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Anton S. Ovchinnikov

Visiting Professor of Decision Sciences

Biography

Anton Ovchinnikov is a Visiting Professor of Operations, Technology and Decision Sciences at INSEAD and a Distinguished Professor of Management Analytics and Scotiabank Scholar of Customer Analytics at Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Canada.

A native of Siberia, Anton holds a specialist degree in economics from his hometown university in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, and a PhD in operations management from the University of Toronto. Prior to his current appointments, Anton taught data and decision analysis courses at the University of Virginia, and management science and supply chain management courses at the University of Toronto. Before starting his academic career, Anton worked in Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia in commercializing high- tech developments and co-owned a business in industrial and architectural design. Anton still runs a boutique consulting firm specializing in value creation with Advanced Analytics and AI and serves on boards of several international commercial and not-for-profit organizations.

Owing to a unique combination of his technical background and practical business experience, Anton’s research offers rigorous solutions to practical problems. The focus of the problems and the nature of solutions constantly change as the landscape of management evolves, and Anton’s research utilizes multiple techniques, from the classical Management Science toolkit (decision analytics, optimization) and economics (game theory, welfare, and choice analyses) to newer techniques, such as lab and field experiments, and, recently, data science and machine learning.

Anton’s works have been published in the leading academic journals, such as Management Science(MS), Operations Research(OR), Manufacturing & Services Operations Management(MSOM), and Production and Operations Management(POMS), as well as in leading practitioner journals, such as Interfaces[currently, INFORMS Journal of Applied Analytics] and Harvard Business Review(HBR). His research was also recognized by multiple awards, such as the INFORMS Junior Faculty Best Paper Competition, the INFORMS Revenue Management and Pricing section Practice Prize, and the POMS Paul Kleindorfer Award in Sustainability. See Anton’ Google Scholar page for further details about his research.

Anton’s teaching is in Management Analytics, broadly defined. He teaches “Data Science and Machine Learning for Business / Executives”, “Decision Models”, “Data-Driven Decision-Making”, “Pricing Analytics”, “Operations and Supply Chain Analytics”, and the like courses in the MBA, G/EMBA, and specialized programs (in Analytics), as well as in numerous Executive Education programs around the world. Anton is twice the winner of the Faculty of the Year Award for the Smith Master in Management Analytics (MMA) and is also the co-winner of the 2020 INFORMS UPS Prize.

Beyond teaching and research, Anton also is a prolific creator of pedagogical materials. He authored ~30 cases, technical notes, and interactive simulations with the annual sales of tens of thousands of copies, which also were recognized by multiple prizes and awards. See his author profiles at Harvard, Darden and INSEAD for further details about the teaching materials he created.

Anton's INSEAD case publishing site is here: Anton S. Ovchinnikov | INSEAD Publishing

Latest posts

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Responsibility

Why Decarbonisation Is So Hard

Anton S. Ovchinnikov

Despite the clear environmental and long-term economic benefits of reducing carbon emissions, global decarbonisation efforts remain woefully inadequate.

Operations

How Anti-Discriminatory Measures Can Worsen AI Bias

Anton S. Ovchinnikov

Removing gender-related data from machine-learning models may paradoxically harm women instead of protecting them.

Leadership & Organisations

ChatGPT and the Future of Business Education

P. Puranam, P. Dutt, P. Wibbens, A. Ovchinnikov, V. Sevcenko, T. Evgeniou, P. Parker

How ChatGPT can help – and hinder – research and learning at business schools.

Operations

Should Companies Allow Returns of Customised Goods?

Anton S. Ovchinnikov

Allowing customers to return customised products can be a win-win for both consumers and business.
2 comments

Operations

Mind the Inventory Risk: Price Paradox Under Competition

A. Ovchinnikov, H. Pun, G. Raz

In competitive environments, operational innovation could well be the answer to inventory risk.
1 comment

Operations

Managerial Biases Cost Your Firm More Than You Think

A. Ovchinnikov

Firms that let biases run amok in their procurement department give their more informed competitors a huge advantage in terms of profit.