Rate My Professor Wenli Xiao

Wenli Xiao is an Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management in the Knauss School of Business at the University of San Diego, where she has served since 2012. She earned her PhD in Operations Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012, an MSc in Management Science from Fudan University in 2007, and a BS in Management Science from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2004. Her research interests encompass knowledge management, management of technology, new product development, supply chain management, sustainable operations, and supply chain networks. Xiao's scholarly contributions appear in premier journals including Production and Operations Management and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. Key publications include “The Effect of Learning and Integration Investment on Manufacturing Outsourcing Decisions: A Game Theoretic Approach” (Production and Operations Management, 2013, with C. Gaimon), “Investment in Environmental Process Improvement” (Production and Operations Management, 2019, with C. Gaimon, R. Subramanian, and M. Biehl), “Choice of E-waste Recycling Standard under Recovery Channel Competition” (Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2019, with G. Esenduran, Y.T. Lin, and M. Jin), and “Customer Degree Centrality and Supplier Performance: The Moderating Role of Supplier Centrality” (Operations Management Research, 2020, with D.Y. Kim, Y.T. Lin, and P. Zhu).

Xiao advanced to associate professor with tenure in 2020 and received the Clarence L. Steber Professorship in the 2023-2024 University of San Diego top faculty awards. Earlier honors include the Junior Faculty Research Award from the University of San Diego (2013), Chan Hahn Best Paper Award Finalist at the Academy of Management Conference (2017), and selection for the POMS Emerging Scholars Program (2013) along with doctoral consortia at POMS, INFORMS, and DSI (2011). She teaches undergraduate courses in prescriptive business analytics and management science, as well as PhD-level dynamic optimal control. Her service record features roles on the University Core Curriculum Committee, Critical Thinking Committee, Faculty Expectation Committee, and Learning Objective Committee; reviewing for journals such as Management Science and Production and Operations Management; session chairing at INFORMS and POMS conferences; and current leadership as chair of a department in interdisciplinary programs or innovation and entrepreneurship. Xiao's analytical models have advanced understanding of outsourcing decisions, environmental process improvements, e-waste recycling standards, and network effects in supply chains.