Ersin Körpeoğlu

Research

How do innovative businesses, such as online platforms, interact with conventional ones? My work looks at competition and behavioral aspects, using theory, data and laboratory experiments.

Research themes

Innovation contests and crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing platforms such as InnoCentive and Topcoder let organizations, including Siemens, Pfizer and NASA, run contests in which diverse solvers propose solutions to complex problems. Governments also use them to tackle societal challenges. I have studied these contests since 2009, when operations research on the topic was sparse.

My papers address how to reward solvers, how many to admit given their skill diversity and the problem’s complexity, how long a contest should run, and whether to run contests in parallel. A book chapter in Sharing Economy: Making Supply Meet Demand (Springer) gives a general framework. Recent work, with my PhD students and co-authors, uses laboratory experiments to study how capacity-constrained solvers behave and how platform rules, such as participation limits, affect effort and contest choice.

Optimal award scheme Impact of solver heterogeneity Restricted or free entry Optimal duration Parallel contests A general framework for contests How do capacitated solvers behave on crowdsourcing platforms? Should solvers focus their effort on a contest in crowdsourcing platforms?

Online platforms and digital services

Platforms such as Airbnb, Uber and InnoCentive are now part of daily life, yet academic understanding of them is recent. In 2018, I co-initiated and led an effort with leading scholars to set a research agenda for online platforms, classifying them into different types such as resource sharing, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding.

My papers show that involving funders in product development can improve crowdfunding campaign success, and provide evidence on how loyalty-program discounts and booking channels shape customer behavior on online travel platforms. In digital health, my work supports forecasting and capacity planning and sheds light on service times.

Product development in crowdfunding Innovative online platforms Loyalty programs as delivery channel innovations Telemedicine analytics Telemental health service time

Competition, innovation sourcing and supply chains

Competition and market power shape how supply chains operate, yet earlier models missed key forces such as buyer power and seller power. In a Management Science paper, my co-authors and I introduce a market-game model that captures them and use it to study the integration of local supply chains, for example when countries join an economic union like the EU. Integration raises total profit, but it can hurt the firms in a retailer-oriented supply chain that has more retailers than suppliers.

Drawing on my work on contests, I also study how organizations source innovation from suppliers. One paper shows how flexible awards and strategic information disclosure can encourage suppliers, such as those working with the US Department of Defense, to deliver innovation faster.

Another paper studies sourcing the design and production of an innovative product from competing suppliers. Committing before the innovation process, for example by guaranteeing production to the designer, spurs suppliers to innovate more but makes the final allocation less efficient. We show that strong commitment is best when innovation is inexpensive. When it is costly, a single supplier for both design and production is best, except when switching between suppliers is cheap, in which case no commitment is best.

Supply chain competition Dynamic development contests Innovative product sourcing

Social responsibility

One of my recent papers shows how donating part of its profits can be a viable entry strategy for a socially responsible retailer. My ongoing work examines the equity impact of electric vehicle subsidies and taxes.

Socially responsible entry

Publications

Show papers on

Citation counts and my full publication record are on Google Scholar.

1 Authors listed alphabetically.   2 Listed in SSRN Top Ten Downloads.

  1. S. T. Candoğan, P. B. Cornelius, B. Gökpınar, E. Körpeoğlu, C. S. Tang1,2 (2024) Product Development in Crowdfunding: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 26(2): 701–721
    2nd prize, INFORMS TIMES Best Working Paper, 2021 INFORMS TIMES paper of the month, Dec 2023 Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, UCLA Anderson Review
    Featured in Harvard Business Review: “Customers Prefer to Crowdfund Products They Can Improve”
  2. Ç. G. Körpeoğlu, E. Körpeoğlu, C. S. Tang, J. J. Yu2 (2024) Should an Incumbent Store Deter Entry of a Socially Responsible Retailer? Production and Operations Management 33(1): 282–302
    UCLA Anderson Review, Mar 2021
  3. S. Khorasani, E. Körpeoğlu, V. Krishnan2 (2024) Dynamic Development Contests Operations Research 72(1): 43–59
  4. E. Körpeoğlu, Ç. G. Körpeoğlu, İ. E. Hafalır2 (2022) Parallel Innovation Contests Operations Research 70(3): 1506–1530
    2nd prize, INFORMS TIMES Best Working Paper, 2018 INFORMS TIMES paper of the month, Mar 2023
  5. L. Ales, S. Cho, E. Körpeoğlu1 (2021) Innovation Tournaments with Multiple Contributors Production and Operations Management 30(6): 1772–1784
  6. Ç. G. Körpeoğlu, E. Körpeoğlu, S. Tunç (2021) Optimal Duration of Innovation Contests Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 23(3): 657–675
    INFORMS TIMES paper of the month, Jun 2021
  7. Ç. G. Körpeoğlu, E. Körpeoğlu, S. Cho2 (2020) Supply Chain Competition: A Market Game Approach Management Science 66(12): 5648–5664
    Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, Apr 2020
  8. Y.-J. Chen, T. Dai, C. G. Körpeoğlu, E. Körpeoğlu, O. Sahin, C. Tang, S. Xiao1,2 (2020) Innovative Online Platforms: Research Opportunities Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 22(3): 430–445
  9. L. Ales, S. Cho, E. Körpeoğlu2 (2019) Innovation and Crowdsourcing Contests Invited book chapter in Sharing Economy: Making Supply Meet Demand, M. Hu (ed.), Springer Series in Supply Chain Management
  10. E. Körpeoğlu, S. Cho (2018) Incentives in Contests with Heterogeneous Solvers Management Science 64(6): 2709–2715
  11. L. Ales, S. Cho, E. Körpeoğlu1 (2017) Optimal Award Scheme in Innovation Tournaments Operations Research 65(3): 693–702
    2nd prize, INFORMS TIMES Best Paper, 2022
  12. E. Körpeoğlu, Z. Kurtz, F. Kilinc-Karzan, S. Kekre, P. A. Basu (2014) Business Analytics Assists Transitioning Traditional Medicine to Telemedicine at Virtual Radiologic Interfaces 44(4): 393–410
  13. E. Körpeoğlu, H. Yaman, M. S. Aktürk (2011) A Multi-Stage Stochastic Programming Approach in Master Production Scheduling European Journal of Operational Research 213: 166–179
  14. S. Gürel, E. Körpeoğlu, M. S. Aktürk (2010) An Anticipative Scheduling Approach with Controllable Processing Times Computers & Operations Research 37: 1002–1013

