Seungjin Whang

Seungjin Whang
Professor Emeritus, Operations, Information & Technology
Contact Info
SeungjinWhang

Additional Administrative Titles

  • Director, Asian American Executive Program
  • Co-Director, Stanford-NUS Executive Program in International Management

Research Statement

Professor Whang's research interest is in supply chain management and the economics of information systems. He studied how demand information may be distorted in a supply chain, and what impacts a secondary market (where retailers exchange excess inventories) has on a supply chain. He has also addressed various pricing issues in a congestion-prone facility. For example, he studied the optimal priority prices in a queueing system where users have their private information about the benefit, time value and service requirement. Recently, he analyzed the menu of fixed-up-to-tariffs structure commonly used for mobile phone service and studied how demand uncertainty affects the retailer's dynamic pricing strategy.

Bio

Seungjin Whang is the Jagdeep and Roshni Singh Professor of Operations, Information & Technology, Emeritus, Stanford Business School. He obtained a bachelor of engineering at Seoul National University, Korea (1974), master of arts (1983), master of science (1985), and PhD (1988), at the University of Rochester. He has been on the faculty of the Stanford Business School since 1987. His research interests include supply chain management and economics of information technology.

He has published widely in academic journals including Management Science, Operations Research, and Information Systems Research (ISR). In 2005 his paper “Information Distortion in a Supply Chain: The Bullwhip Effect,” coauthored with H. Lee and P. Padmanabhan (1997), was elected to be one of the “top ten most influential” papers in Management Science in its 50 years of publications history. The same paper also ranked as the 4th most-cited paper among all papers published in Management Science. Its companion paper (with Hau Lee and V. Padmanabhan)  was listed as one of the top 10 papers in classroom use among all published in Sloan Management Review (Dec 2013). In addition, his paper “Optimal Incentive-Compatible Priority Pricing for the M/M/1 Queue,” coauthored with Haim Mendelson (1990), was the 7th most-cited paper among the papers published in Operations Research between 1952 and Aug. 2012. Also, his 2002 paper “e-Business and Supply Chain Management: An Overview and Framework,” (with Eric Johnson) was all time top paper for all papers in SSRN Jan 1997 through July 2014 in the topic area of Innovation & Operations.Mendelson (1990), was the 7th most-cited paper among the papers published in Operations Research between 1952 and Aug. 2012. Also, his 2002 paper “e-Business and Supply Chain Management: An Overview and Framework,” (with Eric Johnson) was all time top paper for all papers in SSRN Jan 1997 through July 2014 in the topic area of Innovation & Operations.

During 2006-2008 he served as senior editor to Information Systems Research. He teaches various courses in Supply Chain Management and has prepared cases on Tamagoya of Japan, Big Cola in Mexico, OnStar, POSCO, SAP R/3, Seven Eleven Japan, Toyota, and TSMC. He won Honorable Mention in Distinguished Teaching Award at the Stanford GSB in 1995-1996. At Stanford, he serves as codirector of the Stanford-NUS Executive Program. Outside, he serves on the advisory boards of Altos Ventures and Gilead Sciences. 

Academic Degrees

  • PhD, University of Rochester, 1988
  • MS, University of Rochester, 1985
  • MA, University of Rochester, 1983
  • BEng, Seoul National University, 1974

Academic Appointments

  • At Stanford University since 1987
  • Visiting Professor, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Spring 1985
  • Instructor, University of Rochester, 1986-1987

Professional Experience

  • Systems Analyst, Bank of Seoul and Trust, 1980-1981

Awards and Honors

  • Two-page laudatio in honor of his research, The Production and Operations Management (POM), July, 2017
  • Finmeccanica Faculty Scholar, 1994-1996, 1996
  • Bob and Marilyn Jaedicke Faculty Scholar for 1991-1992, 1992
  • Fletcher Jones Faculty Scholar for 1989-1990, 1990
  • IBM Research Award, 1986

