Speaker(s): Garrett van Ryzin (Columbia)


Title:         
 
The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management
Chapter: An introductory to forthcoming book 

Abstract
Revenue management (RM) is regarded by many as one of the most successful applications of operations research. The practice has grown from its origins as a relatively obscure practice among a handful of major airlines in the post-deregulation era in the U.S. (circa 1978) to its status today as a mainstream business practice with a growing roster of industry users and a supporting industry of software and consulting firms. Over this same time period, academic and industry research on RM has also grown rapidly and several universities now offer specialized RM courses, both at the MBA and Ph.D. level.

In this talk, we provide an overview of RM, both in terms of its underlying theory and managerial practice. We begin with an explanation of RM's history and origins. We provide a conceptual framework for understanding the objectives of RM, the types of business conditions under which it is applied, and how RM systems work. We then provide an overview of several research problems in the field, including both traditional and emerging research topics.

[The material in this talk is based on the forthcoming book, Talluri & van Ryzin, The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management, Kluwer, 2004]