportion of demand to each supplier with the proportion allocated to a supplier increasing in the quality of service the supplier promises to offer, and (2) a Supplier-Selection (SS) approach, which allocates all …
Current Status Of Technology Adoption: Micro, Small And Medium Manufacturing Firms In Boston, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Current Status Of Technology Adoption: Micro, Small And Medium Manufacturing Firms In Boston, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Examining the extent and nature of adoption of technologies by micro, small, and medium-sized manufacturing firms in the greater Boston area.
Outsourcing To Non-Identical Suppliers Via Service Competition, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen Donohue
Outsourcing To Non-Identical Suppliers Via Service Competition, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen Donohue
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
In this paper, we consider a single buyer who wishes to outsource a fixed demand for a manufactured good or service at a fixed price to a set of N suppliers. We examine the value of competition as a mechanism for the buyer to elicit good service quality from her suppliers. In particular, we consider a scheme in which the buyer allocates a proportion of demand to each supplier, with the proportion a supplier receives increasing in the service level she offers. Suppliers compete for expected market share, which increases in the offered service level. The suppliers affect their service …
Product Customization On The Web: An Empirical Study Of Factors Impacting Choiceboard User Satisfaction, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Product Customization On The Web: An Empirical Study Of Factors Impacting Choiceboard User Satisfaction, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Choiceboards are Web-based systems that allow consumers to customize their orders. The study investigated factors that affect consumers’ intention to use choiceboards. The research is based on Masons’ theory and DeLone and McLean’s model of information system use. It was found that intention to use is affected by overall satisfaction. In turn, these two factors are positively impacted by factors such as system quality and information quality. In spite of support from theory, the evidence for the factor, information presentation was weak.
Understanding The Future Of Global Software Production: Investigating The Network In India, Pratyush Bharati
Understanding The Future Of Global Software Production: Investigating The Network In India, Pratyush Bharati
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
No abstract provided.
Service Quality From The Other Side: Information Systems Management At Duquesne Light, Pratyush Bharati, Daniel Berg
Service Quality From The Other Side: Information Systems Management At Duquesne Light, Pratyush Bharati, Daniel Berg
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Service organizations are continuously endeavoring to improve their quality of service as it is of paramount importance to them. Despite the importance of understanding the relationship of service quality and information systems, this research has not been pursued extensively. This study has addressed this gap in the research literature and studied how information systems impacts service quality. A research model is developed based on IS success model. System quality, information quality, user IT characteristics, employee IT performance and technical support are identified as important elements that influence service quality. An in-depth case study from the electric utility industry is used …
Additivity Of Information Value In Two-Act Linear Loss Decisions With Normal Priors, Jeffrey Keisler
Additivity Of Information Value In Two-Act Linear Loss Decisions With Normal Priors, Jeffrey Keisler
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
For the two-act linear loss decision problem with normal priors, conditions are derived for which the expected value of perfect information about two independent risks is super-additive in value. Several applications show how a variety of decision problems can reduce to the canonical problem, and how the general results obtained here can be translated simply to prescriptions for specific situations.
India’S It Services Industry: A Comparative Analysis, Pratyush Bharati
India’S It Services Industry: A Comparative Analysis, Pratyush Bharati
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
No abstract provided.
Technical Note: Comparative Static Analysis Of Information Value In A Canonical Decision Problem, Jeffrey Keisler
Technical Note: Comparative Static Analysis Of Information Value In A Canonical Decision Problem, Jeffrey Keisler
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
To gain insight into the behavior of the value of information, this paper identifies specific rules for a canonical decision problem: the two-act linear loss decision with normal prior probability distributions. Conditions are derived for which the expected value of perfect information increases when mean and standard deviation are both linear functions of an exogenous variable. A variety of richer decision problems can be adapted to the problem, so that the general results obtained here can be immediately applied to understand drivers of information value.
An Empirical Investigation Of Decision-Making Satisfaction In Web-Based Decision Support Systems, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
An Empirical Investigation Of Decision-Making Satisfaction In Web-Based Decision Support Systems, Pratyush Bharati, Abhijit Chaudhury
Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series
Web-based information systems are increasingly being used for decision support applications. However few empirical studies have been conducted on web-based decision support systems (DSS). This experimental research endeavors to understand factors that impact decision-making satisfaction in web based decision support systems. Using structural equation modeling approach, the analysis reveals that information quality and system quality influence decision-making satisfaction, while information presentation does not have an effect on decision-making satisfaction.