One might expect that after their identification in the 19th century, all aspects of Giffen goods would have been studied by now. This appears not to be the case. This book contains the latest insights into the theory of Giffen goods. In the past, surprisingly few goods could be categorized as "Giffen." This may be because of a lack of understanding of the character of these goods. Therefore, the theories explained in this book may also produce a solid basis for further empirical research in the field. Experts throughout the world have contributed to this book, which predominantly pursues a...

Retail shelf management means cost-efficiently aligning retail operations with consumer demand. This book focuses on three areas: combining assortment and shelf space planning, providing efficient decision support systems for practically relevant problem sizes, and integrating inventory and price optimization into shelf management.

Increasing efficiency in generating national income and improving equity in its distribution among economic agents is at the forefront of priorities of most modern economies. This book presents a model which aims to maximize a symmetrical welfare function under certain constraints which consider both efficiency and equity.

This book deals with the performance analysis of closed queueing networks with general processing times and finite buffer spaces. It offers a detailed introduction to the problem and a comprehensive literature review. Two approaches to the performance of closed queueing networks are presented. One is an approximate decomposition approach, while the second is the first exact approach for finite-capacity networks with general processing times. In this Markov chain approach, queueing networks are analyzed by modeling the entire system as one Markov chain. As this approach is exact, it is...

One of the main aims of management accounting is to provide managers with accurate information in order to provide a good basis for decision-making. There is evidence that the information provided by management accounting systems (MAS) is distorted and the occurrence of biases in accounting information is widely accepted among users of MAS. At the same time, the intensity and the frequency of use of MAS increase, too. Consequently, the quality of the provided information is critical. The focus of this simulation study is twofold. On the one hand, the impact of the sophistication of...

​The book presents different models for the simultaneous optimization problem of capacity investment and work release rule parameterization. The overall costs are minimized either including backorder costs or considering a service level constraint. The available literature is extended with the integration of a distributed customer required lead time in addition to the actual demand distribution. Furthermore, an endogenous production lead time is introduced. Different models for make-to-order production systems with one or multiple serial processing stages are developed. Capacity...

This volume presents recent advances in the dynamic field of Artificial Economics and its various applications. Artificial Economics provides a structured approach to model and investigate economic and social systems. In particular, this approach is based on the use of agent-based simulations and further computational techniques. The main aim is to analyze the outcomes at the overall systems' level as results from the agents' behavior at the micro-level. These emergent characteristics of complex economic and social systems can neither be foreseen nor are they intended. The emergence rather...

This book examines the problem of maintenance planning and scheduling in industrial production systems. It presents two practically relevant, deterministic mathematical models: the capacitated planned maintenance problem (CPMP) and the weighted uncapacitated planned maintenance problem (WUPMP).

This book deals with dynamic and stochastic methods for multi-project planning. Based on the idea of using queueing networks for the analysis of dynamic-stochastic multi-project environments thisbook addresses two problems: detailed scheduling of project activities, and integrated order acceptance and capacity planning. In an extensive simulation study, the book thoroughly investigates existing scheduling policies. To obtain optimal and near optimal scheduling policies new models and algorithms are proposed based on the theory of Markov decision processes and Approximate Dynamic programming....

This book presents recent advancements of research, new methods and techniques, applications and projects in decision making and decision support systems. It explores expert systems and neural networks, knowledge engineering and management, fuzzy sets and systems and computational methods for optimization, data analysis and decision making. It presents applications in Economics, Finance, Management and Engineering. The book undertakes to stimulate scientific exchange, ideas and experiences in the field of decision making in Economy and Management. Researchers and practitioners alike will...