2024 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Ersin Körpeoğlu, UCL School of Management, University College London

Ersin Körpeoğlu
UCL School of Management, University College London

“What truly sets Ersin apart is his ability to inspire. He goes beyond the role of a teacher; he ignites a passion for learning within his students. His encouragement and inclusive teaching style empower every student to actively participate and engage with the material.

“Moreover, beyond his exemplary performance in the classroom, Ersin’s prowess as a researcher is equally remarkable. One of the most invaluable lessons I have learned from him is resilience in the face of challenging research obstacles. When confronted with difficulties, Ersin demonstrates a remarkable ability to reframe questions and explore different angles, fostering new perspectives and breakthroughs.” – Ramazan Kizilyildirim, PhD student

Ersin Körpeoğlu, 39, is an Associate Professor of Operations & Technology at UCL School of Management, University College London.

Körpeoğlu’s primary area of research is innovative businesses such as online platforms (e.g., crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, e-commerce, hospitality) and their interaction with conventional businesses. He also conducts research on innovation sourcing and management, technology in healthcare, supply chain economics, socially responsible operations, and business analytics. He utilizes theoretical, empirical, and experimental methodologies in his research.

His work has been published in world-leading academic journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management as well as practitioner journals such as Interfaces. His work has also been featured in leading outlets such as the Financial Times, the Harvard Business Review, and the Wall Street Journal.

He is the recipient of a best dissertation award, two best working paper awards, and a best paper award from the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) and Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section (TIMES). He is an active member of INFORMS, MSOM Society, and TIMES, and an associate editor of Management Science.

Körpeoğlu teaches “Product, Technology and Operations Management” and “New Product Development” modules. He was a runner-up for the BSc/MSci Management Science Best Teacher Award in 2018 and 2019. He also received third prize at the 2013 INFORMS Case Competition.

He is passionate about supervising PhD students to help them grow into excellent academics. His joint projects with his PhD students have been published in world-leading academic journals and won several accolades, including being a finalist in the Junior Scholar Paper Competition of the College of Behavior in Operations Management in Production and Operations Management Society.

BACKGRAOUND

At current institution since what year? 2015

Education:
PhD in Operations Management, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, 2015
MS in Operations Management and Manufacturing, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, 2011
MS in Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University, 2009
BS in Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University, 2007

List of MBA courses you currently teach: New Product Development

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I always wanted to be a professor. Even as a kid, I would play the role of the professor whenever we were role-playing. I come from an engineering background, so I was not initially considering becoming a business school professor. It was my master’s thesis advisor, Prof. Selim Akturk at Bilkent University, who opened my eyes to business schools. My passion for becoming a business school professor started after I entered the Tepper School of Business for my PhD. After taking classes and serving as a teaching assistant for world-class professors such as Fallaw Sowell and Laurence Ales, I realized that business school teaching is at another level. I knew I wanted to excel in teaching, and business school is the best place for that. Observing my colleagues’ top-quality teaching at UCL School of Management has confirmed my belief and provided me with an excellent environment to thrive in.

What are you currently researching, and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? I am passionate about doing practically relevant and impactful research. I can give two examples of my recent work, one recently published and one recently completed. I have a paper on product development in crowdfunding that was recently published in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management and led to an online article in the Harvard Business Review. My co-authors and I show that entrepreneurs launching a crowdfunding campaign should develop their products sufficiently to attract backers’ attention but not too much to prevent improvements. Indeed, entrepreneurs who harness customer feedback during campaigns are almost twice as likely to succeed as those who do not utilize feedback.

My recently completed research project studied the interaction between online travel agency platforms (OTAs) and hotel groups. Due to OTAs’ rapidly increasing market power and commission fees, large hotel chains turn to their loyalty programs to entice OTA customers to book directly from their channels. Partnering with a large hotel group and utilizing their rich dataset, we investigated whether loyalty programs work as intended. Surprisingly, my co-authors and I found that they do not; instead, they attract customers who would already book with their direct channels to book with a loyalty membership, giving them unnecessary discounts. Thus, hotel groups need to rethink their loyalty programs.

