Ruomeng Cui 
Assistant Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management | Emory University, Goizueta Business School
Atlanta, GA, UNITED STATES
Cui's research focuses on how operations strategies create and deliver value in companies' digital transformation
Spotlight
Biography
Ruomeng Cui is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information System and Operations Management at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. In her research, Professor Cui investigates how operations strategies create and deliver value in companies' digital transformation. Specifically, she studies how digitization reshapes how companies compete and operate. Her research has been recognized by various prizes including 2019 INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Paper Competition award, 2019 M&SOM Practice-Based Paper Competition award, 2017 INFORMS Behavioral Section Best Working Paper award, and 2014 POMS Supply Chain Management Student Paper Competition award. Professor Cui’s research has been widely covered by the media, including NPR, NPR Marketplace, Financial Times, Fox News, Fortune Magazine, and HBR.
Areas of Expertise (6)
Digital Retail
Platform Markets
Operations Strategy
Supply Chain
Data-driven Decision
Causal Inference
Education (2)
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management: PhD, Operations Management 2014
Tsinghua University: BSc, Industrial Engineering 2009
Links (3)
In the News (15)
From apple juice to antibiotics: Coronavirus epidemic could cause U.S. shortages
Fortune
2020-02-15
China is a manufacturing superpower, supplying both critical equipment and items of convenience. With some of the country’s citizens unable to report to work and exports curtailed, there are already shortages that have some companies worried. Amazon, for instance, is reportedly already stockpiling orders of Chinese-made products. And health care officials warn that protective medical equipment is already becoming scarce, as demand in China outweighs the amount the country can supply. “Anything related to manufacturing is disrupted,” says Ruomeng Cui, assistant professor of information systems & operations management at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. “That ranges from tech products to toys to auto parts.”
Coronavirus likely to affect timing of phase one trade deal
Marketplace
2020-02-14
Phase one of the trade deal was supposed to reopen the Chinese market to American farmers, but they’re still not sending produce to China because neither demand nor buying power are not there. That’s especially bad news for American soy farmers anxious to get their produce back into the Chinese market. Many experts have been comparing the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak to the SARS epidemic in 2003. But Ruomeng Cui, assistant professor of information systems and operations management at Emory University, said while SARS isn’t a bad reference point, this seems vastly different. “I would predict the impact of coronavirus on the Chinese economy to be broader and more profound, compared to SARS,” she said.
Researchers: Women shouldering the burden of pandemic life more than men
FOX23
2020-07-16
TULSA, Okla. — Research shows women are shouldering the burden of the coronavirus pandemic far more than men when it comes to distance learning, childcare and household labor. Dr. Ruomeng Cui from Emory University, along with researchers from Harvard University, studied a large database where scholars submit papers they are working on and found productivity among male researchers increased 35 percent during the lockdown, while productivity for female researchers stayed flat or dropped.
From apple juice to antibiotics: Coronavirus epidemic could cause U.S. shortages
Fortune print
2020-02-15
The impact of the coronavirus extends far beyond health; it is also disrupting global supply chains and, as a result, international economies.
Coronavirus likely to affect timing of phase one trade deal
Marketplace radio
2020-02-14
The spread of the coronavirus is expected to slow down the trade deal between the U.S. and China and the predicted economic impact of that deal for both nations.
Reducing Discrimination in the Sharing Economy with Reviews: Evidence from Field Experiments on Airbnb
CATO Institute
2019-11-06
Discrimination has become an important issue in the recent development of sharing‐economy marketplaces. Previous studies raise serious concerns over racial discrimination on Airbnb, showing that guests with African American–sounding names are 16 percent less likely to be accommodated relative to identical guests with white‐sounding names. Many African American users have expressed frustration on social media about how they were allegedly denied booking requests by Airbnb hosts because of their race.
Alibaba Aims to Deliver with $16bn Courier Venture
Financial Times online
2019-11-11
Alibaba's annual Singles' Day shopping event.
The Surprise of e-Commerce Delivery
The Robin Report online
2019-09-22
E-commerce brands’ business models are getting more interesting. If you are an investor, these are fundable businesses.
Online shopping and fast shipping, what happens when things go south?
INFORMS Resoundingly Human Podcast Series radio
2019-09-20
With online retailers like Amazon delivering nearly everything often within a day or two of ordering it, what happens if access to expedited shipping were to suddenly and unexpectedly stop?
