Research

My research focus is sustainable operations and supply chain management. I am best known for my work on “circular economy” business models that strive to recover and reuse products and materials at the end of each service life. In this space, I focus on three inter-related themes:

1. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) remanufacturing;
2. OEM strategies vis-à-vis the secondary market; and
3. Design of extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation.

I recently expanded my focus to sharing economy models and climate solutions. While predominantly environmental in nature, my interests have evolved in recent years to encompass social impact considerations, starting with a grounding in circular economy business models, and extending to “inclusive innovation,” the subject of a recent perspective article.

Journal Articles

• Wijnsma, W., Lauga, D. and L.B. Toktay, “Treat, Dump or Export: How Domestic and International Waste Management Policies Shape Waste Chain Outcomes,” forthcoming in Management Science.
• Huang, X., Atasu, A., Tereyagoglu, N., and L.B. Toktay, “Lemons, Trade-ins and Certified Pre-Owned Programs,” M&SOM 25:2 (2023), 371-810.
• Agrawal, V., L.B. Toktay, and S. Yucel, “Non-Ownership Business Models for Solar Energy,” M&SOM, 24:4 (2022), 1887-2386.
• Alev, I., Atasu, A., L.B. Toktay and C. Zhang, “EPR for Unused Pharmaceuticals,” M&SOM, 24:1 (2022), 524–541.
• Atasu, A., Corbett, C., Huang, X. and L.B. Toktay, “Sustainable Operations Management through the Perspective of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management,” M&SOM, 22:1 (2020), 146-157.
• Brown, M., Beasley, B. Atalay, F. et al. “Translating a Global Emissions Reduction Framework for Sub-National Climate Action: A Case Study from the State of Georgia,” Environmental Management 67, 205–227 (2021).
• Alev, I., Atasu, A., L.B. Toktay and C. Zhang, “EPR for Unused Pharmaceuticals,” M&SOM, published online (Mar 2021).
• Huang, X., Tan, T., and L.B. Toktay, “The Capacity Investment Decision under Asymmetric Emission Regulation,” Production and Operations Management, published online (April 2020).
• Kalkanci, B., Rahmani, M. and L.B. Toktay, “The Role of Inclusive Innovation in Promoting Social Sustainability,” Production and Operations Management 28:12 (2019), 2960-2982.
• Zhang, C., Atasu, A. Ayer, T., and L.B. Toktay “A Mechanism Design Approach for Medical Surplus Allocation,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, published online (Nov 2019)
• Huang, X., Atasu, A. and L.B. Toktay, “Product Design Decisions under Extended Producer Responsibility,” Management Science, 65:6 (2019), 2445-2945.
• Gui, L., Atasu, A., Ergun, O. and L.B. Toktay, “The Design Implications of Collective EPR Regulation,” Management Science, 64:11 (2018), 4967-5460.
• Alev, I., Huang, X., Atasu, A. and L.B. Toktay, “An Evaluation of Market-Based Approaches to Extended Producer Responsibility: The Minnesota Recycling Act,” Journal of Industrial Ecology (2018) 1-14.
• Ioannis, I., Ferguson, M., and L.B. Toktay, “The Car Sharing Economy: Interaction of Business Model Choice and Product Line Design,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 19:2 (2017), 185-201.
• Meng, Y.W., Atasu, A., Toktay, L.B. and C. Zhang, “Effective Medical Surplus Recovery,” Production and Operations Management, special issue on “Not-for-Profit Operations,” 26:6 (2017), 1142-1162.
• Gui, L., Atasu, A., Ergun, O. and L.B. Toktay, “Fair and Efficient Implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation,” Management Science 62:4 (2016), 1098-1123.
• Agrawal, V., Kavadias, S., and L.B. Toktay, “The Limits of Planned Obsolescence for Conspicuous Durable Products,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management 18:2 (2016), 216-226.
• Pince, C., Ferguson, M., A., and L.B. Toktay, “Extracting maximum value from consumer returns: Allocating between Remarketing and Refurbishing for Warranty Claims,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 18:4 (2016), 475 – 492.
• Boyabatli, O., Leng, T., and L.B. Toktay, “The Interaction of Technology Choice and Financial Risk Management: An Integrated Risk Management Perspective,” Management Science, 62:1 (2016), 225-244.
• Gui, L., Atasu, A., Ergun, O. and L.B. Toktay, “Implementing Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation: A Multi-Stakeholder Case Analysis,” Journal of Industrial Ecology 17:2 (2013), 262-276.
• Atasu, A., Toktay, L.B. and L.N. Van Wassenhove, “How the Collection Cost Structure Drives the Manufacturer’s Reverse Channel Choice,” Production and Operations Management 22:5 (2013), 1089-1102.
• Subramanian, R., Ferguson, M. and L.B. Toktay, “Component Commonality Strategies under Remanufacturing,” Production and Operations Management, 22:1 (2013), 36-53.
• Agrawal, V., Ferguson, M., Toktay, L.B. and V. Thomas, “Is Leasing Greener than Selling?“, Management Science, 58:3(2012), 523-533.
• Oraiopoulos, N., Ferguson, M. and L.B. Toktay, “Relicensing as a Secondary Market Strategy,” Management Science, 58:5(2012), 1022-1037.
• Boyabatlı, O. and L.B. Toktay, “Stochastic Capacity Investment and Technology Choice in Imperfect Capital Markets,” Management Science, 57:12 (2011), 2163-2179.
• Kurtuluş, M., L.B. Toktay and S. Ulku, “Investing in Forecast Collaboration,” M&SOM 14:3(2012), 82-98.
• Toktay, L.B. and D. Wei, “Internal Transfer Pricing for Remanufacturable Products,” Production and Operations Management 20:6 (2011), 841-847.
• Kurtuluş, M. and L.B. Toktay, “Category Captainship: Outsourcing Category Management,” Production and Operations Management, 20:1 (2011), 47 – 56 (An earlier version of this paper won the Wickham Skinner Award for the Best Unpublished Paper presented at the 2006 POMS conference).
• Wang, T. and L.B. Toktay, “Inventory Management with Advance Information and Flexible Delivery,” Management Science, 54:4 (2008), 716 – 732 (Tong Wang won the 2007 MSOM Student Paper Competition with this paper).
• Debo, L.G., Toktay, L.B. and L.N. Van Wassenhove, “Queuing for Expert Services,” Management Science, 54:8 (2008), 1497 – 1512.
• Ulku, S., Toktay, L.B. and E. Yucesan, “Risk Ownership in Contract Manufacturing,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 9:3 (2007), 225 – 241.
• Ferguson, M. and L.B. Toktay, “The Impact of Competition on Recovery Strategies,” special issue of Production and Operations Management on Closed-loop Supply Chains, 15:3 (2006), 351 – 368.
• Debo, L.G., Toktay, L.B. and L.N. Van Wassenhove, “Life-Cycle Dynamics of Portfolios with Remanufactured Products,” special issue of Production and Operations Management on Closed-loop Supply Chains, 15:4 (2006), 498 – 513.
• Debo, L.G., Toktay, L.B. and L.N. Van Wassenhove, “Market Segmentation and Production Technology Selection for Remanufacturable Products,” Management Science 51:8 (2005), 1193 – 1205.
• Ulku, S., Toktay, L.B. and E. Yucesan, “The Impact of Outsourced Manufacturing on the Timing of Entry in Uncertain Markets,” Production and Operations Management special issue on Product Innovation, 14:3 (2005), 301 – 314.
• Gallego, G. and L.B. Toktay, “All-or-Nothing Ordering under a Capacity Constraint,” Operations Research 52:6 (2004), 1001-1002.
• Toktay, L.B. and L.M. Wein, “Analysis of a Forecasting-Production-Inventory System with Stationary Demand,” Management Science 47:9 (2001), 1268-1281.
• Toktay, L.B., Wein, L.M. and S.A. Zenios, “Inventory Management of Remanufacturable Products,” Management Science 46:11 (2000), 1412-1426.
• Toktay, L.B. and R. Uzsoy, “A Capacity Allocation Problem with Integer Side Constraints,” European Journal of Operational Research, 109 (1998), 170-182.

