Introducing B2B Service Level Measures via a Poker‐Card Activity

Abstract

To determine the appropriate level of product availability, most operations management textbooks introduce and define service level measures in a Business‐to‐Customer context. In other words, a retailer that wants to measure product availability in their store calculates the fill rate (FR) or cycle service level over an infinite review horizon. However, in a Business‐to‐Business (B2B) context, a retailer almost always calculates the FR or compliance level over a finite review horizon. The goal of this article is to highlight calculations of service level measures in a B2B context. Pedagogically, it presents in‐class activities that use standard playing cards and/or a spreadsheet simulation that allow students to experientially learn about service level measures in a B2B context.