In my dissertation, I investigate how formal and informal structures within the board can affect key board outcomes. While each chapter introduces a relatively under-recognized player in the governance space—compensation consultants (Chapter 1), multi-committee directors (Chapter 2), and executive chairmen (Chapter 3)—the main theme connecting all three centers on the...
This dissertation contains three essays that study the operational challenges and business innovations in service industries. We investigate how service providers could use wisely designed business models and service systems to induce preferable customer behaviors, and therefore manage demand and optimize revenue. Using a stylized model, we study how customers...
The dissertation consists of three self-contained papers. In Chapter 1, we study the inventory management problem in a dual sourcing system, where there are two supply sources or modes with different sourcing costs and lead times. We provide closed-form solutions to a robust optimization model for inventory management in a...
This dissertation contains four essays. The first essay, Strategically Giving Service: The Effect of Real-Time Information on Service Efficiency, analyzes the impact of the increased availability of real-time information on the behavior of strategic agents and the implications of this phenomenon for service efficiency using data from one of the...