Oliver Schaer

Oliver Schaer is an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics at the Department of Decision Sciences & MSI. He is a business analyst with a focus on forecasting and industry application. Prior to joining Drexel, he was a research associate at Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He has PhD in Management Science and MSc in Marketing Analytics from Lancaster University in the UK. Oliver Schaer has multiple years working in industry, primarily as a project manager of a global health technology company in Switzerland. He is a member of INFORMS, the International Institute of Forecasting and visiting research fellow of the Centre for Marketing Analytics and Forecasting at Lancaster University.

Research interest Oliver’s research interests are primarily in the application of predictive analytics for business operations and marketing. His research reflects his interest in helping business leaders improve their decision-making processes for new products and supply chain forecasting. Specifically, his research informs how managers can better leverage data to make more effective, informed, and sustainable decisions. In one of his current projects, he investigates why and when uncertainty in forecasts translate into inventory management. Another area of interests includes the development of new product forecasting methods. This includes combining life-cycle modelling with temporal aggregation and user-generated content.

Industry collaboration Oliver is keen to work with industry and provide decision-makers with practical tools to maximize their analytical capabilities. He is an expert in time-series modelling and business forecasting, but also has industry experience that enables him to intuitively understand managers’ problems and address their needs. He is always open to speaking with business leaders about their problems and ideas. He built and maintains the R package diffusion that contains a variety of tools to forecast life-cycle products.