Working papers

The theme filter above also applies to this list.

  1. Y. Sun, E. Körpeoğlu, W. Miao (2024) Does Virtual Take Longer? An Empirical Investigation of Service Time in Telemental Health Major revision at Management Science · SSRN
  2. X. Fan, E. Körpeoğlu, C. Li, J. Liang1 (2024) Innovative Product Sourcing: Linking Design and Production Under 2nd round review (major revision) at Management Science · SSRN
    1st prize, POMS China Best Student Paper, 2025
  3. R. Kızılyıldırım, Ç. G. Körpeoğlu, E. Körpeoğlu, M. Kremer1 (2024) Solver Capacity Utilization and Allocation on Crowdsourcing Platforms: An Experimental Study Major revision at Manufacturing & Service Operations Management · SSRN
    Finalist, POMS PITM Student Paper Competition, 2025
  4. S. Yang, A. Feylessoufi, E. Körpeoğlu1,2 (2024) Loyalty Programs as Delivery Channel Innovations: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Submitted · SSRN
  5. R. Kızılyıldırım, Ç. G. Körpeoğlu, E. Körpeoğlu, M. Kremer1 (2022) Exclusive or Not? An Experimental Analysis of Parallel Innovation Contests Major revision at Manufacturing & Service Operations Management · SSRN
    Honorable mention (3rd prize), POMS CBOM Junior Scholar Paper Competition, 2024

Talks and service

Professional service

  • Associate editor: Management Science (2022–present); Journal of Operations Management, special issue on uncertainty in operations and supply chain management (2022).
  • Competition chair: M&SOM Student Paper Competition (co-chair 2022, committee head 2023).
  • Competition judge: INFORMS TIMES Doctoral Dissertation Award (2018); PITM Student Paper Competition (2020); M&SOM Student Paper Competition (2020, 2021); INFORMS BOM Best Working Paper (2022); INFORMS TIMES Best Working Paper (2023).
  • Reviewer: Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, IISE Transactions, European Journal of Operational Research, Decision Sciences, Games and Economic Behavior, Naval Research Logistics.
  • Memberships: INFORMS, MSOM Society, INFORMS TIMES, JFIG, POMS.

Invited seminars

Catholica Porto Business School
Jan 2026
University of Porto, School of Economics and Management
Nov 2025
University of Science and Technology of China
Nov 2024
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Business School
May 2024
Eindhoven University of Technology
Apr 2024
Bilkent University, Industrial Engineering
Nov 2023
HEC Paris
May 2023
Middle East Technical University
Mar 2023
Singapore Management University
Feb 2023
European TOM Seminar Series
Jan 2023
Earlier invited seminars (2014–2022)
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business
Mar 2022
University of Connecticut, School of Business
Oct 2020
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
Dec 2019
Bilkent University, Industrial Engineering
Nov 2019
University of Washington, Foster School of Business
Oct 2019
Koç University, Industrial Engineering
Feb 2019
University of Virginia, Darden School of Business (QA group)
Jan 2019
Johns Hopkins University, Carey Business School
Jan 2019
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
May 2018
University of Virginia, Darden School of Business (TOM group)
Oct 2017
University of Cambridge, Judge Business School
Mar 2017
Middle East Technical University
Oct 2015
Bilkent University, Industrial Engineering
Oct 2015
Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School of Management
Jan 2015
University College London
Jan 2015
Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
Jan 2015
Koç University, College of Administrative Sciences and Economics
Dec 2014
Koç University, Industrial Engineering
Dec 2014
Sabancı University
Dec 2014
Bilkent University, Industrial Engineering
Dec 2014
Conference presentations

Invited talks at the INFORMS Annual Meeting (2010–2025), the POMS Annual Conference (2016–2019) and the SAET Conference (2019), and refereed talks at the MSOM Conference (2014, 2017, 2018, 2025) and the Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference (2019). The full list is in the CV.