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Problem definition: Despite extensive research on buyback contracts in supply chain management, little attention has been given to a direct comparison between a traditional full-quantity, partial-credit (FQ) buyback contract and an alternative full-credit, partial-quantity (FC) contract, especially when considering the behavioral biases of the retailer. This study aims to fill this research gap by exploring how these biases influence contract performance and offer practical guidelines for suppliers. Methodology/results: Through controlled laboratory experiments and structural model estimation, we show that the ordering decisions made by human retailers are jointly affected by three behavioral biases—loss aversion, prospective accounting, and psychological cost of inventory error—and these biases differ in magnitude between the two contracts. Incorporating these biases into a behavioral retailer's utility function, we then analytically examine which buyback policy the supplier should choose. When the wholesale price is exogenously given, the supplier should adopt the FC contract for high-margin (low-cost) products. Conversely, when the supplier has the power to set both the wholesale and buyback prices, the FC contract is generally more beneficial for low-margin products. Finally, when the product cost is sufficiently high, a wholesale price contract may be advantageous over buyback policies. Managerial implications: The managerial implication of this paper is significant for suppliers who have to choose between different buyback policies. The paper suggests that the supplier should carefully consider not just the economic, but also the behavioral dimensions when making contract decisions, particularly when dealing with a retailer influenced by behavioral biases. Specifically, the choice between FQ and FC contracts is influenced by two key environmental factors: the production cost of the product and the nature of wholesale pricing. Understanding these elements allows suppliers to be flexible in contract choices and design appropriate return policies for their downstream supply chain partners. Funding: P. Yu was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 72371038 and 72033003] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant 2024CDJSKPT16]. T. Feng was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant 72131004]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.0574. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the traffic safety evaluation model for downstream intersections of urban expressway exits and make up for the shortcomings in safety research on downstream intersections of urban expressway exits. We constructed a comprehensive traffic safety evaluation index system, established a traffic safety evaluation model, and divided precise safety evaluation levels using the AHP–Matter-Element analysis method, establishing a traffic safety evaluation index system consisting of eleven indicators. The effectiveness of this method was validated through an assessment of traffic safety at the intersection of Dongsheng Street and Free Road in Changchun City. A theoretical basis for improving traffic safety at downstream intersections of urban expressways and a reference for subsequent related research were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the concept of toughness was introduced to transportation systems, transportation system toughness has received extensive attention from researchers in the field of transportation worldwide. In this paper, a methodology for quantifying and assessing the toughness of urban transportation systems is proposed in the context of the New Crown epidemic. Firstly, the definition of urban transportation system toughness in this context is clarified, and the entropy evaluation method is applied to construct the performance curve of urban transportation systems over time. Then, it is proposed to quantify the system's resistance, recovery, and adaptive ability in terms of the change in the cumulative amount of system performance. Finally, the three characteristic abilities of system toughness are organically combined to obtain a comprehensive assessment of system toughness. Example calculations and analyses are carried out in four Chinese cities with different levels of development, and the results show that the performance of urban transportation systems is positively correlated with their levels of development, and all of them fluctuate greatly under the influence of the epidemic, but Wuhan has the strongest resistance and recovery ability of the transportation system, and shows the highest toughness, followed by Lanzhou, Changchun, and Shanghai. The system toughness quantification and assessment methods proposed in this paper provide a reference for research on improving the ability of urban transportation systems to deal with multiple uncertainty disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to further study the expansion characteristics of left-turning non-motorized vehicles at intersections and the relationship between expansion characteristics and vehicle-bicycle conflicts, the trajectory point data of left-turning non-motorized vehicles are extracted using video trajectory tracking technology, and construct the cubic curve expansion envelope equation with the highest fitting degree. For the purpose of quantifying the expansion degree of non-motor vehicles after starting, two intersections in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were selected for case analysis, and the numerical range of expansion degree of the intersection with a left-turn waiting area and the intersection without a left-turn waiting area was obtained. Study the mathematical relationship between the expansion degree and its influencing factors, and establish the multivariate nonlinear regression equation between the expansion degree and the left-turn non-motorized vehicle flow, the number of parallel non-motorized vehicles, and the left-turn green light time. Analyze the vehicle-bicycle conflicts caused by the expansion of left-turning non-motorized vehicles, determine the essential factors affecting the number of non-motorized vehicles, and establish the multiple linear regression equation between the number of non-motorized vehicles and the number of left-turning non-motorized vehicles, the expansion degree, and the number of parallel non-motorized vehicles, the results show that the model has high accuracy. By analyzing the expansion characteristics of left-turning non-motorized vehicles at intersections, the relationship between different influencing factors and the expansion degree is obtained. Then the vehicle-bicycle conflicts under the influence of expansion characteristics is analyzed, providing theoretical ideas for improving traffic efficiency and optimizing traffic organization at intersections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved cellular automata model (CA model) considering driving styles is proposed to analyze traffic flow characteristics and study traffic congestion's dissipation mechanism. The data were taken from a particular case in the Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM) program, which selected US-101 as the survey location from 7:50 a.m.