Huseyn Abdulla
Supply Chain Management
Haslam College of Business, UTK
Friday, September 23, 2022
2:15-3:15 in Tickle 500
Abstract:
As the pressure from investors, government institutions, and consumers on firms to improve environmental sustainability performance increases, new business models emerge to facilitate the firms’ sustainability efforts while generating profit. One such model, known as Sustainability as a Service (SaaS), helps retailers to estimate and offset emissions from the delivery of online orders in real-time by offering a “green shipment” option to consumers for a fee. We analytically examine this new business model in the context of an online retailer who has made a sustainability commitment to become carbon neutral and a SaaS provider. Using a stylized game theoretical model, we characterize the profit-maximizing fee structure for the SaaS provider, optimal product price for the retailer, and determine the conditions under which the retailer–SaaS provider partnership can be profitable to the two parties. Our analysis highlights the significant potential for the SaaS model to improve the profits of both parties and help the firms to attain their carbon neutrality targets. Further, we examine the prospects of the SaaS model for retailers and analyze when it would be profitable for retailers to internally adopt this emerging business model. Finally, we identify the situations in which adopting the SaaS model is more profitable to retailers than partnering with a SaaS provider.
Bio:
Dr. Huseyn Abdulla is an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Haslam College of Business at The University of Tennessee. Prior to joining The University of Tennessee, He earned a Ph.D. degree in Operations Management from Mays Business School, Texas A&M University and an M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from University of California, Berkeley.
Huseyn is passionate about retail industry and sustainability topics, and his research focuses on tackling managerial challenges in the intersection of retail and sustainability. To do so, he mainly leverages theories and empirical methods from behavioral sciences. His manuscripts have appeared in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and Journal of Operations Management. Huseyn teaches manufacturing and service operations management at Haslam College of Business, and previously taught sustainable operations at Texas A&M University.
Join URL: https://tennessee.zoom.us/j/96327677336