Businesses that Experience Delivery Outages Feel Long-term Impact
Atlanta Business Chronicle online
2019-03-25
Recent research co-authored by Emory University professor Ruomeng Cui shows that the ability to deliver products to customers quickly and efficiently impacts revenue and retention rates directly and significantly.
Logistics Strategy on Retail Platforms
Harvard Business Review China print
2018-11-01
How online retail platforms compete over logistics strategy.
Want to Improve Your Sales Forecast? Check Your Company’s Facebook Feed.
KelloggInsight online
2017-09-06
Social media data can help predict consumer demand, and using advanced algorithms is key to the improvements.
What Makes an Online Flash Sale Successful?
KelloggInsight online
2017-06-06
What can predict a deal’s success? When ratings and reviews aren’t enough, showing that a deal is popular can convince others to buy.
New Research Looks At Ways To Help Stop Airbnb Racial Discrimination
U.S. National Public Radio radio
2017-03-02
Airbnb has come under fire in the last year following reports that hosts are less likely to rent to African-Americans compared to whites. New research looked at ways to address the discrimination.
A Better Way to Fight Discrimination in the Sharing Economy
Harvard Business Review online
2017-02-27
The sharing economy has a discrimination problem. Studies have shown that the sharing economy isn’t as open as we think.
Publications (8)
Businesses that experience delivery outages feel long-term impact
The Business Journals2019-03-25
Recent research co-authored by Emory University professor Ruomeng Cui shows that the ability to deliver products to customers quickly and efficiently impacts revenue and retention rates directly and significantly. And if the delivery quality drops or is interrupted, even for a short time, businesses risk losing some customers to a competitor for a long time.
Delivery partnerships key for online sellers
Emory BusinessRuomeng Cui
2019-04-03
How much should logistics matter to online retail platforms? Plenty, says Goizueta’s Ruomeng Cui. In fact, forward-thinking organizations would do well to factor logistics into the integral design of their strategy. And that’s because, according to her new research, the ability to deliver products to customers in a manner that is both timely and efficient has a direct and significant impact on revenue and retention rates.
Gender Inequality in Research Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic
SSRNWe study the disproportionate impact of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak on female and male academics' research productivity in social science. The lockdown has caused substantial disruptions to academic activities, requiring people to work from home. How this disruption affects productivity and the related gender equity is an important operations and societal question. We collect data from the largest open-access preprint repository for social science on 41,858 research preprints in 18 disciplines produced by 76,832 authors across 25 countries over a span of two years.
Value of High-Quality Logistics: Evidence from a Clash Between SF Express and Alibaba
PubsOnLineRuomeng Cui , Meng Li , Qiang Li
2019-12-05
Consumers regard product delivery as an important service component that influences their shopping decisions on online retail platforms. Delivering products to customers in a timely and reliable manner enhances customer experience and companies’ profitability. In this research, we explore the extent to which customers value a high-quality delivery experience when shopping online.
Reducing Discrimination with Reviews in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from Field Experiments on Airbnb
PubsOnLineRuomeng Cui , Jun Li , Dennis J. Zhang
2019-08-01
Recent research has found widespread discrimination by hosts against guests of certain races in online marketplaces. In this paper, we explore ways to reduce such discrimination using online reputation systems. We conducted four randomized field experiments among 1,801 hosts on Airbnb by creating fictitious guest accounts and sending accommodation requests to them.
Learning from Inventory Availability Information: Evidence from Field Experiments on Amazon
PubsOnLineRuomeng Cui , Dennis J. Zhang , Achal Bassamboo
Many online retailers provide real-time inventory availability information. Customers can learn from the inventory level and update their beliefs about the product. Thus, consumer purchasing behavior may be impacted by the availability information.
Oversight and Efficiency in Public Projects: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis
PubsOnLineEduard Calvo , Ruomeng Cui , Juan Camilo Serpa
In the United States, 42% of public infrastructure projects report delays or cost overruns. To mitigate this problem, regulators scrutinize project operations. We study the effect of oversight on delays and overruns with 262,857 projects spanning 71 federal agencies and 54,739 contractors.
Information Sharing in Supply Chains: An Empirical and Theoretical Valuation
PubsOnLineRuomeng Cui, Gad Allon, Achal Bassamboo, Jan A. Van Mieghem
We provide an empirical and theoretical assessment of the value of information sharing in a two-stage supply chain. The value of downstream sales information to the upstream firm stems from improving upstream order fulfillment forecast accuracy.
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