Decision, Risk, and Operations

Letter From the Chair

The Quantitative Advantage

The Decision, Risk, and Operations Division is a world leader in research and instruction in quantitative, data-driven decision-making through the use modeling, optimization and the management of uncertainty, and all aspects of the operations and analytics functions in firms.

Application areas in which the division has strong expertise include business analytics; e-commerce; revenue management; logistics, distribution and supply-chain management; resource networks and service systems; healthcare operations; market design; quantitative finance with emphasis on the valuation of derivative securities, modern market microstructure, and risk management; and econometrics.

An important aspect of the mission of the division is to foster collaboration with industry and impact society by solving important practical problems such as helping hospitals care for their patients in a more efficient and cost effective manner; coordination and risk mitigation in global supply chains; design of dynamic and responsive pricing algorithms in a variety of industries; creation of innovative securities trading algorithms; design of frameworks to measure systemic risk; and optimization of the operations of online marketplaces.

The division is actively involved in teaching in the MBA and PhD programs. In the MBA program, the division teaches the core courses on Managerial Statistics, Business Analytics, and Operations Management, and offers a suite of electives in various topics in Operations, Analytics, and Technology.

Awi Federgruen

Charles E. Exley Professor of Management;
Chair of Decision, Risk, and Operations Division

Affiliated Departments and Research Centers

The Computational Optimization Research Center

carries out advanced studies in the solution of difficult, large-scale optimization problems, with special focus on state-of-the-art implementation of modern algorithms.

Center for Applied Probability

provides an umbrella under which diverse research and educational activities in probability and its applications can be focused and supported.

Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

is the home to Financial Engineering, a multidisciplinary field that requests familiarity with financial theory, the methods of engineering, the tools of mathematics and the practice of programming.

The Center for Financial Engineering

is part of an interdisciplinary field of research where contributions from applied mathematics, economics, operations research, statistics and computer science have given birth to remarkable developments in market practice.

In the Media

Marketplace

May 20, 2024

As Red Lobster Files for Bankruptcy, Changing Tastes Take a Toll on Its Casual-Dining Competitors

Highlighted by Columbia Business School, this media piece showcases Topics and Areas of Expertise about our esteemed faculty. The content is specifically curated from the publication that showcased the mentioned faculty and/or research, emphasizing its contributions in various fields. The featured Topics and Areas of Expertise reflects the school's commitment to sharing valuable insights and knowledge.

Mentioned Faculty (1)

Stephen Zagor

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business: Management Division

Stephen Zagor is a New York City based Consultant and Educator, focusing on restaurants and food businesses. He has developed an extensive knowledge of the culinary industry, specializing in the business side of food enterprises.

As a consultant Steve has provided comprehensive support to a wide variety of clients including entrepreneurs starting restaurants, food retail businesses and food products. His clients have included large public companies, investment funds, government agencies, lawyers, large restaurant groups and small food business owners.

Full Profile

The Washington Post

May 17, 2024

As Red Lobsters Abruptly Close, Experts Blame the Endless Shrimp

Mentioned Faculty (1)

Stephen Zagor

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business: Management Division

Full Profile

Fortune

May 16, 2024

Some of the Most Talented, High-Ranking Workers at Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX Jumped Ship after Return-to-Office Mandates, New Study Reveals

Mentioned Faculty (1)

Stephan Meier

James P. Gorman Professor of Business; Chair of Management Division: Management Division

Stephan Meier is currently the chair of the Management Division and the James P. Gorman Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich, was previously a senior economist at the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and taught courses on strategic interactions and economic policy at Harvard University and the University of Zurich. His research interest is in behavioral strategy.

Full Profile

The Christian Science Monitor

May 8, 2024

AI May Take Away Jobs – but It’s Creating Some, Too

Mentioned Faculty (1)

Daniel Keum

Associate Professor of Business: Management Division

Daniel (Dongil) Keum is an Associate Professor of Management at Columbia Business School. His research interests lie in innovation, organizational structure, labor market policy, and their application to public policy formation. He holds a PhD from NYU Stern School of Business and an AB with high honors in economics and mathematics from Dartmouth College. Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Daniel worked at McKinsey & Company for four years. His primary industry experience is in retail, fashion, and corporate portfolio restructuring.

