Seungjin Whang

Professor Emeritus, Operations, Information & Technology
+1 (650) 723-4756

Seungjin Whang

The Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor of Operations, Information & Technology, Emeritus

Additional Administrative Titles

Co-Director, Stanford-NUS Executive Program in International Management
Director, Asian American Executive Program

Research Statement

Professor Whang’s research interest is in supply chain management and the economics of information systems. He studied how demand information may be distorted in a supply chain, and what impacts a secondary market (where retailers exchange excess inventories) has on a supply chain. He has also addressed various pricing issues in a congestion-prone facility. For example, he studied the optimal priority prices in a queueing system where users have their private information about the benefit, time value and service requirement. Recently, he analyzed the menu of fixed-up-to-tariffs structure commonly used for mobile phone service and studied how demand uncertainty affects the retailer's dynamic pricing strategy.

Bio

Seungjin Whang is the Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor of Operations, Information & Technology, Emeritus, Stanford Business School. He obtained a bachelor of engineering at Seoul National University, Korea (1974), master of arts (1983), master of science (1985), and PhD (1988), at the University of Rochester. He has been on the faculty of the Stanford Business School since 1987. His research interests include supply chain management and economics of information technology.

He has published widely in academic journals including Management Science, Operations Research, and Information Systems Research (ISR). In 2005 his paper “Information Distortion in a Supply Chain: The Bullwhip Effect,” coauthored with H. Lee and P. Padmanabhan (1997), was elected to be one of the “top ten most influential” papers in Management Science in its 50 years of publications history. The same paper also ranked as the 4th most-cited paper among all papers published in Management Science. Its companion paper (with Hau Lee and V. Padmanabhan) was listed as one of the top 10 papers in classroom use among all published in Sloan Management Review (Dec 2013). In addition, his paper “Optimal Incentive-Compatible Priority Pricing for the M/M/1 Queue,” coauthored with Haim Mendelson (1990), was the 7th most-cited paper among the papers published in Operations Research between 1952 and Aug. 2012. Also, his 2002 paper “e-Business and Supply Chain Management: An Overview and Framework,” (with Eric Johnson) was all time top paper for all papers in SSRN Jan 1997 through July 2014 in the topic area of Innovation & Operations. Mendelson (1990), was the 7th most-cited paper among the papers published in Operations Research between 1952 and Aug. 2012. Also, his 2002 paper “e-Business and Supply Chain Management: An Overview and Framework,” (with Eric Johnson) was all time top paper for all papers in SSRN Jan 1997 through July 2014 in the topic area of Innovation & Operations.

During 2006-2008 he served as senior editor to Information Systems Research. He teaches various courses in Supply Chain Management and has prepared cases on Tamagoya of Japan, Big Cola in Mexico, OnStar, POSCO, SAP R/3, Seven Eleven Japan, Toyota, and TSMC. He won Honorable Mention in Distinguished Teaching Award at the Stanford GSB in 1995-1996. At Stanford, he serves as codirector of the Stanford-NUS Executive Program. Outside, he serves on the advisory boards of Altos Ventures and Gilead Sciences.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD, University of Rochester, 1988
  • MS, University of Rochester, 1985
  • MA, University of Rochester, 1983
  • BEng, Seoul National University, 1974

Academic Appointments

  • At Stanford University since 1987
  • Visiting Professor, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Spring 1985
  • Instructor, University of Rochester, 1986-1987

Professional Experience

  • Systems Analyst, Bank of Seoul and Trust, 1980-1981

Awards and Honors

  • Two-page laudatio in honor of his research, The Production and Operations Management (POM), July, 2017
  • Finmeccanica Faculty Scholar, 1994-1996, 1996
  • Bob and Marilyn Jaedicke Faculty Scholar for 1991-1992, 1992
  • Fletcher Jones Faculty Scholar for 1989-1990, 1990
  • IBM Research Award, 1986

Publications

Journal Articles

Academic Publications

Teaching

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