Sytske Wijnsma

Assistant Professor UC Berkeley Haas

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I am an Assistant Professor in Operations Management at UC Berkeley Haas. My primary research interests center around sustainable operations and supply chain management, using game-theoretic models to analyze the intersection of operational strategy, regulatory policy, and environmental impact. I am specifically interested in supply chain challenges in consumer electronics, such as obsolescence and e-waste, and the mechanics behind noncompliance in global networks.


Before joining Haas, I was a post-doctoral researcher at GeorgiaTech, Scheller College of Business and obtained my Ph.D. and MPhil in Management Science at the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. I also worked for 2 years as a quantitative analyst for commodity trading.

Research Interests: Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Sourcing, Circularity, Illicit Supply Chains, Social and Environmental Impact

Research

Published

Treat, Dump, or Export? How Domestic and International Waste Management Policies Shape Waste Chain Outcomes. 2024. Management Science, 70(11), 7397-7421
With Dominique Lauga and Beril L. Toktay

Sustainable Triple-A Supply Chains. 2021. Production and Operations Management 30(3):644-655
With Feryal Erhun and Tim Kraft

Working papers

Smarter Products, Shorter Lifespans: The Environmental Cost of Embedded Software. With Dominique Lauga and Beril Toktay

A Spatial Procurement Game for Cattle Supply Chains: Enforcement, Competition, and Illegality With Andre Calmon and the Global Land Use and Environment (GLUE) Lab.

Rural smallholders, income portfolios, and spillovers: Broadening the view for poverty alleviation strategies. With Paul Kattuman

When is Honesty the Best Policy: a Game Theoretic Analysis of Price and Product Offering for Ethical and Fair-trade Goods.

Book Chapters

Smart Solutions: Improving Compliance in Waste Chains with Product Information Platforms. 2024. In Responsible and Sustainable Operations: The New Frontier. pp. 85-103. Cham: Springer Nature.
With Beril L. Toktay

Policy notes and impact

Laying Waste
Haas Newsroom, 2024

As e-waste streams grow, regulations are backfiring, study finds
Haas Newsroom, February 2024

From a problem to a resource: waste and the reverse supply chain explained
UK National Science Festival, November 2021

Downstream sustainability: the big reset for recycling in the U.S.
Kinaxis column, July 2020

Helping Europol reduce illegal electronic waste trafficking – how to leverage a PhD to have impact.
Cambridge University Judge Business School column, July 2020

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