#36 Benoit Rottembourg, revenue management at Maersk (maritime shipping)

Revenue management is curling: aim, accept you’ll be wrong, and design the ‘brushing’ to correct the shot.

Benoit Rottembourg is a mathematician with a PhD in applied mathematics who transitioned from solving abstract problems to tackling real-world business challenges. His career began at Bouygues, where he worked on workforce and supply chain optimization, before moving into pricing and revenue management at TF1, a French TV channel.

Benoit became a pioneer in implementing revenue management in new industries, including campsites and maritime shipping, notably leading the digital transformation at Maersk. There, he helped design and launch a dynamic pricing tool for spot cargo, overcoming industry resistance and legacy processes. His approach emphasizes the importance of aligning technology with business needs, fostering collaboration between data scientists and operational teams, and adapting solutions to real-world volatility.

Listen to the curling metaphor and you will understand the trick of the revenue management. How to improve permanently :

• never forget the human and the consequences of the processes. So observe and listen.

• get infuse by brillant brains like data scientists. Talent is universal.

Benoit now focuses on auditing algorithms for robustness and fairness, always advocating for a hands-on, field-driven approach to optimization.

Linked In Benoit Rottembourg

References

The Theory and Practice of Revenue Management by Kalyan T. Talluri, Garrett Van Ryzin

Revenue Management and Pricing Analytics by Guillermo Gallego and Huseyin Topaloglu

Musics

The Hu "wolf totem"

Feu Chatterton "allons voir"

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