Firms, queues, and coffee breaks: A flow model of corporate activity with delays

Benjamin Golub; R. Preston McAfee

doi:10.1007/s10058-009-0089-4

Firms, queues, and coffee breaks: A flow model of corporate activity with delays

Benjamin Golub, R. Preston McAfee

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The multidivisional firm is modeled as a system of interconnected nodes that exchange continuous flows of projects of varying urgency and queue waiting tasks. The main innovation over existing models is that the rate at which waiting projects are taken into processing depends positively on both the availability of resources and the size of the queue, capturing a salient quality of human organizations. A transfer pricing scheme for decentralizing the system is presented, and conditions are given to determine which nodes can be operated autonomously. It is shown that a node can be managed separately from the rest of the system when all of the projects flowing through it are equally urgent.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	59-89
Number of pages	31
Journal	Review of Economic Design
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10058-009-0089-4
State	Published - Mar 2011
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Decentralization
Queuing
Transfer pricing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Access to Document

10.1007/s10058-009-0089-4

Cite this

@article{1bad3e66c4614cc1b5416669925eff00,

title = "Firms, queues, and coffee breaks: A flow model of corporate activity with delays",

abstract = "The multidivisional firm is modeled as a system of interconnected nodes that exchange continuous flows of projects of varying urgency and queue waiting tasks. The main innovation over existing models is that the rate at which waiting projects are taken into processing depends positively on both the availability of resources and the size of the queue, capturing a salient quality of human organizations. A transfer pricing scheme for decentralizing the system is presented, and conditions are given to determine which nodes can be operated autonomously. It is shown that a node can be managed separately from the rest of the system when all of the projects flowing through it are equally urgent.",

keywords = "Decentralization, Queuing, Transfer pricing",

author = "Benjamin Golub and McAfee, {R. Preston}",

year = "2011",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1007/s10058-009-0089-4",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "15",

pages = "59--89",

journal = "Review of Economic Design",

issn = "1434-4742",

publisher = "Springer Verlag",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Firms, queues, and coffee breaks

T2 - A flow model of corporate activity with delays

AU - Golub, Benjamin

AU - McAfee, R. Preston

PY - 2011/3

Y1 - 2011/3

N2 - The multidivisional firm is modeled as a system of interconnected nodes that exchange continuous flows of projects of varying urgency and queue waiting tasks. The main innovation over existing models is that the rate at which waiting projects are taken into processing depends positively on both the availability of resources and the size of the queue, capturing a salient quality of human organizations. A transfer pricing scheme for decentralizing the system is presented, and conditions are given to determine which nodes can be operated autonomously. It is shown that a node can be managed separately from the rest of the system when all of the projects flowing through it are equally urgent.

AB - The multidivisional firm is modeled as a system of interconnected nodes that exchange continuous flows of projects of varying urgency and queue waiting tasks. The main innovation over existing models is that the rate at which waiting projects are taken into processing depends positively on both the availability of resources and the size of the queue, capturing a salient quality of human organizations. A transfer pricing scheme for decentralizing the system is presented, and conditions are given to determine which nodes can be operated autonomously. It is shown that a node can be managed separately from the rest of the system when all of the projects flowing through it are equally urgent.

KW - Decentralization

KW - Queuing

KW - Transfer pricing

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79951549448&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79951549448&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10058-009-0089-4

DO - 10.1007/s10058-009-0089-4

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:79951549448

SN - 1434-4742

VL - 15

SP - 59

EP - 89

JO - Review of Economic Design

JF - Review of Economic Design

IS - 1

ER -

Firms, queues, and coffee breaks: A flow model of corporate activity with delays

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this