Research Opportunities in
Retail Operations
This talk will explore the opportunity for new research in retail operations. The past few decades have witnessed many changes in retailing. Retailers have become larger (e.g., Wal-Mart alone had sales of $ 217 billion last year), more prolific users of technology (e.g., US retailers are estimated to spend more than $30 billion/year on information technology), and arguably better supply chain managers. This talk will start by examining the state of retail practice and identify areas that are still a challenge. These areas can benefit substantially from new research in OR. I will also present recent research on operational execution and an empirical investigation of inventory productivity.