If I weren’t a business school professor… I would be a professor in a different area, possibly engineering. If I weren’t a professor, I would probably get into a research position in the industry or consulting as I like solving problems.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? Effective communication with students and being invested. Effective communication includes (i) getting to know each student as much as I can, (ii) constantly communicating with students about their learning and harnessing student feedback to improve my modules, (iii) explaining the module material in a way that is accessible and interesting to everyone by making sure that students can connect with the material, and (iv) providing a safe environment where students can contribute to the classroom discussions and generate ideas about how we can improve the course together. Being invested means giving the students my full attention and energy whenever I interact with them and providing them with top-quality teaching resources.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Exhilarating

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: It is fun, instructive, and satisfying as much as it is demanding. I remember being intimidated by the idea of teaching MBAs as a PhD student. I was told they were highly demanding and asked tough questions. Yes, they are demanding, and they have a right to be. They are also engaging, conscious about their time, and full of experiences to share. Thus, it is a pleasure to teach them and learn from them. Teaching undergraduate students is also great because you can share their youthful energy when teaching them.

Professor I most admire and why: I admire Professor Chris Tang the most because he epitomizes what a business school professor should be. He is an exceptionally productive researcher, an excellent teacher, and, above all, a great mentor and person.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? With MBAs, I love the fact that they have a lot to share. Thus, I like being a ‘conductor’ rather than a lecturer during class discussions. Expanding from their experiences makes the discussions more colorful and also helps them connect the module topics with workplace practice.

What is most challenging? As my Ph.D. thesis advisor, Laurence Ales, once told me, “You cannot fool an MBA student.” You must be at the top of your game, prepare well, and show that your course is worth students’ time and effort. What positively surprised me was that my undergraduate students would also be like that. My students at UCL School of Management are curious and always keep me on my toes – something I love about them.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Curious.

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Disengaged.

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… Fair.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? I like traveling to historically and culturally rich places, cooking Turkish dishes, watching movies, and playing action-adventure and strategy video games. I also like to play chess and the guitar, although I do those less frequently these days.

How will you spend your summer? Mostly working. I also look forward to spending time with my two-year-old son and traveling.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Antalya (Turkey), Cancun (Mexico), Hawaii (US), and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic).

Favorite book(s): The Holy Quran, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and Samarkand by Amin Maalouf.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? I love Interstellar because it combines excellent directing, acting, and music with good science. I love all of Christopher Nolan’s movies and am incredibly proud that he is a UCL alumnus.

A recent show I love is Queen’s Gambit because I love chess, movies with strong female characters, and movies where people overcome challenges to succeed against all odds.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I love all types of music as long as it is good music. I love Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. For some reason, it reminds me of trains. I also find Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 quite inspirational when working.

I love Cem Adrian. Not only does he have an unbelievable vocal range, but he also pays close attention to detail in his singing. You can feel his singing.

I love Mark Eliyahu, as he plays kamancheh beautifully and with so much passion. I have a particular thing for the song Hope.

I love how OneRepublic and Imagine Dragons utilize drums.

I am also a long-time Metallica fan. I used to be in a band that covers Metallica songs like Fade To Black, Nothing Else Matters, One, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… More collaboration and interaction with the industry. I think business schools, in general, are too distant from businesses. I think UCL School of Management is moving in the right direction. We have several faculty members with close ties to industry and policy-makers; we communicate well with the incubator one floor above our offices, and our new sustainability lab is an excellent initiative. Above all, our director, Davide Ravasi, encourages and invests in our research collaborations with the industry. The more these efforts are institutionalized and structured, the better.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… seeking help. Many companies and organizations have the notion that if they seek help, they will look weak or incapable. There is the illusion that companies already know the best. Yes, they know a lot and should be respected for it. However, they also miss a lot by not seeking help from others. Experts in academia could add a broad perspective, a more comprehensive industry insight, and recent research findings. Seeking help from customers or “the crowd” can also be very effective in establishing novel solutions to chronic problems; my research on crowdsourcing and crowdfunding is a testament to that. Companies that fail to seek help get stuck in locally optimum solutions due to well-established factors such as functional fixedness, knowledge-based biases, and methodology inertia. Worse, companies sometimes fail to realize significant issues because they are used to them.

I’m grateful for… too many things to count: my life, faith, family, career, health, and being fortunate to have met the right people.

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE 2024 ROSTER OF THE WORLD’S BEST 40-UNDER-40 MBA PROFESSORS