Bintong Chen

Professor, Business Administration; Director, Institute for Financial Services Analytics University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Chen's cross-disciplinary expertise includes knowledge of both business management practices, data science, and systems engineering.

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Spotlight

2 min

Holiday shopping season set to begin with questions about Black Friday, consumer behavior

Is Black Friday still a thing? Online sales have been outpacing brick-and-mortar sales for years, resulting in shorter lines and less of a frenzy at stores on the day after Thanksgiving. Many stores have also gone online with deals to compliment in-person shopping. University of Delaware experts can comment on this and other topics related to the holiday shopping season and gift-buying behavior. Andong Cheng: Can provide tips on what to prepare for during this unique holiday shopping season. Her research focuses on defining and identifying the picky consumer segment, and explores how pickiness impacts other judgments and decisions. She advises consumers to consider the phenomenon of double mental discounting, where shoppers experience a “mental accounting phenomenon” when offered promotional credit. Jackie Silverman: Research examines several facets of judgment and decision making and consumer psychology. According to Silverman, there are many potential benefits of online shopping for consumers, including some unconventional approaches to gift giving this season. Philip Gable: Can talk about the science behind the art of gift-giving that goes beyond the material exchange — emotional nuances that also can be applied to charitable work and philanthropy. He says that significance contributes to the happiness we experience in gift-giving. Matthew McGranaghan: Studies the economics of consumer attention and the indirect effects of marketing interventions. He explains that there is a difference in how businesses are innovating and utilizing online retail methods to connect with consumers this holiday season. Bintong Chen: Can discuss the systematic nature of supply chain issues. He recommends shoppers use major retailers like Amazon and Walmart, whose companies use their own shipping fleets to minimize disruptions. Caroline Swift: Examines supply chain transparency and the interactions between regulation and business performance.

Bintong ChenJackie SilvermanMatthew McGranaghanPhilip Gable

1 min

Opening up supply chain blockages in the wake of the Baltimore bridge collapse

The impact of the Baltimore bridge collapse on supply chains is as massive as it is obvious. Finding the solutions to repairing the damage is not so simple, according to Bintong Chen, professor of operations management at the University of Delaware. Pain points include the loss of a major access point to a busy port and international car and truck shipping; a significant dent in commercial trucking (especially hazardous material transportation); and a strain on civilian commuting. Chen offers two solutions: Clear the water way first and quickly so that shipping will resume normally. This is the first priority and should not take long. Develop a plan to re-route traffic, as it will take four to five years to build a bridge to replace the Francis Scott Key Bridge. He proposes the following traffic changes: Divert all commercial trucking flow to William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bay Bridge. Reduce or remove the toll for night trucking in order to spread the truck flow and reduce the congestion. Reduce or remove the toll for the Baltimore tunnel at night for civilian commuting for the same purpose.  To schedule an interview with Chen, visit his profile and click on the contact button or reach out to the UD Media Relations team.

Bintong Chen

Media

Social

Biography

Bintong Chen's cross-disciplinary expertise includes knowledge of both business management practices, data science, and systems engineering. He has consulted for companies in diverse industries including: fashion (Nordstrom, Inc.); utilities (Cascade Natural Gas Corporation); agriculture (North West Dairy Farm); telecommunications (AT&T) and transportation (Burlington North Railroad). Chen's consulting work centers on improving efficiency of business operations, logistics, and customer service. He is also an expert in many technical fields, including optimization, game theory, and machine learning.

Industry Expertise

Research
Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Optimization
Machine Learning
Game Theory
Business Logistics
Customer Service Management
Financial Services Operations

Media Appearances

Attention, shoppers: Here's what you need to know for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday

The News Journal  online

2021-11-24

Much has already been made about how disruptions in the global supply chain will soil the second holiday season in the pandemic. Fears of empty shelves and late deliveries aren't unfounded, but experts say the more likely effect of the supply chain issues is higher prices for customers. "This whole supply chain disruption is a systematic problem," says Bingtong Chen, a University of Delaware operations management professor. "It's not just a bottleneck, so it's going to last for awhile."

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Black Friday 2022 outlook: Cloudy with a chance of solid sales

Newswise  online

2022-11-24

Analysts are split on projections for this year's Black Friday. Markdowns could bring a solid haul for consumers and a stronger-than-expected economy may lead to a successful day for retailers. But the consensus seems to be that the biggest shopping day of the season could go either way. For example, there are concerns that price slashes will be on the stockpile of leftovers that didn't sell earlier this year. And what about that whole supply chain bottleneck thing?

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'This is going to take a while' | UD profs expect supply chain disruptions to last through the holidays - at least

WDEL  online

2021-11-17

Prices on just about everything seem to be ticking up across the board, and a pair of University of Delaware professors don't see relief anytime soon. From foods to products, the pinch at the checkout is expected to linger. "In the longer term, I mean, in order to resolve this problem, the only way we can do it is we should move part of our supply chain domestically. That's going to reduce the interruption permanently," said Business Administration Professor Bintong Chen. "In such a globalized world, I mean, it's getting more difficult to produce everything domestically. But that's the ultimate solution. You have to reduce the size of the supply chain to make it less prone to interruption."

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Articles

Production outsourcing decision in the presence of consumer’s preference uncertainty

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review

2023

We investigate upstream coopetition and competition in a supply chain in the context of a high-quality brand manufacturer’s strategy on upstream outsourcing and e-commerce platform’s strategy on downstream information disclosure. The high-quality brand manufacturer outsources production and sells through an e-commerce platform, where a low-quality manufacturer also sells.

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Lenient vs. stringent returns policies in the presence of fraudulent returns: The role of customers’ fairness perceptions

Omega

2023

Offering lenient returns policies is a common post-sales service strategy that retailers use to ensure customer satisfaction. Some customers, however, abuse these lenient returns policies, which leads to fraudulent returns. In response, retailers take some strategic actions, such as increasing retail prices to offset the loss, or imposing restrictions on otherwise lenient returns policies.

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Subsidy strategy for reserving flexible capacity of emergency supply production

International Transactions in Operational Research

2023

This paper investigates a government's subsidy strategy for motivating a manufacturer to set up a flexible production line for emergency supplies. Four subsidy strategies are proposed to ensure a desired service level in case of an emergency: zero subsidy, a fixed subsidy, a marginal subsidy, and a hybrid subsidy.

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Research Grants

Formulation Capacity Modeling Tool for AstraZeneca Newark

AstraZeneca

2013

Incremental Park & Ride Demand Mode- Part II

Delaware Department of Transportation

2013

Accomplishments

MBA Teaching Award

2019, 2018, 2013

Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware

Outstanding Scholar Award

2018

Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware

Education

University of Pennsylvania

PhD

Decision Science

1990

University of Pennsylvania

MS

Systems Engineering

1987

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

BS

Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering

1985

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Affiliations

  • The International Journal of Management Science (OMEGA) : Area Editor
  • International Transactions in Operations Research : Editorial Board
  • American Journal of Operations Research : Advisory Board
  • Financial Innovation : Editorial Advisory Board
  • International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research : Editorial Board
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Event Appearances

Consumer incentive model for secondary verification implementation in credit card fraud detection and prevention

2018 POMS Annual Conference  Houston, TX

Data Science in Education

2019 University of Delaware Data Science Symposium  Newark, DE

2019-11-15

Research in behavioral operations management

The 9th International Workshop on Behavioral Operations Management  Shenyang

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