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Essays in Service Operations Management

The first two chapters of my thesis focus on the operation of rental businesses, which provides a novel and increasingly significant application of a supply chain and service operation. According to IBISWorld industry reports, at least fifteen different rental industries in the United States have annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. Furthermore, the consumer trend of “access over ownership” has spurred the creation of new and disruptive business models such as Rent the Runway, which rents designer dresses by mail to over 2 million users. However, existing operations management literature offers little support to rental operations subject to complex demand characteristics and the loss of rental units due to customer damage or purchase.