Long‐term and short‐term customer reaction: a two‐stage queueing approach

Abstract

We analyse a simple, deterministic queueing system with feedback. We model a customer's decision to seek service as a two-stage process: (1) deciding whether or not to use a facility (become a customer), and (2) deciding the frequency of use (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). We consider both a constant and a deterministic, time-dependent usage pattern. We ignore variability, and focus on three forms of feedback: (1) the service rate increases as queue length increases; (2) the frequency with which customers use the service depends on customers' perception of recent waiting times; and (3) the number of customers depends on their perception of long-term average waiting time. Although highly stylised, this model captures the essential features of many real-life systems whose average arrival rate varies over time. The main conclusions are that more capacity can make the system less manageable, and a stronger external cycle can be a stabilising factor. The model turns out to be remarkably robust to external disturbances.

Modeling and simulation of customer dissatisfaction, worker unpunctuality and tolerance to delay in make-to-order supply chains measured through customer lifetime value performance

“…Regarding the specific field of simulation, a review on agent-based simulation in marketing has showed that links with supply restrictions are usually not considered and that word-of-mouth analysis will be beneficial when included in simulation approaches [11]. Among the few manuscripts connecting simulation and CLV, the early work of Ackere et al [12] applied Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate customer reaction in a waiting line in the long term, although the model was deterministic. Hara et al [13] modeled the lead time for customer satisfaction using a customer satisfaction index, but the model did not allow for repeated consumption.…”

Planeación de capacidades operativas asociadas a la rentabilidad en empresas prestadoras de servicios. Un enfoque de dinámica de sistemas

“…Orjuela and Huertas (Orjuela & Huertas, 2004) Other models analyze attention capacities using perception parameters regarding the length of lines (Delgado, 2011), (Ann van Ackere, 2006). System Dynamics analyses contemplate models that use human capital and planning analysis to model service dynamics, in order to present models that evaluate public policies in Australia (Sveiby, 2002).…”

Staffing to Maximize Profit for Call Centers with Impatient and Repeat-Calling Customers

“…However, there are a few papers going one step further. Haxholdt et al [9] and van Ackere et al [28] construct a queuing model with feedback and exhibit the phenomenon that the arrival rate depends on waiting time. They exploit some simulation methods with the decision variable of service rate.…”