We provide a theory that unifies the long tail and blockbuster phenomena. Specifically, we analyze a three-stage game where, first, a large number of potential firms make entry decisions, then those who stay in the market decide on the investment in its product, and lastly customers with...

We study a dynamic market over a finite horizon for a single product or service in which buyers with private valuations and sellers with private supply costs arrive following Poisson processes. A single market-making intermediary decides dynamically on the ask and bid price that will be posted...

In a crowdsourcing contest, innovation is outsourced by a firm to an open crowd that competes in generating innovative solutions. Given that the projects typically consist of multiple attributes, how should the firm optimally design a crowdsourcing contest for such a project? We consider two...

We study a continuous-review, two-echelon inventory system with one central warehouse, multiple local facilities, and each facility facing random demand. Local facilities replenish their stock from the central warehouse (or distribution center), which in turn places orders at an outside supplier...

Archimedes once said "give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world." In this paper, we study the optimal timing of contingently placing a "fulcrum" in the context of crowdfunding, with the potential of tilting the random pledging process from failure to success. Specifically, we consider a...

Competing technologies in emerging industries create uncertainties that can discourage supplier investments. Open technology may induce supplier investments, but may also lead to intensified future competition. In this paper, we study competing manufacturers' open-technology strategies. We show...

We study a two-period model in which a firm faces the problem of deciding whether to commit to sales volume disclosure under market size uncertainty, when selling a network good to forward-looking customers who time their purchases. If the first-period sales volume is disclosed, the...