The generalized failure rate of a continuous random variable has demonstrable importance in operations management. If the valuation distribution of a product has an increasing generalized failure rate (that is, the distribution is IGFR), then the associated revenue function is unimodal, and when the generalized failure rate is strictly increasing, the global maximum is uniquely specified. The assumption that the distribution is IGFR is thus useful

A central design challenge facing network planners is how to select a cost-effective network configuration that can provide uninterrupted service despite edge failures. In this paper, we study the Survivable Network Design (SND) problem, a core model underlying the design of such resilient networks that incorporates complex cost and connectivity trade-offs. Given an undirected graph with specified edge costs and (integer) connectivity requirements

Product bundling is a business strategy that packages (either physically or logically), prices and sells groups of two or more distinct products or services as a single economic entity. This practice exploits variations in the reservation prices and the valuations of a bundle vis-à-vis its constituents. Bundling is an effective instrument for price discrimination, and presents opportunities for enhancing revenue without increasing resource availability.

The dual simplex algorithm is an attractive alternative method for solving linear programming problems. Since the addition of new constraints to a problem typically breaks primal feasibility but not dual feasibility, the dual simplex can be deployed for rapid reoptimization, without the need of finding new primal basic feasible solutions. This is especially useful in integer programming, where the use of cutting plane techniques require the introduction

We consider a seller who owns two capacity-constrained resources and markets two products (components) corresponding to these resources as well as a bundle comprising the two components. In an environment where all customers agree that one of the two components is of higher quality than the other and that the bundle is of the highest quality, we derive the seller's optimal bundling strategy. We demonstrate that the optimal solution depends on the

The distribution of the range of a sample, even in the case of a normal distribution, is not symmetric. Shewhart's control chart for range and other approximations for range from skewed distributions and long-tailed (leptokurtic) symmetrical distributions assume the distribution of range as symmetric and provide 3 sigma control limits. We provide accurate approximations for the R-chart control limits for the leptokurtic symmetrical distributions,

At this point, a Romanian company has far more incentives to activate in the shadow economy than it has to operate legally and legitimately. Economic crime is directly related to the lack of economic reforms, the slow peace of privatization, and the weak legal framework. Economic crime in Romania is characterized by the emergence of organized criminal gangs.