SAŠA PEKEČ Peterjohn-Richards Distinguished Professor Decision Sciences The Fuqua School of Business Duke University p***c@d**e.edu

RESEARCH

Research interests: market design; optimization: combinatorial and network optimization, integer programming; design and analysis of algorithms; auction theory; mechanism design.

Google Scholar

Completed papers:

· Robust Bidding Policies, with V. Nguyen and C. Xu.

· Optimal Allocation of Exclusivity Contracts, with C. Deng.

· Approval Voting Approach to Subset Selection, with P.C. Fishburn.

· Information Acquisition and Technology Adoption in a Partnership, with Y. Mai.

Publications:

· Approximate Submodularity in Network Design Problems, with L. DeValve and Y. Wei, Operations Research, 71, 1021-1039.

· A Characterization of the Existence of Succinct Linear Representation of Subset Valuations, Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 115, 102779.

· Courteous or Crude? Managing User Conduct to Improve On-demand Service Platform Performance, with Y. Mai and B. Hu, Management Science, 69, 996-1016.

· Optimal Price/Advertising Menus for Two-Sided Media Platforms, with L. DeValve, Operations Research, 70, 1629-1645.

· Revenue-Sharing Allocation Strategies for Two-Sided Media Platforms: Pro-Rata versus User-Centric, with S. Alaei, A. Makhdoum and A. Malekian, Management Science, 68, 8699-8721.

· Managing Innovation Spillover in Outsourcing, with Y. Mai and B. Hu, Production and Operations Management, 29, 2252-2267.

· A Primal-Dual Approach to Analyzing ATO Systems, with L. DeValve and Y. Wei, Management Science, 66, 5389-5407.

· Algorithmic Decision Theory, with K.B. Venable (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Intl. Conf. ADT, Springer, LNAI 11834.

· Efficient Allocation and Pricing for Multi-Featured Items, with O. Candogan. Management Science, 64, 5521-5543.

· Mechanism and Network Design with Private Negative Externalities, with A. Belloni and C. Deng. Operations Research, 65, 577-594.

· Money for Nothing: Exploiting Negative Externalities, with C. Deng. In Shoham Y. (Ed.) Proceedings of the 12th ACM conference on Electronic Commerce, ACM, New York, NY, 361-370.

· Scaling Invariance and a Characterization of Linear Objective Functions. In Brafman R.I., Roberts, F.S., Tsoukias, A. (eds.) Algorithmic Decision Theory, Springer, 205-218.

· Relevance to Practice and Auction Theory: A Memorial Essay for Michael Rothkopf, with R.M. Harstad. Interfaces, 38, 367-380.

· Revenue Ranking of Discriminatory and Uniform Auctions with an Unknown Number of Bidders, with I. Tsetlin.  Management Science, 54, 1610-1623.

· Sequential vs. Single-Round Uniform Price Auctions, with C. Mezzetti and I. Tsetlin. Games and Economic Behavior, 62, 591-609.

· Information Aggregation in Auctions with an Unknown Number of Bidders, with R.M. Harstad and I. Tsetlin. Games and Economic Behavior, 62, 476-508.

· On the Existence of the Symmetric Equilibrium in (k+1)-st Price Common Value Auctions, with I. Tsetlin. Review of Economic Design, 10, 63-71.

· Noncomputational Approaches to Mitigating Computational Problems in Combinatorial Auctions, with M.H. Rothkopf. In P. Cramton, Y. Shoham, R. Steinberg (Eds.) Combinatorial Auctions, M.I.T. Press.

· Listen to Your Neighbors: How (Not) to Reach a Consensus, with N. Mustafa. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, 17, 634-660.

· The Repeated Insertion Model for Rankings: Missing link between two subset choice models, with J.-P. Doignon and M. Regenwetter. Psychometrika, 69, 33-54.

· Combinatorial Auction Design, with M.H. Rothkopf. Management Science, 49, 1485-1503.

