Research | My Site

Approach

Understanding operations problems through field studies, generating evidence through data and experimentation, and translating that evidence into practical, scalable strategies grounded in organizational realities.

Publications

Research Areas

Development Operations

I have introduced and championed a research agenda referred to as Development Operations Management (DOM). This agenda addresses an important limitation of mainstream operations and supply chain research: the tendency to abstract away from local realities that are particularly consequential in the Global South. Within this emerging area, I examine how institutions, cultural norms, and economic conditions shape operations in developing economies.

Humanitarian Supply Chains

Humanitarian and nonprofit supply chains face the persistent challenge of aligning evolving demand with uncertain capacity. Alignment is further complicated by fluctuating donations, inconsistent volunteer participation, competition for public attention, disruptions, and decentralized decision-making. The resulting volatility increasingly mirrors the challenges facing global businesses. I study problems spanning inventory, workforce, and asset management, as well as budget allocation and donation management.

Published Work & Advanced Ongoing Projects

Development Operations Management: From Frictions to Theory (with Serguei Netessine and Y. Karen Zheng).
Operations for Scalable Education: Access, Personalization, and AI-Ready Learning (with Owen Wu and Jun Li).
Workforce Scheduling and Routing for Educational Service Delivery at New York Sun Works (with Mohsen Emadikhiav, David Bergman, and Carlos Cardonha).
Dynamic Budget Allocation and Reserve Policies in Nonprofit Operations (with Boyang Mu).
Multi-Item Procurement for Humanitarian Relief Services: Strategic Investment and Budget Allocation (with Scott Webster and Heng Zhang).
Delegation vs. Diversion: When Does Grant-Making Benefit Charities? (with Iman Parsa).
Reference Dependence in Prosocial Tasks: Do Losses Loom Larger Than Gains? (with León Valdés and Gabriel Pensamiento Calderon).
Reducing Food Waste in Production: A Field Experiment in Ghana (with Y. Karen Zheng, Xinming Liu, and Richard Boso). Minor revision at Management Science.
The Cost of Budget Expiration in Humanitarian Service Delivery (with Y. Karen Zheng and Jimin Park).
Analyzing Coordination Structures for Effective Humanitarian Relief Operations (with Iman Parsa, Scott Webster, and Luk Van Wassenhove). Scientific Reports, 16(1): 1327, 2026.
Humanitarian Response and the Coordination Dilemma: Navigating Efficacy, Earnings, and Ethics. In Research Handbook on Humanitarian Supply Chain Management. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026.
Workforce Configuration in Charity Settings: A Forward-Looking Approach (with Chao Wu and Joline Uichanco). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 26(6): 1981–2350, 2024.
Does Volunteering Crowd Out Donations? Evidence from Online Experiments (with Chao Wu). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 26(4): 1542–1566, 2024.
Which Is More Rewarding in Managing Sea Level Rise and Hurricane Storm Surge Flooding: Mitigation or Response? (with Donald Jenkins, Foad Mahdavid Pajouh, and Paul Kirshen). Production and Operations Management, 33(1): 364–382, 2024.
Improving the Quality of In-Kind Donations: A Field Experiment (with Sindy De La Torre Pacheco and Chao Wu). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 25(5): 1677–1691, 2023.
Does Better Governance Relax the Efficiency Squeeze Experienced by Nonprofit Organizations? (with Iman Parsa and Charles Corbett). Production and Operations Management, 31(8): 3288–3303, 2022.
Pre-Positioning and Local Purchasing for Emergency Operations Under Budget and Supply Uncertainty (with Jeannette Song and Scott Webster). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24(1): 315–332, 2022.
The Facts on the Ground: Evaluating Humanitarian Fleet Management Policies Using Simulation (with Liyi Gu and Ilya Ryzhov). European Journal of Operational Research, 293(2): 681–702, 2021.
An Approach for Managing Operating Assets for Humanitarian Development Programs (with Milad Keshvari Fard and Felix Papier). Production and Operations Management, 28(8): 2132–2151, 2019.
The Role of Media Exposure on Coordination in the Humanitarian Setting (with Hongmin Li, Scott Webster, and Luk Van Wassenhove). Production and Operations Management, 26(5): 802–816, 2017.
Evaluating Information Diffusion Speed and Its Determinants in Social Media Networks During Humanitarian Crises (with Eunae Yoo, William Rand, and Elliot Rabinovich). Journal of Operations Management, 45: 123–133, 2016.
Fleet Management Policies for Humanitarian Organizations: Beyond the Utilization–Residual Value Trade-Off (with Luk Van Wassenhove). Journal of Operations Management, 44(1): 1–12, 2016.
Fleet Management in the Humanitarian Sector. Decision Sciences, 46(2): 447–453, 2015.
Vehicle Procurement Policy for Humanitarian Development Programs (with Andrea Masini, Andreas Robotis, and Luk Van Wassenhove). Production and Operations Management, 23(6): 951–964, 2014.