While making informed decisions regarding investments in customer retention and acquisition becomes a pressing managerial issue, formal models and analysis, which may provide insight into this topic, are still scarce. In this study we examine two dynamic models for optimal acquisition and retention models of a monopoly, the total cost and the cost per customer models. These models are analytically analyzed using classical, direct, methods and asymptotic expansions (for the total cost model). In...

While making informed decisions regarding investments in customer retention and acquisition becomes a pressing managerial issue, formal models and analysis, which may provide insight into this topic, are still scarce. In this study we examine two dynamic models for optimal acquisition and retention models of a monopoly, the total cost and the cost per customer models. These models are analytically analyzed using classical, direct, methods and asymptotic expansions (for the total cost model). In...

In this paper we consider a parametric eigenvalue problem related to a vibrating string which is constructed out of two different materials. Using elementary analysis we show that the corresponding principal eigenvalue is increasing with respect to the parameter. Using a rearrangement technique we recapture a part of our main result, in case the difference between the densities of the two materials is sufficiently small. Finally, a simple numerical algorithm will be presented which will also provide...