Srikanth K
Welcome to my homepage!
I am an Assistant Professor in Quantitative Methods and Operations Management (QMOM) area at Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
Research interests
Sharing Economy, Urban mobility ( Ridesharing), On-demand service systems, Sustainable Operations
Academic Background
Ph.D. (Management), Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB)
M.Sc. (Management), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
B.E. (Mechanical), PES Institute of Technology, Bengaluru.
Email: srikanth@iimk.ac.in
Research
I am interested in exploring alternate models of production (and consumption) that are less burdensome on the environment. In this context, I find Sharing Economy to be an interesting area. Some examples of Sharing Economy firms include Zipcar (for vehicles), BlaBlaCar (for rides), and Airbnb (for spare rooms). I study operational challenges faced by such Sharing Economy firms. I use optimization and game theoretic models in my research.
Current Research Projects
- Developing operating policies for mixed-fleet ridesharing
Ridesharing platforms offer a great deal of flexibility to their service providers. They can choose when, how much, and where to work from. This high degree of flexibility offered to service providers makes them an "unreliable" supply. Maintaining high service levels with an unreliable supply is a challenging problem for the platforms. While some platforms use pricing (and incentives) to overcome this problem, others supplement the fleet of crowdsourced service providers with their service providers (multi-fleet). In this project, I examine operational issues associated with multi-fleet operations.
Research related to this project was presented at MSOM 2021, SOM2022, and POM2022 conferences
Publication: Non-discriminatory operating policies for ridesharing platforms with dual capacities, JORS, 2023
- Designing pricing mechanisms for carpooling
Carpool is an attractive travel mode for consumers on a budget. The larger the pool size, the higher the savings. Consumers opt for large-size pools only when savings are substantial. Thus, pricing is critical in generating demand for large-size pools and increasing platforms' revenues. As a part of this project, I am exploring various pricing mechanisms that encourage the formation of large pools. These mechanisms factor in cost savings and the inconvenience experienced by co-travellers in a shared ride.
research related to this project was presented at INFORMS TSL Workshop 2021, and MSOM 2018 conferences
Publication: A pricing mechanism to improve capacity utilisation in ridesharing (with Rajeev Tripathi), JORS, 2021
- Rental operations of Electric Vehicles
research related to this project was presented at POMS India 2023 conference
Teaching
Optimization Models (PGP 2022, PGP 2023)
Operations Management (EPGP 2022, EPGP 2023)
Other Interests
Apart from research work, I find great joy in practicing yoga, playing badminton, and visiting eateries (Yes, I am a foodie!). I like Carnatic fusion music. I am a big fan of old Kannada movies.