Working Papers
"Sustainability in the fast fashion industry" (with Javad Nasiry), under revision. [Download]
Abstract: A fast fashion system allows firms to react quickly to changing consumer demand by replenishing inventory (via quick response) and introducing more fashion styles. In this paper, we study the environmental impact of the fast fashion business model by analyzing its implications for product quality, variety, and inventory decisions. Our results show that the fast fashion model is conducive to low quality products. In particular, we find that a key driver of low product quality in the fast fashion industry is the firm's incentive to offer variety to hedge against uncertain fashion trends. When variety is endogenous, quality decreases as consumers become more sensitive to fashion or as the cost of introducing new styles decreases. We also identify conditions under which expected leftover inventory increases as the firm's fast fashion capabilities increase. To counter the environmental impact of the fast fashion business model due to low quality and overproduction, we assess the effectiveness of three environmental initiatives (waste disposal regulations, consumer education, and post-consumer recycling programs). We show that waste disposal policies are effective in reducing the firm's leftover inventory---but may have the unintended consequence of lowering product quality. We also compare firm-owned versus third-party recycling programs and propose a revenue-sharing scheme which could induce higher levels of recycling rate and product quality while increasing the system's total profit.
Publications
- Honorable Mention in the CSAMSE Annual Conference/Columbia China Business Initiative Best Paper Award, 2016.
- Honorable Mention in the 2015 POMS-HK International Conference Student Paper Competition.
Conference Presentations
"Sustainability in the fast fashion industry" (with Javad Nasiry), under revision. [Download]
Abstract: A fast fashion system allows firms to react quickly to changing consumer demand by replenishing inventory (via quick response) and introducing more fashion styles. In this paper, we study the environmental impact of the fast fashion business model by analyzing its implications for product quality, variety, and inventory decisions. Our results show that the fast fashion model is conducive to low quality products. In particular, we find that a key driver of low product quality in the fast fashion industry is the firm's incentive to offer variety to hedge against uncertain fashion trends. When variety is endogenous, quality decreases as consumers become more sensitive to fashion or as the cost of introducing new styles decreases. We also identify conditions under which expected leftover inventory increases as the firm's fast fashion capabilities increase. To counter the environmental impact of the fast fashion business model due to low quality and overproduction, we assess the effectiveness of three environmental initiatives (waste disposal regulations, consumer education, and post-consumer recycling programs). We show that waste disposal policies are effective in reducing the firm's leftover inventory---but may have the unintended consequence of lowering product quality. We also compare firm-owned versus third-party recycling programs and propose a revenue-sharing scheme which could induce higher levels of recycling rate and product quality while increasing the system's total profit.
Publications
- "How service quality variability hurts revenue when customers learn: Implications for dynamic personalized pricing" (with Gregory DeCroix and Jordan Tong), Operations Research, Forthcoming. [Download]
- "Wage transparency and social comparison in salesforce compensation" (with Javad Nasiry), Management Science, Forthcoming. [Download]
- "A behavioral study of abandonment decisions in multi-stage projects" (with Javad Nasiry and Yaozhong Wu), Management Science, 2020, 66(5) pp. 1999-2016. [Download] [Download Appendix]
- Honorable Mention in the CSAMSE Annual Conference/Columbia China Business Initiative Best Paper Award, 2016.
- "Quality in supply chain encroachment" (with Albert Ha and Javad Nasiry). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2016, 18(2) pp. 280-298.
- Honorable Mention in the 2015 POMS-HK International Conference Student Paper Competition.
- "Prospect theory explains newsvendor behavior: The role of reference points" (with Javad Nasiry). Management Science, 2015, 61(12) pp. 3009-3012. [Download]
Conference Presentations
- Modeling Customer Response to Service Quality Variability with Implications for Pricing, INFORMS, Seattle, Oct 2019
- Sustainability in the Fast Fashion Industry, INFORMS, Seattle, Oct 2019
- Wage Transparency in Sales Agents' Compensation Schemes, Seattle, Oct 2019
- Sustainability in the Fast Fashion Industry, CSAMSE International Conference, Chengdu, China, Jul 2019
- Modeling Customer Response to Service Quality Variability with Implications for Pricing, M&SOM Conference, Singapore, Jul 2019
- Modeling Customer Response to Service Quality Variability with Implications for Pricing, INFORMS RM&P Conference, Palo Alto, Jun 2019
- Quality and Product Variety in Fast Fashion, 2019 Early-career Sustainable OM Workshop, San Diego, Mar 2019
- Wage Transparency in Sales Agents' Compensation Schemes, POMS, Houston, May 2018
- A Behavioral Study on Abandonment Decisions in Multi-Stage Projects, POMS, Houston, May 2018
- Wage Transparency in Sales Agents' Compensation Schemes, INFORMS, Houston, Oct 2017.
- A Behavioral Study on Abandonment Decisions in Multi-Stage Projects, INFORMS, Houston, Oct 2017.
- A Behavioral Study on Abandonment Decisions in Multi-Stage Projects, INFORMS, Nashville, Nov 2016.
- A Behavioral Study on Abandonment Decisions in Multi-Stage Projects, CSAMSE International Conference, Hefei, China, Jul 2016.
- A Behavioral Study on Abandonment Decisions in Multi-Stage Projects, M&SOM Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, Jun 2016.
- Informational Effect of Project Reviews, INFORMS, Philadelphia, Nov 2015.
- Quality in Supply Chain Encroachment, INFORMS, Philadelphia, Nov 2015.
- Quality in Supply Chain Encroachment, POMS-HK International Conference, Guangzhou, Jan 2015.
- Quality in Supply Chain Encroachment, INFORMS, San Francisco, Nov 2014.
- Quality in Downstream Encroachment, POMS International Conference, Singapore, Aug 2014.