Working Papers

• Mohammadshahi Y., Keskinocak, P., Toktay, L.B. and H. Wang, “Priority-based Environmental Inspection Strategies.”
• Kim, D., Keskinocak, P., and L.B. Toktay, “Recycling of Post-Disaster Debris.”

Book Chapters

• Toktay, L.B., “Forecasting Product Returns,” in Business Aspects of Closed-Loop Supply Chains, D. Guide, Jr. L.N. Van Wassenhove, eds., Carnegie Bosch Institute, International Management Series: Volume 2, 2003.
• Toktay, L.B., van der Laan, E.A. and M.P. de Brito, “Managing Product Returns: Informational Issues and Forecasting Methods,” in Reverse Logistics: Quantitative Methods for Closed-Loop Supply Chains, R. Dekker, Fleischmann, M., K. Inderfurth, and L.N. Van Wassenhove, eds., Springer Verlag, 2004.
• Toktay, L.B., L. Selhat and R. Anderson “Doing Well by Doing Good: Interface’s Vision of Being the First Industrial Company in the World to Attain Sustainability,” Enterprise Transformation: Understanding and Enabling Fundamental Change, W. Rouse, Ed., Wiley, 2006.
• Kurtulus, M. and L.B. Toktay, “Category Captainship Practices in the Retail Industry,” in Retail Supply Chain Management, Agrawal N. and S. Smith (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, 2008, 79-98.
• Agrawal, V. and L.B. Toktay, “Interdisciplinarity in Closed-Loop Supply Chain Management Research,” in Closed Loop Supply Chains: New Directions to Improve the Sustainability of Business Practices, Ferguson, M. and G. Souza (Eds), Taylor and Francis Publishing, 2010, 197-214.
• Ferguson, M., Souza, G. and L.B. Toktay, “Examples of Existing Profitable Practices in Product Take-back and Recovery,” in Closed Loop Supply Chains: New Directions to Improve the Sustainability of Business Practices, Ferguson, M. and G. Souza (Eds), Taylor and Francis Publishing, 2010, 145-159.
• Agrawal, V. and L.B. Toktay, “Interdisciplinarity in Closed-Loop Supply Chain Management Research,” in Closed Loop Supply Chains: New Directions to Improve the Sustainability of Business Practices, Ferguson, M. and G. Souza (Eds), Taylor and Francis Publishing, 2010, 197-214 (reviewed by the editors).
• Gui, L., N. Huang, A. Atasu, and L. B. Toktay, “Design Implications of EPR,” in Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains, Ed. A. Atasu, Springer, 2016.