Publications

Journal Articles

Hau L. Lee, V. Padmanabhan, Seungjin Whang. Management Science. April 2004, Vol. 50, Issue 12 Supplement, Pages 1875-1886.
Hau L. Lee, Seungjin Whang. Management Science. 2002, Vol. 48, Issue 6, Pages 719-731.
Hau L. Lee, Seungjin Whang. Sloan Management Review. 15, 2001.
Hau L. Lee, V. Padmanabhan, Terry A. Taylor, Seungjin Whang. Management Science. 2000, Vol. 46, Issue 4, Pages 467-482.
Yasushi Masuda, Seungjin Whang. Management Science. 1999, Vol. 45, Issue 6, Pages 857-869.
Morris A. Cohen, Seungjin Whang. Management Science. 1997, Vol. 43, Issue 4, Pages 535-545.
William S. Lovejoy, Seungjin Whang. Operations Research. September 1995, Vol. 43, Issue 5, Pages 851-861.
Seungjin Whang. Management Science. August 1995, Vol. 41, Issue 8, Pages 1343-1352.
Seungjin Whang. Management Science. March 1992, Vol. 38, Issue 3, Pages 307-324.
Evan L. Porteus, Seungjin Whang. Management Science. 1991, Vol. 37, Issue 9, Pages 1166-1181.

Other Publications

Seungjin Whang. forthcoming in Manufacturing and Service Oeprations Management. 2014.

Working Papers

Teaching

Degree Courses

2020-21

This course constitutes an advanced option in the menu of classes satisfying the Management Perspectives requirement in Optimization and Simulation Modeling (OSM). The course is a superset of OIT 245 and OIT 247, starting with a very fast paced...

2019-20

This course constitutes an advanced option in the menu of classes satisfying the Management Perspectives requirement in Optimization and Simulation Modeling (OSM). The course is a superset of OIT 245 and OIT 247, starting with a very fast paced...

2018-19

The course is aimed at students who already have a background or demonstrated aptitude for quantitative analysis, and thus are comfortable with a more rapid coverage of the topics, in more depth and breadth, than in OIT 245.

Executive Education & Other Non-Degree Programs

Stanford Case Studies

Daiso of Japan: The Dollar Store | GS90
Jin Whang, Kenya Yamamoto2016
Zhejiang Corporation of China Telecom | GS68
Seungjin Whang2008
Marui Group of Japan | GS55
David Hoyt, Seungjin Whang2007
Tamago-Ya of Japan: Delivering Lunch Boxes to Your Work | GS60
Shinya Fushimi, Jason Kaminsky, Veronica Rocha, John Tsou, Seungjin Whang2007
Seven-Eleven Japan | GS18
Casey Koshijima, Hide Saito, Takafumi Ueda, Steve Van Horne, Seungjin Whang2006
POSCO: Global Supply Chain Management | GS44
Hau L. Lee, Seungjin Whang, David Hoyt2005
Toyota: Demand Chain Management | GS42
Hau Lee, Barchi Peleg, Seungjin Whang2005
Toyota: Service Chain Management | GS41
Hau Lee, Barchi Peleg, Seungjin Whang2005
OnStar: Connecting To Customers Through Telematics | GS38
Peter Koudal, Hau Lee, Barchi Peleg, Paresh Rajwat, Seungjin Whang2004
System-to-System Integration at Nokia Mobile Phones
Seungjin Whang, Barchi Peleg2004
i-Mode: NTT DoCoMo's Wireless Data Service | GS28
Seungjin Whang2002
Note on Logistics in the Information Age | GS19
Laura Kopczak, Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang2000
Streamline, Inc.: A Lifestyle Solution Through Information-Smart Logistics | GS16
Hau Lee , Terry Taylor, Seungjin Whang1999
Tong Yang Cement (A): Logistics and Incentives | GS14A
Seungjin Whang, Hau Lee, G. Schmidt1996
Information Flows in Manufacturing under SAP R/3 | OIT13
Seungjin Whang, Hau Lee1995
Steelmaking at POSCO (1992) | GS17
Hau Lee, Seungjin Whang1992

Stanford University Affiliations

Stanford GSB

  • Value Chain Innovation Initiative

In the Media

Maximum Security
DC Velocity, June 2004
Internet Revolution Hits Supply Chain Management
Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun (Japan), December 1999

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