Jacob Zijian Zeng

Education

Ph.D. in Operations Management, The University of Texas at Austin, 2022
References: Yannis Stamatopoulos (advisor), Ashish Agarwal, Nur Sunar
M.S. in Operations Research, Columbia University, 2016
B.S. in Operations Research, Columbia University, 2015

Research (IoT, Retail Operations, Data Science, Sustainability)

(1) “Promotional Inventory Displays: An Empirical Analysis Using IoT Data.” with Ashish Agarwal, and Ioannis (Yannis) Stamatopoulos. Minor Revision. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Abstract: Despite their widespread use, promotional inventory displays’ campaign execution is opaque. Brands (manufacturers) can only verify in-store display presence through manual, on-site audits, which are costly and limited in scope. This lack of visibility into execution makes it difficult for brands to quantify the sales impact of displays and properly evaluate campaign performance. We use internet-of-things (IoT)-generated data on the real-time location of about 15 thousand displays from 10 display campaigns in about 5 thousand stores of a Fortune 500 retail chain, paired with the stores’ point-of-sale (POS) data between September 2017 and March 2018, to measure the operational execution and effectiveness of display campaigns. First, we find that campaigns are poorly executed: 29 percent of displays never made it to a store’s floor, and those that made it only spent 62 percent of the campaign there. Second, we find that poor execution deprives brands of substantial sales, especially during campaign weeks: placing a display on the floor during an arbitrary week increases the targeted products’ sales by 7.3 percent, and placing it on the floor during a campaign week boosts sales by another 2.3 percent. Our results enable brands to optimize investments in promotional display campaigns and execution. We project that brands would suffer a 3.1 percent dollar sales decrease during campaign weeks by discontinuing current campaigns. However, they could achieve up to a 6.9 percent dollar sales increase during campaign weeks through improved execution.

SSRN Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3559018

(2) “IoT-based nudging for energy saving: More can be less for organizations and environment.” with Serasu Duran, Nil Karacaoglu, and Nur Sunar. Preparing for submission to Management Science. Accepted by MSOM Conference 2023.

Abstract: Eliminating excessive energy consumption can result in significant financial savings and environmental benefits. However, the effectiveness of real-time feedback in correcting excess usage has not been investigated in the commercial sector. To answer this question, we leverage detailed data on electricity consumption and abnormal consumption alerts in 14 brick and mortar stores to identify how managers react to real-time feedback and whether these effects persist over time. Our findings show that the alerts correct high consumption, but the outcomes have limited duration. Moreover, we observe that the reactivity of managers to the feedback decreases as the frequency and the number of messages sent increase. Our findings provide valuable insights to energy platforms and policymakers for better design of energy consumption feedback.

(3) “Prediction Models for Promotional Inventory Displays Based on IoT Data.” with Ashish Agarwal, Alexandros G. Dimakis, and Ioannis (Yannis) Stamatopoulos. Work in Progress.

Teaching (as Instructor)

BUSI 410: Business Analytics, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Spring 2023, Summer 2023
Undergraduate Core Course for Business Major Students
Most Recent Student Evaluations: 4.6/5.0

OM 335: Operations Management, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2019
Undergraduate Core Course in Operations Management for Upper-Division Students
Student Evaluations: 4.6/5.0

Presentations
INFORMS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, October 2023
MSOM Conference, Montréal, QC, June 2023
32nd POMS Annual Meeting, Virtual, April 2022
INFORMS Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, October 2021
CIST, Newport Beach, CA, October 2021
31st POMS Annual Meeting, Virtual, May 2021
INFORMS Annual Meeting, Virtual, 2020
INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, October 2019
30th POMS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, May 2019
29th POMS Annual Meeting, Houston, TX, May 2018

Hobbies

In my spare time, I play the piano, compose piano sheets, play chess, try out different restaurants, and travel. Click the play button below to enjoy the music I composed.