Optimisation approaches and challenges of personnel deployment for movie exhibitors

ABSTRACT

Movie exhibitors are faced with a challenging environment due to a trend of declining numbers of moviegoers in Germany. In the short term, they must therefore focus on the maximisation of concession profits with efficient personnel deployment to compensate for the declining box office gross. This paper attempts to create a more efficient personnel deployment plan in comparison to the status quo and to improve the decision-making basis of movie exhibitors regarding their personnel deployment. The data set on which this paper is based comprises selected figures of a German multiplex cinema over a period of 15 months. This includes the daily moviegoers and the corresponding work hours of the personnel. Based on these figures, the productivity per work hour is analysed to determine how the personnel deployment is calculated depending on the forecasted number of moviegoers. An analysis of variance is prepared to establish how profits at the concession can be maximised with an efficient personnel deployment. This paper presents a profit-maximising deployment of checkout and concession personnel depending on the forecasted number of moviegoers, which provides the possibility of reacting to a deviating number of moviegoers at short notice.

KEYWORDS:

• Movie exhibitor
• movie business
• success factors
• big data
• personnel deployment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jonas Brühl

Jonas Brühl, is a PhD student in Business Administration and Media Management at the University of Siegen in Germany. He was born in 1989 and holds a M.Sc. in Business Administration from University of Siegen. His research interests are in movie business industry, development of new business models for movie exhibitors and cooperations between competitors. He has presented his research at different conferences, including WMEMC and EMMA.

Joachim Eigler

Joachim Eigler, is the Chair of Business Administration and Media Management at Faculty III – School of Economic Disciplines of the University of Siegen, Germany. He was born in 1966 and studied Business Administration at the University of Regensburg. He obtained a doctoral degree in 1995 and qualified as a professor in 2001. At the University of Siegen, he established Media Management as a new discipline in research and teaching both for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His research interests are in media products, media markets, the movie business and film finance, e-business and e-commerce. He is currently a member of the European Media Management Association.