| Spring 2008 UMASS
Amherst Operations Research / Management Science Seminar Series |
Date: Friday, April 18, 2008 Time: 11:00 AM Location: Isenberg School of Management, Room 112 |
| Speaker: Professor John
Birge Jerry W. and Carol Lee Levin Professor of Operations Management Graduate School of Business University of Chicago |
| Biography: John R. Birge studies
mathematical modeling of systems under uncertainty, especially for
maximizing operational and financial goals using the methodologies of
stochastic programming and large-scale optimization. He was first drawn
to this area by a need to use mathematics in a useful and practical
way. "My research has shown how special problem structure can allow for
efficient solution of complex problems of decision making under
uncertainty," Birge explains. This research has been supported by the
National Science Foundation, the Ford Motor Company, General Motors
Corporation, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Naval
Research, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Volkswagen of
America. He has published widely and is the recipient of the Best Paper
Award from the Japan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics,
the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Fellows Award, and the Institute of Industrial Engineers Medallion
Award. A former dean of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University, he has worked as a consultant for a variety of firms including the University of Michigan Hospitals, Deutsche Bank, Allstate Insurance Company, and Morgan Stanley, and he uses cases from these experiences in his teaching. Birge earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Princeton University in 1977 and a master's degree and a PhD in operations research from Stanford University in 1979 and 1980, respectively. He joined the GSB faculty in 2004. He is a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, the Mathematical Programming Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and Sigma Xi. |
| TITLE: A News-vendor Model for
Dynamic Investment and Financing Decisions: Capital Structure Implications and Empirical Results |
| Abstract: The common operations management
model of the news vendor includes an important distinction between the
timing of investment expenditures and the realization of revenue
returns. This lag and the risk of revenue shortfalls has
implications for financing decisions as well. This talk will
describe a model that integrates these decisions and considers the
varying roles of fixed and variable costs in observable profits and
capital structure of firms. The results are non-monotonic
relationships between profit margins and leverage ratios that are not
predicted by standard capital structure theories but that are supported
by data on the cross-section of firms. |
| This series is organized by the
UMASS Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter. Support for this series is
provided by the Isenberg School of Management, the Department of
Finance and Operations Management, INFORMS, and the John F. Smith
Memorial Fund. For questions, please contact the INFORMS Student Chapter Speaker Series Coordinator, Ms. Trisha Woolley, twoolley@som.umass.edu |