This paper studies the role of seekers' problem specification in crowdsourcing contests for design problems. Platforms hosting design contests offer detailed guidance for seekers to specify their problems when launching a contest. Yet, problem specification in such crowdsourcing contests is...

Online social networks are increasingly being used to conduct commercial activities, and many online social networking platforms allow users to sell products to their online connections. Although extensive research has been conducted on the interactions among buyers within a social network,...

We partner with a leading U.S. e-commerce retailer and develop a competitive pricing method in the context of increasing competition in online retailing. Our method allows retailers to more accurately respond to competitors' price changes at scale. First, we construct a parsimonious demand model...

We examine a supply base diversification problem faced by a buyer who periodically holds auctions to award short term supply contracts among a cohort of suppliers (i.e., the supply base). To mitigate significant cost shocks to procurement, the buyer can diversify her supply base by selecting...