IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormsom/v22y2020i1p214-222.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interesting, Important, and Impactful Operations Management

Author

Listed:
  • Gérard P. Cachon

    (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104;)

  • Karan Girotra

    (Cornell Tech/Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, New York, New York 10044)

  • Serguei Netessine

    (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104;)

Abstract

Operations management has evolved since the founding of M&SOM : new departments have been created in our journals, new tracks have been established in our conferences, and new methodologies have been adopted in our research. Are these changes good for the field? To some, they seem detrimental, yielding a fragmented community that does not always speak the same language nor interact in any meaningful way. Others celebrate our expanded diversity and the new areas of research that it opens up. We argue that neither group is entirely wrong, nor entirely correct. Like the latter, we argue that we must contribute to a growing set of domains using all possible tools of inquiry. But sharing the concern of the former, we view fragmentation as a symptom of a problem. To get out of its rut, to have greater impact, the field needs to ask questions that are important and provide answers that are interesting. In particular, we should (i) avoid the trap of specificity (excellent answers to narrowly defined questions), (ii) expand our horizon beyond our (relatively) small field (connect and actively engage with diverse audiences), and (iii) be bold to pioneer new areas of inquiry. Operations management is at the heart of many of the big issues in society today, and we should be (and can be) central to the conversation.

Suggested Citation

  • Gérard P. Cachon & Karan Girotra & Serguei Netessine, 2020. "Interesting, Important, and Impactful Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 214-222, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:22:y:2020:i:1:p:214-222
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.2019.0813
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2019.0813
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/msom.2019.0813?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. M. Keith Chen & Judith A. Chevalier & Peter E. Rossi & Emily Oehlsen, 2019. "The Value of Flexible Work: Evidence from Uber Drivers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(6), pages 2735-2794.
    2. Gérard P. Cachon & Kaitlin M. Daniels & Ruben Lobel, 2017. "The Role of Surge Pricing on a Service Platform with Self-Scheduling Capacity," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 368-384, July.
    3. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew M. Warner, 1995. "Economic Convergence and Economic Policies," NBER Working Papers 5039, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. David H. Autor, 2019. "Work of the Past, Work of the Future," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 1-32, May.
    5. Negin Golrezaei & Hamid Nazerzadeh & Paat Rusmevichientong, 2014. "Real-Time Optimization of Personalized Assortments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1532-1551, June.
    6. Jason Acimovic & Stephen C. Graves, 2015. "Making Better Fulfillment Decisions on the Fly in an Online Retail Environment," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 34-51, February.
    7. Ruixue Guo & Hau L. Lee & Robert Swinney, 2016. "Responsible Sourcing in Supply Chains," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2722-2744, September.
    8. Terry A. Taylor, 2018. "On-Demand Service Platforms," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 704-720, October.
    9. Argote, L. & Epple, D., 1990. "Learning Curves In Manufacturing," GSIA Working Papers 89-90-02, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    10. Ryan W. Buell & Tami Kim & Chia-Jung Tsay, 2017. "Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1673-1695, June.
    11. Santiago R. Balseiro & Omar Besbes & Gabriel Y. Weintraub, 2015. "Repeated Auctions with Budgets in Ad Exchanges: Approximations and Design," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(4), pages 864-884, April.
    12. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    13. Chris Parker & Kamalini Ramdas & Nicos Savva, 2016. "Is IT Enough? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India’s Agriculture Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2481-2503, September.
    14. Gérard P. Cachon, 2014. "Retail Store Density and the Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1907-1925, August.
    15. Elena Belavina & Karan Girotra & Ashish Kabra, 2017. "Online Grocery Retail: Revenue Models and Environmental Impact," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1781-1799, June.
    16. Bimpikis, Kostas & Candogan, Ozan & Saban, Daniela, 2018. "Spatial Pricing in Ride-Sharing Networks," Research Papers repec:ecl:stabus:3482, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    17. Jónas Oddur Jónasson & Sarang Deo & Jérémie Gallien, 2017. "Improving HIV Early Infant Diagnosis Supply Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: Models and Application to Mozambique," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(6), pages 1479-1493, December.
