Analytical challenges on the roads
Transport company National Express sought advice from the University of Southampton when it wanted to know more about modelling pricing structures.
Masters’ student Alex Chung accepted the challenge as part of his degree in Operational Research. During his 12 week summer project, he analysed data from the company to try to establish how customers reacted to price changes. “This involved a high level of complexity,” explains Head of Pricing & Revenue Management, Jim Cockell. “We had not modelled these factors before and were keen to discover what would happen. In part, Alex’s results confirmed our beliefs but he also raised some new issues for us to consider.”
National Express chose him for the project because he had a good knowledge of revenue management and also knew the company well, as he had travelled on its coaches.
Alex, who enrolled at Southampton after graduating from the University of Warwick with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics (MORSE), says he found the project interesting and rewarding. “I was looking for trends in the data, establishing patterns and making suggestions for improvements.”
Postgraduate students on OR, Business Analytics and Management Science programmes at the University of Southampton all undertake a three month project as part of their degree. Many major companies and organisations, including Boeing, Virgin Media and the NHS, offer placements each year.