Stanley Lim

Stanley Lim is an assistant professor of supply chain management in the Department of Supply Chain Management and faculty affiliate with the Evolution and Future of Work Research Initiative at Michigan State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management from the University of Cambridge, a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.B.A. from Warwick Business School. In his research, he examines operational issues at the interface between retail supply chain management and end consumers. Stanley has developed a stream of research that is grounded in practice with a strong managerial emphasis. He adopts an interdisciplinary perspective to improve operations' theory and practice. He integrates work in operations management, marketing, and economics and leverages customer behavior analytics to inform how and under what conditions can firms best distribute their products and services to the end consumers.

At present, he focuses on understanding the economics of distribution services in digital and nondigital retail with applications in omni-channel retailing, food waste management, and last-mile supply chains, covering the four A's: (1) accessibility of location and information, (2) availability of inventory, (3) assurance of product delivery, and (4) assortment planning. These areas comprise the four core services retailers provide to help consumers reduce their search and transaction costs.

Based on this research agenda, Stanley has developed analytical models for the design of store networks and facility locations, workload and job assignments, and service policies. These include, for example, models to predict failed delivery attempts in routing models, estimate the opportunity cost of product stockouts to inform inventory planning, determine the optimal return window for consumer return policies, and evaluate the degree of spatial competition to guide the design of store market areas. He has also examined the effects of contract terms on retailer and supplier's bargaining power and their economic outcomes, drivers' workload on their delivery performance, subscription models on consumer behaviors, and consumers' sensitivities to lead times and their product return behaviors across digital and nondigital channels. 

Stanley reviews for Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Naval Research Logistics, and Decision Sciences Journal. He has served as a guest associate editor at Journal of Operations Management for a special issue on omni-channel retailing. He is co-editing a special issue on innovations, technologies, and the economics of last-mile operations at the journal. He frequently serves as session chairs on empirical retail operations and economics of retail distribution services at INFORMS and POMS annual conferences. He is co-chairing the POM-Economics Interface track at the 2023 Annual POMS Conference and the Supply Chain Management track at the 2023 DSI Conference. Stanley welcomes opportunities for new collaborations.

*** I am actively looking for post-docs/visiting PhDs/research assistants to work with me across causal inference, optimization and machine learning with applications in retail, logistics, and food supply chains. Please contact me if you are interested. ***

Lim, S.F.W.T., Rabinovich, E., Lee, S. and Park, S. 2021. Estimating stockout costs and optimal stockout rates: A case on the management of ugly produce inventory. Management Science (Under minor revision).Lim, S.F.W.T., Gao, F. and Tan, T.F. 2023. Channel changes choice: An empirical study about omnichannel demand sensitivity to fulfillment lead time. Management Science, forthcoming.Lim, S.F.W.T., Wang, Q. and Webster, S. 2023. Do it right the first time: Vehicle routing with home delivery attempt predictors. Production and Operations Management, 32(4): 1262–1284.
Lim, S.F.W.T., Richards, T.J., Rabinovich, E. and Choi, M. 2022. Scan based trading and bargaining equilibrium: A structural estimation of supply chain profit. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24(4): 2328–2348.Lim, S.F.W.T., Rabinovich, E., Park, S. and Hwang, M. 2021. Shopping activity at warehouse club stores and its competitive and network density implications. Production and Operations Management, 30(1): 28–46.Lim, S.F.W.T. and Winkenbach, M. 2019. Configuring the last-mile in business-to-consumer e-retailing. California Management Review, 61(2): 132–154.