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.

Download the Value Chain Innovation Initiative Brochure

Value Chain Innovation Speaker Series

In this series, we explore how emerging technologies are reshaping business models, value chains, and consumer preferences.

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

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.

Recordings of Past Events

Transforming Supply Chains with AI at Cisco with Joe McMorrow, vice president of Supply Chain Transformation at Cisco
Data-Driven Practices in Supply Chain Optimization: Innovation 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

Learn More About the Series

Featured Research

Publication Search

White Paper

NVIDIA: Strategic Evolution Through Innovation

Haim Mendelson, PJ Loury

July2025

NVIDIA has grown from a small, niche player into one of the titans of the information technology industry, alongside established leaders such as Microsoft and Apple. How has a company that started out by giving gamers a better playing experience…

White Paper

Material Selection to Improve Sustainability in the Apparel Industry

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

April92024

The large amounts of resources required for producing the materials our garments are made of and the significant levels of pollution associated with textile and garment production and disposal are some of the major environmental concerns…

White Paper

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

Barchi Gillai, Hau L. Lee

March2023

Sound logistics services are critical for supporting business-to-consumer cross-border e-commerce (CBEC), given consumers’ expectations for a fast, affordable, and reliable order delivery. Yet fulfilling orders placed by customers located in a…

Explore Our Research

Supply Chain Insights by Stanford Business

Idea Stories Opensearch

August 12, 2025

Written

An AI “Copilot” Can Reduce Prescription Errors That Put Patients at Risk

A customized language model designed by Stanford researchers made fewer prescription-instruction errors than standard systems.

August 06, 2025

Written

How Uber Steers Its Drivers Toward Better Performance

New research finds that the app’s ratings and incentive system made its drivers in Chicago as safe and reliable as taxi drivers.

July 11, 2025

Written

AI Could Make These Common Jobs More Productive Without Sacrificing Quality

A study of Chile’s workforce finds that AI could “accelerate” nearly half of the tasks performed by the country’s 100 most common jobs.

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Event Summaries

Publication Search

Transforming Logistics with AI

Kuang Xu, Barchi Gillai

February2023

The use of AI-based technologies in logistics has the potential to reduce operating costs, increase efficiency and service levels, and improve quality of life for some. Yet many hurdles to adopting such technologies, both technical and otherwise…

Value Chains in a Post-COVID World

Hau L. Lee, Haim Mendelson, Barchi Gillai

June2021

On June 3, 2021, the Value Chain Innovation Initiative hosted the executive workshop “Value Chains in a Post-COVID World,” to explore the long-term impacts of the pandemic on companies’ value chains. Examples of topics covered include changes in…

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