Walter Zinn

About

Walter Zinn is a Professor of Logistics at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University. His career encompasses interests in logistics and supply chain research, academic administration, editorial responsibilities, and global engagement within the supply chain field. His research centers broadly on the relationship between inventory management and customer service, with specific focus on issues such as postponement, portfolio effect, consumer responses to stockouts, and risk management. His current work explores supply chain plasticity and crowdsourced delivery decisions. Professor Zinn has extensive academic administrative experience, including program management, serving as Chair of the Department of Marketing and Logistics for six years, and as Fisher College’s Associate Dean for Graduate Students and Programs from 2016 to 2019. He has held editorial roles, notably as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Business Logistics from 2015 to 2020, and previously as Systems Section Editor for the same journal. His global work involves speaking at conferences and collaborating with academic and business communities in the US, Europe, China, and Latin America. Additionally, he has completed studies for the World Bank on supply chain management issues related to public policy. Professor Zinn teaches both graduate and undergraduate logistics courses, including a projects course that has directed over 100 student projects worldwide.

Research topics

• Business
• Marketing
• Industrial organization
• Commerce
• Market economy
• Economics

Selected publications

• Sustainable Retailing

  Journal of Retailing · 2020 · 213 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Toward a Digitally Dominant Paradigm for twenty-first century supply chain scholarship

  International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management · 2019-10-02 · 124 citations

  article

  Purpose The digital advances in modern industry are accelerating changes in the broad social, economic, political and business environments within which supply chain management (SCM) is practiced. Given this extraordinary contextual upheaval, the conduct of research to identify, define, understand and explain how the digital revolution will impact key SCM concepts is imperative. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a theoretically grounded Digitally Dominant Paradigm (DDP) framework that de…

  PublisherDOI

• Everything Old is New Again: The Age of Consumer‐Centric Supply Chain Management

  Journal of Business Logistics · 2020 · 90 citations

  Over the past several decades, the disciplines of marketing and logistics grew apart from their common historical origins as marketing became more behavioral and more quantitative, while logistics leaned toward a more operational orientation. We argue in this editorial that social and technological changes in the past 20 years, coupled with the effects of the COVID pandemic, have created the conditions for the two disciplines to reconnect. We propose that scholars and practitioners consider a co…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Technology Innovation and New Business Models: Can Logistics and Supply Chain Research Accelerate the Evolution?

  Journal of Business Logistics · 2016-06-01 · 84 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Businesses today are facing an unprecedented rate of change by virtue of disruptive technologies – many of which are focused on achieving “reach” efficiently in the marketplace. Organizations must evolve their business models to leverage the opportunities presented with the advent of these technologies, yet the pathways to success and failure remain unclear. Researchers of logistics and supply chain management find themselves on the front lines for these exciting developments. As editors, we enc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Researching the Opportunities and Challenges for Women in Supply Chain

  Journal of Business Logistics · 2018-06-01 · 49 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In this editorial, we call attention to the underresearched issue of women in logistics and supply chain management. Despite growing interest in the field and the much recognized gap in talent, women remain underrepresented in the field—and particularly in the senior ranks. We explore some of the reasons offered in existing literature for this deficiency. While progress is noted, much work remains to be carried out. Rigorous research can be instrumental in illuminating the path forward. Possible…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Thomas J. Goldsby

  20 shared

• A. Michael Knemeyer

  Fisher College

  9 shared

• John M. Charnes

  University of Kansas

  7 shared

• Keely L. Croxton

  Fisher College

  7 shared

• Howard Marmorstein

  University of Miami

  4 shared

• Molly M. Hughes

  West Virginia University

  4 shared

• John T. Mentzer

  Virginia Tech

  4 shared

• Terry L. Esper

  The Ohio State University

  3 shared

Awards & honors

• Bernard J. LaLonde Award for best paper published in JBL in…

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• Douglas M. Lamberth-48