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                                                     Seminar

             Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Title	:	Coordinating Service Quality in Service Outsourcing
Speaker	:	Prof. Justin Ren
		School of Management
		Boston University
Date	:	Dec. 20th, 2007 (Thursday)
Time	:	4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Venue	:	Room 602
		William M.W. Mong Engineering Building
		(Engineering Building Complex Phase 2)
		CUHK

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Abstract:
　

In this research, we study contracting issues in an outsourcing supply chain
consisting of a user company and a service provider (e.g. a call center)
that does outsourcing work for the user company. We model the service
provider as a general queuing system, where each job has a revenue
potential, and service quality is measured by the probability that a job is
successfully resolved. The service provider makes two strategic decisions:
how much capacity to install and how much effort to exert to achieve a
certain level of quality. We focus on two cases related to information
asymmetry: one is the unobservability of effort, and the other, that of the
cost information of the service provider. Our results suggest that
outsourcing companies can use relatively simple and yet robust contracts to
assure a high level of capacity and quality service even when they do not
have perfect information about the service provider.

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Biography:
　

Justin Ren is an Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of
Management. Professor Ren\'s research focuses on supply chain coordination
and operations quality, particularly in the service sector. His research has
appeared in publications including Management Science, and Manufacturing and
Service Operations Management. He has received several recognitions,
including INFORMS George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award, INFORMS Junior
Faculty Paper Competition Award, and recently, the Production and Operations
Management Society (POMS) Wickham Skinner Early-Career Research
Accomplishments Award in 2007.

Professor Ren has worked for INTEL as a consultant in its Capital Equipment
Development group. He received his Ph.D. in Operations and Information
Management and an M.S in Operations Research from the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania.

************************* ALL ARE WELCOME ************************

Host	:	Prof. Sean X. Zhou
Tel	:	(852) 2609 8336
Email	:	zhoux@se.cuhk.edu.hk
Enquiries	:	Prof. Nan Chen or Prof. Sean X. Zhou
	:	Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
		CUHK
Website	:	http://www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/~seg5810
Email	:	seg5810@se.cuhk.edu.hk

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