Consider a bank where potential customers arrive at rate of 60 customers per hour. However, because of limited space, one out of every four arriving customers finds the bank full and leaves immediately (without enteringthe bank). Suppose that the average number of customers waiting in line in the bank is 3.5. How long will a typical entering customer have to wait in line? (Hint: In Little’s formula, l refers only to customers who enter the system.)

During nearly four decades of business operations, Memphis-based FedEx has earned a reputation for reliable, on-time delivery of packages to homes and offices around the country. Founder Fred Smith originally focused on overnight deliveries, choosing Memphis as the company’s headquarters because the airport rarely closes due to bad weather. With FedEx’s planes departing and arriving on schedule nearly all the time, its express shipments usually remained on schedule, then and now. To reassure customers that delivery will take place when and where promised, the firm offers a money-back guarantee on time-sensitive express shipments, among other services. FedEx has steadily expanded its portfolio of services since the 1970s. Its original overnight express delivery is currently available to U.S. customers in various forms, including “first-overnight” delivery, next-morning delivery, next-afternoon delivery, and budget-pleasing two- or three-day delivery. The company’s services also include cost-effective ground delivery for parcels and extra-speedy same-day delivery for urgent deliveries within 1,800 cities. Over the years, FedEx has widened its delivery network to more than 220 countries. It has purchased more cargo jets and acquired specialized shipping firms, including Tiger International, Roberts Express, RPS, and TNT Express, to support global growth. For international business customers needing products, parts, or raw materials shipped across countries or continents, the company now offers time-saving services such as commercial freight forwarding and cross-border logistical support. To add the convenience of local drop-off and pickup points for U.S. consumers and small businesses, FedEx acquired the Kinko’s office services company in 2004 and later rebranded it as FedEx Office. This acquisition also added printing and copying to the menu of services offered. Then the company arranged for large U.S. retailers such as Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, and Safeway to accept packages for shipment and receive package delivery for customer pickup in thousands of store locations. This means people who want to send a package can head to a nearby retailer and ship where they shop, rather than making a separate trip to the FedEx location. It’s also a safe alternative for packages to be picked up by people who don’t want FedEx shipments left by the front door. Another service FedEx offers to small and mid-sized businesses, including retailers, is FedEx Fulfillment. The purpose is to expedite order fulfillment by having each business store its products in a FedEx warehouse. Then, when the business’s customers place orders, FedEx puts the products into boxes bearing the business’s own logo and ships directly to those customers. The business doesn’t need a separate warehouse or staff for fulfillment, and packages are on their way to customers more quickly because the products were in FedEx’s warehouse, ready to be packed and shipped. This service puts FedEx into direct competition with Amazon.com, which offers a similar service to merchants that sell through the online Amazon Marketplace. But it also gives businesses that don’t sell via Amazon a fast and professional fulfillment alternative. FedEx is careful to let customers know, through media and social-media announcements, when it anticipates that extreme weather or other conditions will cause delays or force it to halt pickups and deliveries. For the duration of Hurricane Irma, for example, FedEx said it would suspend deliveries in Florida. Some Florida customers who had ordered generators to be delivered via FedEx were unhappy, because they worried about being without power during and after the storm. But one FedEx employee loaded several generator orders into his car and took them to customers himself. When a customer posted a grateful compliment to FedEx on Facebook, the message generated thousands of likes, shares, and positive comments. The company also received positive comments for its donations of cash and transportation services to areas devastated by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), FedEx often tops the list of U.S. shipping companies as ranked by customers surveyed. Every day, the company delivers 13 million packages—and during the busy year-end holiday season, it delivers many more. By meeting customers’ expectations for on-time deliveries, FedEx has increased annual revenues beyond $60 billion and positioned itself for continued growth in the future. How does FedEx’s money-back guarantee address customers’ concerns about heterogeneity?

At the beginning of each week, a machine is in one of four conditions: 1 = excellent; 2 = good; 3 = average; 4 = bad. The weekly revenue earned by a machine in state 1, 2, 3, or 4 is 100, 90, 50, or 10, respectively. After observing the condition of the machine at the beginning of the week, the company has the option, for a cost of 200, of instantaneously replacing the machine with an excellent machine. The quality of the machine deteriorates over time, as shown in the file P10 41.xlsx. Four maintenance policies are under consideration: Policy 1: Never replace a machine. Policy 2: Immediately replace a bad machine. Policy 3: Immediately replace a bad or average machine. Policy 4: Immediately replace a bad, average, or good machine. Simulate each of these policies for 50 weeks (using at least 250 iterations each) to determine the policy that maximizes expected weekly profit. Assume that the machine at the beginning of week 1 is excellent.

When Apple introduced its mobile payment system in 2014, the company was looking to leverage the popularity of its iPhone by adding more functionality and convenience for millions of customers. With Apple Pay, iPhone owners and Apple Watch wearers first enter their credit- or debit-card information, which Apple confirms with the banks. Once this information is on file, Apple creates a digital token that will be electronically transmitted to the retailer when an iPhone owner pays for something. To complete a purchase, the customer simply waves the phone or taps it at the checkout, uses the iPhones Touch or Face ID security to activate Apple Pay, and the phone instantly transfers the token as payment. Even though Apple Pay offers consumers the benefits of convenience and security, Apple knew it wouldnt succeed without a large network of retailers, restaurants, and other businesses agreeing to accept its mobile payments. Among the earliest businesses to sign up with Apple was McDonalds, which agreed to honor Apple Pay in its 14,000 U.S. restaurants and drive-through locations. We serve 27 million customers every day. This is a clear and compelling business opportunity for us, explained McDonalds chief information officer. Compared with cash transactions, Apple Pay transactions cost McDonalds a few pennies more to process because of bank fees. Yet the fast-food giant was willing to sign on because it saw competitive advantage and profit potential in wooing iPhone users interested in speedy checkout. Another early business supporter was Walgreens, the nationwide drug-store chain with 85 million customers enrolled in its frequent-buyer rewards program. Walgreens sells snacks, household products, and health and beauty items in addition to health-care products. Not only did Walgreens agree to accept Apple Pay at its checkout counters, but it was also the first U.S. retailer to add its rewards program to Apple Pays easy sign-on system. As a result, Walgreens customers tap twice at the checkout, once to activate the rewards account and display their savings, the second time to process the actual payment. By deciding to honor Apple Pay, Walgreens said it was enabling a simple and convenient customer experience. Several hundred thousand businesses had signed on to participate by the time Apple Pay launched in October 2014. Apples ongoing efforts to increase business participation paid off: Eighteen months later, the network of participating businesses topped 2 million, and major companies like Starbucks, Dominos, and Crate Barrel were preparing to participate. Eyeing international expansion, Apple also initiated talks with banks in China to bring Apple Pay to millions of iPhone users there. Today, Apple Pay is accepted at more than 50 percent of all U.S. retail locations and in many retail stores in twenty countries. Even though more consumers are making more mobile payments year after year, not every U.S. retailer is willing or able to work with Apple Pay. Some arent satisfied with the amount of consumer information that Apple Pay shares with participating merchants. Others would have to upgrade to new checkout technology for Apple Pay. Still others are locked into exclusive mobile payment deals with competing services. Today, mobile payments represent a small fraction of all purchase transactions, dwarfed by cash as well as by credit and debit payments. And Apple Pay faces strong competition from Google, Samsung, and others operating in the mobile-payment market. To remain a leader, Apple will have to keep signing more participating businesses and showing consumers the benefits of paying by iPhone or Apple Watch whenever they make a purchase. Which of the four categories of business markets is Apple Pay best suited for, and why?