Value Chain Innovation Initiative

The Value Chain Innovation Initiative brings together faculty, staff, students, and practitioners to advance the theory and practice of global value chain innovation through research and knowledge dissemination.

We seek to understand the economic and social impacts of the global dynamics and digital communications that are reshaping business, industries, and ecosystems. Our research focuses on solving problems that are highly relevant to the greater global business community.

Benefits of Value Chain Innovation

VCII co-director Hau Lee explains how value chain innovations can help entrepreneurs in developing economies grow their businesses.

Value Chain Innovation Research

Haim Mendelson, co-director of VCII, gives an overview of research topics covered by the Initiative from the perspective of his current research.

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Past Events

Our in-person events bring together industry professionals and academics to discuss recent trends and innovations in global value chains.

AI Disruption: Industrial Value Chains

April 2026

Haim Mendelson, Barchi Gillai

Participants explored how AI is revolutionizing industrial value chains, and what companies must do to realize these gains.

Supply Chain Summit

October 2025

Barchi Gillai, Haim Mendelson

Co-hosted by Amazon and VCII, the event explored transformative strategies in modern supply chain management.

Online value chain innovation speaker series

In this series, we explore how emerging technologies are reshaping business models, value chains, and consumer preferences. Each one-hour webinar features a dynamic conversation, led by VCII Faculty Director Prof. Haim Mendelson, with one or more leading innovators in the field.

The first season in the series, AI-Powered Innovation, examines how artificial intelligence drives innovation across industrial firms, service companies, and AI solution providers. It includes the following episodes:

Transforming Supply Chains with AI at Cisco with Joe McMorrow, vice president of Supply Chain Transformation at Cisco
AI-Driven Supply Chain Optimization at JD.com with Professor Max Shen, chief scientist & vice president at JD.com (JINGDONG), and Dr. Yongzhi Qi, the company’s technical director of supply chain algorithms
Harnessing AI Inside and Outside the Box with Olivia Nottebohm, chief operating officer of Box
AI in Business: Investments and Opportunities for Value Creation with Michael Marks, founding managing partner of Celesta Capital
AI in the Enterprise: What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next with Yoav Shoham, co-founder and co-CEO of AI21 Labs

Subscribe to our mailing list for the latest updates on upcoming in-person and online events and to get notified about past event recordings as soon as they’re posted.

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Featured Research

Our research addresses real-world challenges faced by global value chain leaders, spanning theoretical, empirical, and field-based studies.

NVIDIA: Strategic Evolution Through Innovation

July 2025

Haim Mendelson, PJ Loury

Explore NVIDIA’s evolution over its thirty-year history: how it has anticipated, nurtured, and seized major opportunities within the technology landscape and continues to do so.

Material Selection to Improve Sustainability in the Apparel Industry

April 2024

Barchi Gillai, Jessica Landzberg, Nina Sabharwal, Hau L. Lee

Review key environmental issues associated with textiles made from polyester, cotton, and leather, and learn best practices and innovations to reduce their environmental impact.

Exploring the Right Logistics Strategy for China-U.S. B2C Cross-Border E-commerce

March 2023

Barchi Gillai, Hau L. Lee

Deepen your understanding of logistics models and shipping options available to cross-border merchants, as well as some of the ways the logistics landscape has evolved in recent years.

Download the Value Chain Innovation Initiative Brochure

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