Full Profile

Harvard Business Review

April 30, 2024

When AI Teammates Come on Board, Performance Drops

Mentioned Faculty (1)

Bruce Kogut

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics: Management Division

Academic Director of BAID: Hub Faculty

Bruce Kogut

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics

Management Division

Academic Director of BAID

Hub Faculty

Bruce Kogut is the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. He teaches courses on Governance, Governance and Ethics, and Business Strategies and Solving Social Problems. He has taught in executive programs in the US, Europe, and China.

Full Profile

Yahoo! Finance

April 10, 2024

AI Will Change Work, for Better and Worse

Mentioned Faculty (1)

Daniel Keum

Associate Professor of Business: Management Division

Full Profile

Research

The Macroeconomics of Stakeholder Equilibria*

Authors: John Donaldson and Hyung Seok E. Kim

Date: Forthcoming

Format: Working Paper

We propose one route to a more inclusive society. Our context is the prevailing one of high wealth inequality where stockholders alone supply the stochastic discount factor governing the allocation of capital. A large and pervasive pecuniary externality is thus imposed on non-stockholder workers, something we view as antithetical to the notion of an inclusive society.

Authors: Nicolas Padilla, Eva Ascarza, and Oded Netzer

Date: Forthcoming

Format: Journal Article

Journal: Quantitative Marketing and Economics

We introduce a probabilistic machine learning model that fuses customer click-stream data and purchase data within and across journeys. This approach addresses the critical business need for leveraging first-party data (1PD), particularly in environments with infrequent purchases, which are characterized by minimal or no prior purchase history.

Authors: Adam Michael Bauer, Cristian Proistosescu, and Gernot Wagner

Date: Forthcoming

Format: Journal Article

Journal: Climatic Change

We develop a financial-economic model for carbon pricing with an explicit representation of decision making under risk and uncertainty that is consistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report. We show that risk associated with high damages in the long term leads to stringent mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions in the near term, and find that this approach provides economic support for stringent warming targets across a variety of specifications.

Authors: Michal Herzenstein, Sanjana Rosario , Elliot Oblander , and Oded Netzer

Date: Forthcoming

Format: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological Science

Using publicly available data from 299 pre-registered replications from the social sciences, we find that the language used to describe a study can predict its replicability above and beyond a large set of controls related to the paper characteristics, study design and results, author information, and replication effort. To understand why, we analyze the textual differences between replicable and nonreplicable studies.

Authors: Marina Halac and Pierre Yared

Date: Forthcoming

Format: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of Political Economy

We propose a political economy mechanism that explains the presence of fiscal regimes punctuated by crisis periods. Our model focuses on the interaction between successive deficit-biased governments subject to i.i.d. fiscal shocks. We show that the economy transitions between a fiscally responsible regime and a fiscally irresponsible regime, with transitions occurring during crises when fiscal needs are large. Under fiscal responsibility, governments limit their spending to avoid transitioning to fiscal irresponsibility.

Ideas

Economics and Policy

Date: September 24, 2010

Economics and Policy

Encounters in the Global Experience Economy: Matsuhisa Athens

A first-hand account of experiencing the global economy.

Read more about Encounters in the Global Experience Economy: Matsuhisa Athens about Encounters in the Global Experience Economy: Matsuhisa Athens

Type: Columbia Business
Date: October 10, 2022

Economics and Policy

Future of Work

Organizations

Real Estate

How Will Working From Home Impact Office Real Estate?

Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, the Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School, discusses his new research on the impact of remote work on the New York City commercial real estate sector.

Read more about How Will Working From Home Impact Office Real Estate? about How Will Working From Home Impact Office Real Estate?

Business and Society

Capital Markets and Investments

Type: Columbia Business
Date: October 24, 2022

Business and Society

Capital Markets and Investments

Digital Future

Economics and Policy

Innovation

Strategy

Technology

Value Investing

Why Value Investing is Making a Comeback

Professor Tano Santos, the Faculty Director of Value Investing and Advanced Value Investing programs at Columbia Business School, outlines the reasons why value investing is returning to a period of ascendancy.