–8:05 a.m. to investigate vehicle trajectory information. Different driving styles and the differences in vehicle parameters (speed, acceleration, deceleration, etc.) were obtained using principal component analysis and the k-means clustering method. The selected model was proposed for improvement based on analyzing the existing CA models and combining them with the actual road conditions. Considerations of driving styles and two operation mechanisms (over-acceleration and speed adaptation) were introduced in the improved model. The result obtained after the traffic simulation shows that the improved CA model is effective, and the mutual transformation of different traffic flow phases can be simulated. In the improved CA model, dissipating traffic congestion effectively and balancing the overall flow of the road are realized to improve the traffic capacity up to around 115% compared to the NaSch model and meet the demand of all kinds of drivers expecting to drive at the safest distance, which provides a theoretical basis for relieving traffic congestion. The various driving styles in terms of safety, comfort, and effectiveness are performed differently in the improved CA model. An aggressive driving style contributes to increasing traffic capacity up to around 181% compared to a calm driving style, while the calm style contributes to maintaining traffic flow stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This forum study examines the past and the future of Operations Management (OM) research. First, we investigate the evolution of OM research from 1997 to 2018 by using machine learning tools to analyze all OM papers published in five journals (JOM, MS, M&SOM, POM, and OR), and find that the number of information/financial flow‐focused OM research papers has increased steadily over the years. Second, we present three research topics motivated by the US‐China trade war and the Covid‐19 pandemic, and postulate that future OM research is likely to involve all three flows: material, information, and financial flows. Finally, we argue that, to achieve operational efficiency, resilience, and sustainability in the Industry 4.0 era, firms should build (or strengthen) three new capabilities: Connectivity, Clarity, and Continuity. As firms develop new ways to build these new capabilities, more innovative OM research ideas will ensue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 20 years, the journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (M&SOM) has expanded its original focus to include innovative operations, environmentally sustainable operations, and socially responsible operations. As we celebrate M&SOM's 20th anniversary, this special issue is intended to renew M&SOM's commitment to publish operations management research articles that are relevant, innovative, and rigorous. This paper reflects on the development of M&SOM over the last 20 years and discusses the exciting future of the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how to design service outsourcing contracts to ensure fast, quality services from an independent service provider. The outsourcer does not have perfect information about the service provider's capacity cost (i.e., cost of providing fast service) and quality cost (i.e., cost of achieving a high quality level). Moreover, the two unknown costs may be positively, or negatively, correlated with each other. We solve for the outsourcer's optimal outsourcing contract, and show that the structure of the optimal contract depends on the relationship between the costs. Specifically, we highlight the following observations when the two costs are negatively correlated: First, under certain conditions, the outsourcer may be able to squeeze the supplier's profit (information rent) to zero for an intermediate range of cost realizations; second, it is possible that the service supply chain is coordinated by using the outsourcer's optimal contract. We then examine the performance of two classes of commonly observed contracts that are relatively simple to implement. It has been found that these simple contracts generally perform well when the costs are positively correlated, but they could perform much worse when the costs are negatively correlated. Our results therefore caution outsourcing companies that the potential trade‐off between capacity cost and quality cost may require a careful design of outsourcing contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study experimentally investigates ordering behavior in the competitive newsvendor problem. We consider a duopoly market setting with two identical newsvendors selling the same perishable goods in a common market. Our experimental results show that average observed orders systematically deviate from the Nash equilibrium, and exhibit a similar pull-to-center pattern as in the classic non-competitive newsvendor experiments: average orders fall below the Nash equilibrium in the high-margin condition, and above the Nash equilibrium in the low-margin condition. More importantly, the observed orders in the duopoly market are significantly higher than that in the non-competitive newsvendor market, even in situations where standard inventory models predict no difference. We explain the ordering behavior using a strategic experience-weighted attraction (EWA) model, which captures players' propensities for strategic thinking in game settings. Our empirical analysis suggests that the strategic EWA model generates more accurate predictions of future ordering behavior than an existing linear adaptive model without concerning strategic thinking. Further analysis shows that individuals are heterogeneous in their propensities to be a strategic player. Our research indicates the importance of modeling strategic behavior when analyzing behavioral decisions in competitive (game) environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manuscript Type Empirical Research Question/Issue This paper explores whether R&D investment has a mediating and/or moderating effect on the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. Research Findings/Insights This empirical study of Chinese IT-industry listed companies during the 2007-2008 period shows that R&D investment does not moderate, but instead mediates the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. Theoretical/Academic Implications This paper takes the perspective of technological innovation to empirically examine the effect of corporate governance on firm performance. This study makes a contribution to the literature by showing that technological innovation (i.e., R&D investment) mediates the effects of various governance mechanisms (i.e., ownership concentration, managerial compensation, and asset-debt ratio) on firm performance. Practitioner/Policy Implications The results provide important managerial implications for the practice of corporate governance in emerging economies. Companies in emerging economies can enhance technological