The 11th Mostly OM (Mostly Operations Management) workshop was held at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) from May 31 to June 1, 2024. The event was co-sponsored by Tsinghua SEM and the university's Research Center for Contemporary Management.

The workshop was co-chaired by CHEN Jian, director of the Research Center for Contemporary Management at Tsinghua University and Lenovo Chair Professor at Tsinghua SEM; David Yew, the Piyasombatkul Family Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University; and DAI Jiangang, the Leon C. Welch Professor of Engineering at the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University and dean of the School of Data Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.

Co-chairs of the 11th Mostly OM workshop (left to right: CHEN Jian, David Yew, DAI Jiangang)

This edition of the Mostly OM workshop focused on operations management issues in the era of big data and artificial intelligence. It featured presentations by 11 internationally renowned scholars, including Professor Gallego Guillermo from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; Professor HU Ming from the University of Toronto; Professor LU Xiaoyuan from Dartmouth College; Professor SUN Peng from Duke University; Professors XIE Yao and ZHOU Enlu from the Georgia Institute of Technology; Professor WANG Zizhuo from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; Professor CHEN Ningyuan from the University of Toronto; Professor HUANG Junfei from the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Professor XU Jiaming from Duke University; and Professor ZHANG Xiaowei from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Many of these professors serve as area editors or associate editors for top international academic journals in operations management, such as Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management. The 11 professors discussed topics such as revenue management, healthcare mechanism design, fairness management, optimization algorithms, machine learning, and generative AI, sharing the latest research achievements and thoughts in the field of operations management through special reports and panel discussions.

Guests pose for a group photo.

Revenue management theory is a crucial method for helping companies increase profits by optimizing product selection and pricing. Guillermo Gallego discussed the limitations of personalized product portfolio optimization, while HU Ming conducted an in-depth analysis of emerging sales mechanisms, including blind box sales, platform traffic distribution, and random discounts.

Guillermo Gallego and HU Ming deliver their reports.

Optimization algorithms are fundamental research tools in operations management and were a key topic at the workshop. XIE Yao proposed a novel distributionally robust optimization framework for training neural networks. CHEN Ningyuan discussed the optimization allocation issue for divisible resources in online learning. HUANG Junfei examined the capacity allocation and scheduling problem for multiple types of customers in complex service systems.

XIE Yao, CHEN Ningyuan, and HUANG Junfei (left to right) deliver their reports.

Data-driven decision-making methods are a research hotspot in the era of big data. ZHOU Enlu discussed the application of Bayesian methods in data-driven stochastic optimization. XU Jiaming introduced the latest progress in the shattered sample problem and its applications in data de-anonymization and robotics technology. ZHANG Xiaowei explored the self-fulfilling bias in algorithmic decision-making and proposed a reinforcement learning correction algorithm based on instrumental variables.

ZHOU Enlu, XU Jiamin,g and ZHANG Xiaowei (left to right) deliver their reports.

The practical application of operations management was also a key topic at the workshop. SUN Peng explored the introduction of conditional approval mechanisms in the drug development regulatory process and their role in promoting drug accessibility and investment incentives for pharmaceutical companies. LU Xiaoyuan focused on gender equity in work allocation, proposing a Gender Inequality Index to help organizations measure and address potential gender biases in work distribution. WANG Zizhuo highlighted the practical applications of operations management in Chinese enterprises, demonstrating its positive impact on competitiveness and productivity through case studies on demand forecasting for online sales platforms, queue management in retail outlets, and improvements in high-speed rail ticketing mechanisms.

SUN Peng, LU Xiaoyuan, and WANG Zizhuo (left to right) deliver their reports.

The workshop also featured a special discussion on generative AI technology, which has recently garnered widespread attention. David Yew, DAI Jiangang, XIE Yao, XU Jiaming, and ZHANG Xiaowei explored the opportunities that generative AI brings to operations management research. They anticipated the broad research prospects of interdisciplinary studies and discussed AI teaching models in business schools.

Experts join the Mostly OM 2024 workshop's panel discussion.

During the two-day workshop, participants not only learned about the latest academic advancements in operations management but also engaged in direct and in-depth exchanges with world-class scholars. The Mostly OM workshop, established by Tsinghua SEM, is a top-tier international academic exchange platform in operations management. From 2010 to 2019, it was held annually and has organized ten editions, gaining wide recognition from scholars both domestically and internationally. It has become a crucial platform for Chinese operations management scholars to collaborate and communicate with leading international researchers, attracting more than 3,500 participants globally, with its influence and reputation steadily increasing. This year's workshop, the first after a four-year hiatus that began in 2020, saw participation from more than 330 teachers and students from more than 80 higher education institutes worldwide.

Participants at the Mostly OM 2024 workshop pose for a group photo.