· Subset Comparisons for Additive Linear Orders, with P.C. Fishburn and J.A. Reeds. Mathematics of Operations Research, 27, 227-243.

· Meaningful and Meaningless Solutions for Cooperative N-person Games. European Journal of Operational Research 133/3, 154-169.

· Majority Consensus and the Local Majority Rule, with N. Mustafa. In Orejas, F., P. G. Spirakis and J. van Leeuwen (Eds.): Automata, Languages and Programming, 28th International Colloquium, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2076 Springer, 530-542.

· The Role Assignment Model Nearly Fits Most Social Networks, with F.S. Roberts.  Mathematical Social Sciences 41, 275-293.

· Optimal Orientations of Annular Networks, with J.-C. Bermond, J. Bond, C. Martin, and F.S. Roberts. Journal of Interconnection Networks 1, 21-46.

· Computationally Manageable Combinational Auctions, with M.H. Rothkopf and R.M. Harstad. Management Science 44, 1131-1147.

· On the Meaningfulness of Optimal Solutions to Scheduling Problems: Can an Optimal Solution be Non-Optimal?, with N.V.R. Mahadev and F.S. Roberts. Operations Research 46/3S, S120-S134.

· Effects of Change of Scale on Optimality in a Scheduling Model with Priorities and Earliness/Tardiness Penalties, with N.V.R. Mahadev and F.S. Roberts. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 25/11, 9-22.

· Optimization under Ordinal Scales: When is a Greedy Solution Optimal? Mathematical Methods of Operations Research 46, 229-239.

· Winning Strategy for the Ramsey Graph Game, Combinatorics, Probability & Computing 5, 267-276.

· Pekeč, A. (1996), Limitations on conclusions from combinatorial optimization models, Ph.D. Thesis, Rutgers University.

Work in progress:

· Managing Innovation Risks in a Competitive Setting: A Decision Analysis Approach, with B. Hu and Y. Mai.

· Teaming Up for Sustained Performance: A Repeated-Game Model of Voluntary Horizontal Collaboration, with C. Deng and J. Song

· Preconditions for Information Aggregation in Prediction Markets.

· Managing Investment in Risky Projects with Complementarities, with R.V. Krishna and S. Rampertshammer.

· Dynamics of Negative Advertisement Strategies, with C. Deng.

· Sourcing Decisions under Supply Risk and Scale Economies, with F. Bernstein and C. Deng.

Other recent writings:

· Think, critically, Dialogue, Q3 2023 issue.

· Decision making v3.0, Dialogue, Q3 2022 issue.

TEACHING

· Data-Driven Decision Making (Exec. Ed.)

· Digital Platforms (EMBA)

· Probability and Statistics (Daytime MBA, EMBA)

· Statistical Models (EMBA)

· Strategic Modeling and Business Dynamics (Daytime MBA)

· Technological Transformation of Business (Daytime MBA)

Excellence in Teaching Award, Weekend Executive MBA Program, Class of 2015.

Excellence in Teaching Award, Cross Continent MBA Program Class of 2012.

Excellence in Teaching Award, Weekend Executive MBA Program, Class of 2010.

BRIEF BIO

Saša Pekeč is the Peterjohn-Richards Distinguished Professor of Business Administration in the Decision Sciences Area at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Professor Pekeč research is interdisciplinary and revolves around decision-making in complex competitive environments. He is a board member and the past president of the INFORMS Section on Auctions and Market Design, serves on editorial boards on several scientific journals, and has published articles in Management Science, Operations Research, as well as in top academic journals in other fields such as economics, mathematics and psychology.  Professor Pekeč is teaching analytics and technology courses in Fuqua’s executive and daytime MBA programs.

Professor Pekeč’s consulting experience includes finance, pharmaceutical, retail, and technology industries. He serves on the Supervisory Board of Atlantic Grupa, one of the leading FMCG companies in SE Europe, and was a member of the Council of Economic Advisors to the President of Croatia from 2010 to 2015.