innovation through maintaining relatively high ownership concentration, designing effective managerial compensation systems, and optimizing capital structure. In addition, emerging economies should adopt effective public policies on technological innovation to improve the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the impact of modular assembly on supply chain efficiency. In the modular assembly approach, a manufacturer acquires pre-assembled modules from its suppliers, rather than the individual components, as in the traditional assembly approach. We analyze the competitive behavior of a two-stage modular assembly system consisting of a manufacturer, and a supplier who pre-assembles two components into a module. The firms can choose their own inventory policies and we show the existence of Nash equilibrium in the inventory game. Moving from the traditional to the modular approach has a twofold effect on the supply chain. First, we investigate the effect of centralizing the component suppliers. It can be shown that when there is no production time shift, the module supplier always holds more component inventories than suppliers do in the traditional approach, which yields a lower cost for the manufacturer. However, the suppliers, and therefore the supply chain may incur a higher cost in the modular approach. Second, we study the effect of a shift in production time from the manufacturing stage to the supplier stage. From numerical studies, it has been found that such a lead time shift always benefits a centralized supply chain, but not necessarily so for a decentralized system. Combining the two effects, we find that the modular approach generally reduces the cost to the manufacturer and the supply chain, which explains the prevalence of modular assembly from the perspective of inventory management. These results also provide some insight into how firms can improve supply chain efficiency by choosing the right decision structure and lead time configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service failure is well documented in service marketing literature, which mainly focuses on service interactions between employees and individual customers. However, prior research has not examined customers’ emotional and behavioral responses during group service failure—that is, a service involving a group of customers who do not meet the expectations of all or the majority of the customers. Compared with service failure involving individual customers (individual service failure), customers in group service failure are likely to show different emotional and behavioral characteristics. The authors conduct two experiments and find that customers have higher levels of anger and complaint intentions in group service failure than in individual service failure. In addition, the displays of anger by surrounding customers are positively related to individual customers’ anger. Through a second experiment, this article further investigates the role of group size and group familiarity on group emotional contagion during group service failure. The results show that both group size and group familiarity moderate the relationship between the displays of anger by surrounding customers and an individual customer’s anger—that is, the effect of group emotional contagion is stronger in a large/familiar group than in a small/unfamiliar group. The results provide several theoretical and managerial implications for research in group service failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the toxic capsule crisis during April 2012 aroused widespread public concern about the risk of chromium-contaminated capsules and drug safety in China. In this article, we develop a conceptual model to investigate risk perceptions of the pharmaceutical drug capsules and behavioral responses to the toxic capsule crisis and the relationship between associated factors and these two variables. An online survey was conducted to test the model, including questions on the measures of perceived efficacy of the countermeasures, trust in the State FDA (Food and Drug Administration), trust in the pharmaceutical companies, trust in the pharmaceutical capsule producers, risk perception, concern, need for information, information seeking, and risk avoidance. In general, participants reported higher levels of risk perception, concern, and risk avoidance, and lower levels of trust in the three different stakeholders. The results from the structural equation modeling procedure suggest that perceived efficacy of the countermeasures is a predictor of each of the three trust variables; however, only trust in the State FDA has a dampening impact on risk perception. Both risk perception and information seeking are significant determinants of risk avoidance. Risk perception is also positively related to concern. Information seeking is positively related to both concern and need for information. The theoretical and policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual valuation of a binary lottery at values less than the lottery's worst outcome has been designated as the 'uncertainty effect'. Our paper aims to explore the boundary conditions of the uncertainty effect by investigating a plausible underlying process and proposing two possible methods. First, we examine how providing an exogenous evaluation opportunity prior to judging the value of the lottery affects individuals' judgments, and find that first valuing the worst outcome and then the lottery eliminates the uncertainty effect. Second, we explore whether introducing additional cognitive load dampens how far decision makers correct their initial evaluations, and find that additional cognitive load is able to eliminate the uncertainty effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the recent recalls of contaminated pet food and lead-painted toys in the United States, we examine patterns of risk perceptions and decisions when facing consumer product-caused quality risks. Two approaches were used to explore risk perceptions of the product recalls. In the first approach, we elicited judged probabilities and found that people appear to have greatly overestimated the actual risks for both product scenarios. In the second approach, we applied the psychometric paradigm to examine risk perception dimensions concerning these two specific products through factor analysis. There was a similar risk perception pattern for both products: they are seen as unknown risks and are relatively not dread risks. This pattern was also similar to what prior research found for lead paint. Further, we studied people's potential actions to deal with the recalls of these two products. Several factors were found to be significant predictors of respondents' cautious actions for both product scenarios. Policy considerations regarding product quality risks are discussed. For example, risk communicators could reframe information messages to prompt people to consider total risks packed together from different causes, even when the risk message has been initiated due to a specific recall event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]