Exploring the tension between theory and practice regarding complexity and performance in contract design is especially relevant. The goal of this paper is to understand why simpler contracts may commonly be preferred in practice despite being theoretically suboptimal. We study a two-tier supply...

The observed behavior of customers and managers often does not fit the assumptions of theoretical models used in the operations management (OM) literature. New research in behavioral OM is emerging to bridge the gap between traditional models and these newer observational findings. This work is...

We investigate learning by doing in the newsvendor inventory problem. An earlier study observed that decision makers tend to anchor their orders around average demand and fail to adjust sufficiently toward the expected profit-maximizing order. Principles of behavioral theory suggest some...

Aservice encounter is an experience that extends over time. Therefore, its effective management must include the control of the timing of the delivery of each of the service's elements and the enhancement of the customer's experience between and during the delivery of the various elements. This...

Asupplier stocking goods for delivery to a retailer may face a (finite-horizon) service-level agreement (SLA). In this context, the SLA is a commitment by a supplier to achieve a minimum fill rate over a specified time horizon. This kind of SLA is an important, but understudied coordination...

We propose a behavioral theory to predict actual ordering behavior in multilocation inventory systems. The theory rests on a well-known stylized fact of human behavior: people's preferences are reference dependent. We incorporate reference dependence into the newsvendor framework by assuming...

Supply chains facing asymmetric information can either operate in a cooperative mode with information and benefit sharing or can choose a non-cooperative form of interaction and align their incentives via screening contracts. In the cooperative mode, supply chain efficiency can be achieved, but...

We modify the classic single-period inventory management problem by assuming that the newsvendor is expectation-based loss averse according to Koszegi and Rabin (2006, 2007). Expectation-based loss aversion leads to an endogenous psychological cost of leftovers as well as stockouts. If there are...

Laboratory experiments give researchers a great deal of control, making them useful for testing analytical models. In this monograph I discuss methodological issues in designing and conducting laboratory experiments. I also summarize some of the recent advances in using laboratory experiments in...