Introduction to Special Section on Data-Driven Research Challenge

The Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (MSOM) Data-Driven Research Challenge is a biannual paper competition organized by the MSOM journal and the MSOM Society. The objective of the challenge is to encourage and reward high-quality operations management data-driven research papers. In this challenge, MSOM members were given access to JD.com's transaction-level data to conduct data-driven research. The evaluation criteria for the competition included the utilization of data, potential impact on practice, contribution to the research literature, and generalizability and scalability of the methods and results. The competition culminated with the publication of prize-winning and finalist papers in the MSOM journal. The papers included in this issue cover topics such as estimating price sensitivity, intertemporal pricing, and managing personalized orders in online retailing. The challenge was developed and launched with the help of various individuals and organizations. INFORMS, the largest international association of operations research and analytics professionals, provides networking and learning opportunities for professionals and organizations to better understand and use operations research and analytics tools.