Article ID: | iaor2013309 |
Volume: | 141 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 478 |
End Page Number: | 484 |
Publication Date: | Feb 2013 |
Journal: | International Journal of Production Economics |
Authors: | White Sheneeta W |
Keywords: | allocation: resources, production, stochastic processes, combinatorial optimization |
The way in which service firms transform inputs into outputs is typically uncertain or unknown. Consequently decision makers, at best, can only make estimates of the underlying production function. The purpose of this study is to offer policy recommendations to service providers and to examine experimentally the sensitivity of estimates of production functions. The primary result of this study is a foundation for modeling manpower planning decisions for co‐produced services when production functions are mis‐estimated and/or mis‐specified.