RESEARCH
In a global survey of four hundred and fifty CEOs of a wide range of industries that was conducted by IBM, they were asked what factors would have the greatest impact on the future of their organizations. An overwhelming majority of CEOs identified changes in market forces, such as intense competition and rapid changes in customer needs and wants, as critical factors. The CEOs' responses made it clear that flexibility and responsiveness were indispensable for firms to succeed in the new global competitive market place. Flexibility provides firms with the ability to adapt rapidly to changes in their environments (e.g., changes in demand, supply, capacity, or technology) in efficient and cost-effective ways. While having the ability to adapt is necessary, it is, however, not sufficient. Responsiveness (i.e., being able to utilize that ability effectively and respond rapidly to changes in environment) is another key factor that complements flexibility. Moreover, firms cannot utilize their flexibility and be responsive, unless they have a high level of coordination in their business processes.
My research focuses on improving flexibility, coordination, and responsiveness in manufacturing and service operations systems and supply chains. I develop easy-to-implement and cost-effective practices (e.g., control policies, design principles), using mathematical optimization models, stochastic processes, game theory, social networks and queueing theory. My research approach is three-fold: (i) to analyze optimal system behavior and to discover the key factors governing the optimal behavior; (ii) to provide managerial insights based on the characteristics of those key factors; and (iii) in those cases where optimal control is not practical, or where it is not computationally feasible to obtain, to develop efficient and cost-effective practices that are easy to implement in the real world.
Below are samples of some of my research in different areas of operations management (click on the pictures to learn more about each area).
Behavioral Operations
Healthcare Operations
Supply Chain Management
Service Operations
Nonprofit Operations
