About

Sytske Wijnsma is an Assistant Professor of Operations & IT Management at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, since July 2022. Her expertise and research interests include supply chain management, sustainable sourcing, circularity, illicit supply chains, and social and environmental impact. She holds a PhD in Management Science and Operations from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, as well as an MPhil in Management Science and Operations from the same institution. Her academic background also includes a BSc and MSc in Economics and Finance from VU University in Amsterdam. Her work focuses on issues related to sustainability in business, supply chain dynamics, and the social and environmental implications of business practices.

Research topics

• Business
• Economics
• Waste management
• Operations management
• International trade
• Marketing
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Engineering
• Computer Science
• Public economics
• Environmental planning
• Management
• Environmental science
• Industrial organization
• Process management
• Natural resource economics
• Environmental economics
• Microeconomics

Selected publications

• Smart Solutions: Improving Compliance in Waste Chains with Product Information Platforms

  Springer series in supply chain management · 2024-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Treat, Dump, or Export? How Domestic and International Waste Management Policies Shape Waste Chain Outcomes

  Management Science · 2023 · 12 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Business
  • Industrial organization
  • International trade

  Illegal or unwanted waste disposal methods such as dumping and export are prevalent in practice. To minimize the environmental harm of these methods, policymakers have implemented laws and regulations designed to combat them. Even so, violations are rampant as a high degree of heterogeneity between firms and proprietary information render monitoring imperfect. Decentralized waste disposal chains, a common form of interbusiness organization in this sector, compound this problem as firms also have limited information available on their waste chain partner, creating complex interactions between firm behavior and policy interventions. Against this background, we analyze the effects of domestic and international waste regulations targeting dumping and export, respectively, on firm incentives and compliance. We develop a two-tier waste chain with a producer that generates waste and an operator that treats it. The producer’s waste quality and the treatment operator’s efficiency can be private information. Either party can avoid compliance cost by violating regulations where the producer can arrange for export and the operator can dump locally. Our analysis reveals that primarily focusing on penalizing dumping by treatment operators can worsen environmental harm. Solely focusing on penalizing low-quality waste exports, a common intervention in practice, can also backfire. Instead, penalizing producers for downstream dumping should be given consideration. In addition, the asymmetry in export burden between waste quality levels should be reduced. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

  PublisherDOI

• Treat, Dump, or Export? How Domestic and International Waste Management Policies Shape Waste Chain Outcomes

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2021 · 1 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Business
  • Waste management
  • Natural resource economics
  PublisherDOI

• The Impact of Sustainability on Triple-A Supply Chains

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2020-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Sustainable Triple‐A Supply Chains

  Production and Operations Management · 2020 · 73 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Sociology
  • Business

  In his 2004 article, Professor Hau Lee argues that the best supply chains are not only fast and cost‐effective but also agile, adaptable, and aligned. The concept of triple‐A supply chains has been extensively studied in academic and trade publications and integrated into numerous operations and supply chain management curricula. It has also influenced the management approach of leaders around the world. Yet since the triple‐A concept was first developed, supply chains have become increasingly global, connected, and interdependent. The increased complexity of global supply chains has reduced much‐needed visibility, further complicating their management, while the growing connectivity and interdependence among different stakeholders have led to many unforeseen environmental and social issues. As a result, Professor Lee’s emphasis on triple‐A supply chains is even more relevant today. In light of these new challenges and demands, we revisit the original triple‐A definitions of agile, adaptable, and aligned, expanding these concepts for a more socially and environmentally conscientious world. We also discuss potential enablers of and barriers to sustainable triple‐A supply chains.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Feryal Erhun

  University of Cambridge

  5 shared

• Dominique Olié Lauga

  University of Cambridge

  5 shared

• L. Beril Toktay

  4 shared

• Tim Kraft

  North Carolina State University

  3 shared