In this paper we consider the operations of a non-financial corporation and present a novel risk-management framework that supports the joint optimization of the firm's operational and financial decisions. Specifically, we study the problem of maximizing the firm's operating profits when these...

Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about companies' social responsibility (SR) practices. As a result, they are increasingly skeptical when companies do not provide clear information about these practices. One way to overcome this skepticism is to strengthen consumer trust through...

Problem definition: The cost of completing a line—a continuous variable—is typically studied indirectly through customers’ decisions to balk or renege from a queue—binary variables. However, these decisions only tell us whether a customer’s completion cost is above some (unknown)...

Organizational scholars have long recognized the importance of corporate purpose, defined as a goal beyond profit maximization, meant to galvanizeworkers in the firm. Increasingly, however, companies are making claims about corporate purpose to external audiences, and we have little...

Many non-profit organizations (NPOs) rely on donations of physical goods. However, not all donations are wanted or needed - the NPO may be space constrained, the donation may be of poor quality, or it may address a low-priority need. Accepting unwanted donations is costly to the NPO, which must...

Problem Definition: We examine how a profit-driven firm (she) can motivate better social responsibility (SR) practices by a supplier (he) when these practices cannot be perfectly observed by the firm. We focus on the firm's investment in the supplier's SR capabilities. To capture the influence...

Consumers increasingly want to know more about where and how the products they purchase are being made. To create transparency requires a company to both gain visibility into its supply chain and disclose information to consumers. In this paper, we focus on the dimension of visibility and...