IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/popmgt/v30y2021i3p802-814.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Case for a Unified Science of Operations

Author

Listed:
  • Mark L. Spearman
  • Wallace J. Hopp

Abstract

Throughout its history, the industrial engineering/operations management (IE/OM) field has relied heavily on axiomatic models and empirical studies of individual systems. But, unlike other engineering and management disciplines, it lacks a clear foundation in a descriptive science. Exceptional results like the famous “bullwhip effect” paper by Lee et al. (1997) hint at the powerful potential for a descriptive science of operations. But the very fact that such works are exceptional suggests that they are held to a high bar in the publishing process. This may be symptomatic of the cultural norms that have prevented our field from producing a rigorous scientific foundation. In this study, we make a case for why developing a unified science of operations is essential for IE/OM education, practice and research. We provide examples and a tentative framework to illustrate what such a science might look like and use this framework to generate a testable hypothesis about a powerful relationship between variability buffers in and operations system. We conclude with suggestions of measures we can take collectively to promote development of the science of operations.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark L. Spearman & Wallace J. Hopp, 2021. "The Case for a Unified Science of Operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(3), pages 802-814, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popmgt:v:30:y:2021:i:3:p:802-814
    DOI: 10.1111/poms.13318
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13318
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/poms.13318?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen Donohue & Özalp Özer, 2020. "Behavioral Operations: Past, Present, and Future," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 191-202, January.
    2. Hau L. Lee & V. Padmanabhan & Seungjin Whang, 1997. "Information Distortion in a Supply Chain: The Bullwhip Effect," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 546-558, April.
    3. Harvey M. Wagner & Thomson M. Whitin, 1958. "Dynamic Version of the Economic Lot Size Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 89-96, October.
    4. Hakold F. Smiddy & Lionel Naum, 1954. "Evolution of a "Science of Managing" in America," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 1-31, October.
    5. Ivo Adan & Jan Van der Wal, 1989. "Monotonicity of the Throughput of a Closed Queueing Network in the Number of Jobs," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 37(6), pages 953-957, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sushil Gupta & Medha Tekriwal & Carlos M. Parra, 2022. "Permeation of the term “analytics” in production and operations management research," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(10), pages 3651-3667, October.
    2. Bublu Thakur-Weigold & Sébastien Miroudot, 2024. "Supply chain myths in the resilience and deglobalization narrative: consequences for policy," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 99-111, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bradley R. Staats & Diwas S. KC & Francesca Gino, 2018. "Maintaining Beliefs in the Face of Negative News: The Moderating Role of Experience," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 804-824, February.
    2. Julia Pahl & Stefan Voß & David Woodruff, 2007. "Production planning with load dependent lead times: an update of research," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 297-345, September.
    3. van Norden, Linda & van de Velde, Steef, 2005. "Multi-product lot-sizing with a transportation capacity reservation contract," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(1), pages 127-138, August.
    4. Li, Xiuhui & Wang, Qinan, 2007. "Coordination mechanisms of supply chain systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(1), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Thomas L. Magnanti, 2021. "Optimization: From Its Inception," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5349-5363, September.
    6. Wallace J. Hopp & David Simchi-Levi, 2021. "Management Science : The Legacy of the Past and Challenge of the Future," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5306-5316, September.
    7. Marshall Fisher & Marcelo Olivares & Bradley R. Staats, 2020. "Why Empirical Research Is Good for Operations Management, and What Is Good Empirical Operations Management?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 170-178, January.
    8. Martin A. Lariviere, 2016. "OM Forum—Supply Chain Contracting: Doughnuts to Bubbles," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 309-313, July.
    9. Battini, Daria & Persona, Alessandro & Sgarbossa, Fabio, 2014. "A sustainable EOQ model: Theoretical formulation and applications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 145-153.
    10. Pastore, Erica & Alfieri, Arianna & Zotteri, Giulio, 2019. "An empirical investigation on the antecedents of the bullwhip effect: Evidence from the spare parts industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 121-133.
    11. Ewerhart, Christian & Cassola, Nuno & Valla, Natacha, 2012. "Overbidding in fixed rate tenders: The role of exposure risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 539-549.
    12. Siao-Leu Phouratsamay & Safia Kedad-Sidhoum & Fanny Pascual, 2021. "Coordination of a two-level supply chain with contracts," 4OR, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 235-264, June.
    13. Wolosewicz, Cathy & Dauzère-Pérès, Stéphane & Aggoune, Riad, 2015. "A Lagrangian heuristic for an integrated lot-sizing and fixed scheduling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 3-12.
    14. Towill, Denis R. & Zhou, Li & Disney, Stephen M., 2007. "Reducing the bullwhip effect: Looking through the appropriate lens," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1-2), pages 444-453, July.
    15. Charles, Mehdi & Dauzère-Pérès, Stéphane & Kedad-Sidhoum, Safia & Mazhoud, Issam, 2022. "Motivations and analysis of the capacitated lot-sizing problem with setup times and minimum and maximum ending inventories," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(1), pages 203-220.
    16. Minjiao Zhang & Simge Küçükyavuz & Saumya Goel, 2014. "A Branch-and-Cut Method for Dynamic Decision Making Under Joint Chance Constraints," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(5), pages 1317-1333, May.
    17. Nathan Craig & Nicole DeHoratius & Ananth Raman, 2016. "The Impact of Supplier Inventory Service Level on Retailer Demand," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 461-474, October.
    18. Baron, Opher & Callen, Jeffrey L. & Segal, Dan, 2023. "Does the bullwhip matter economically? A cross-sectional firm-level analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    19. Liu, Tieming, 2008. "Economic lot sizing problem with inventory bounds," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 185(1), pages 204-215, February.
    20. S. Di Luozzo & A. Fronzetti Colladon & M. M. Schiraldi, 2024. "Decoding excellence: Mapping the demand for psychological traits of operations and supply chain professionals through text mining," Papers 2403.17546, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:popmgt:v:30:y:2021:i:3:p:802-814. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1937-5956 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.