    18. Vishal Gaur & Dorothée Honhon, 2006. "Assortment Planning and Inventory Decisions Under a Locational Choice Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(10), pages 1528-1543, October.
    19. William C. Jordan & Stephen C. Graves, 1995. "Principles on the Benefits of Manufacturing Process Flexibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 577-594, April.
    20. David R. Bell & Santiago Gallino & Antonio Moreno, 2018. "Offline Showrooms in Omnichannel Retail: Demand and Operational Benefits," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(4), pages 1629-1651, April.
    21. Antonio Moreno & Christian Terwiesch, 2014. "Doing Business with Strangers: Reputation in Online Service Marketplaces," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 865-886, December.
    22. Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 2016. "The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015," Working Papers 603, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    23. Serguei Netessine & Nils Rudi, 2006. "Supply Chain Choice on the Internet," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(6), pages 844-864, June.
    24. Elena Belavina & Karan Girotra, 2012. "The Relational Advantages of Intermediation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(9), pages 1614-1631, September.
    25. Bhavani Shanker Uppari & Ioana Popescu & Serguei Netessine, 2019. "Selling Off-Grid Light to Liquidity-Constrained Consumers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 308-326, May.
    26. Brian Tomlin, 2006. "On the Value of Mitigation and Contingency Strategies for Managing Supply Chain Disruption Risks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(5), pages 639-657, May.
    27. Robert Swinney & Gérard P. Cachon & Serguei Netessine, 2011. "Capacity Investment Timing by Start-ups and Established Firms in New Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(4), pages 763-777, April.
    28. Hummy Song & Anita L. Tucker & Karen L. Murrell, 2015. "The Diseconomies of Queue Pooling: An Empirical Investigation of Emergency Department Length of Stay," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 3032-3053, December.
    29. Santiago Gallino & Antonio Moreno & Ioannis Stamatopoulos, 2017. "Channel Integration, Sales Dispersion, and Inventory Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(9), pages 2813-2831, September.
    30. 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.
    31. Jose A. Guajardo, 2018. "Third-Party Ownership Business Models and the Operational Performance of Solar Energy Systems," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 788-800, October.
    32. Kostas Bimpikis & Ozan Candogan & Shayan Ehsani, 2019. "Supply Disruptions and Optimal Network Structures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5504-5517, December.
    33. Evan L. Porteus, 1986. "Optimal Lot Sizing, Process Quality Improvement and Setup Cost Reduction," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 137-144, February.
    34. John Paul MacDuffie & Kannan Sethuraman & Marshall L. Fisher, 1996. "Product Variety and Manufacturing Performance: Evidence from the International Automotive Assembly Plant Study," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 350-369, March.
    35. Felipe Caro & Jérémie Gallien, 2012. "Clearance Pricing Optimization for a Fast-Fashion Retailer," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1404-1422, December.
    36. Omar Besbes & Yonatan Gur & Assaf Zeevi, 2016. "Optimization in Online Content Recommendation Services: Beyond Click-Through Rates," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 15-33, February.
    37. Hau L. Lee & Christopher S. Tang, 1997. "Modelling the Costs and Benefits of Delayed Product Differentiation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 40-53, January.
    38. Buket Avci & Karan Girotra & Serguei Netessine, 2015. "Electric Vehicles with a Battery Switching Station: Adoption and Environmental Impact," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(4), pages 772-794, April.
    39. Gérard P. Cachon, 2012. "What Is Interesting in Operations Management?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 166-169, April.
    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. Soledad Giardili & Kamalini Ramdas & Jonathan W. Williams, 2023. "Leadership and Productivity: A Study of U.S. Automobile Assembly Plants," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1500-1517, March.
    2. Erkip, Nesim Kohen, 2023. "Can accessing much data reshape the theory? Inventory theory under the challenge of data-driven systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(3), pages 949-959.
    3. Maria De‐Arteaga & Stefan Feuerriegel & Maytal Saar‐Tsechansky, 2022. "Algorithmic fairness in business analytics: Directions for research and practice," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(10), pages 3749-3770, October.
    4. Jónas Oddur Jónasson & Kamalini Ramdas & Alp Sungu, 2022. "Social impact operations at the global base of the pyramid," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4364-4378, December.
    5. Sarah Schiffling & Claire Hannibal & Matthew Tickle & Yiyi Fan, 2022. "The implications of complexity for humanitarian logistics: a complex adaptive systems perspective," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 1379-1410, December.
    6. Kedong Chen & Xiaojin (Jim) Liu & Yuhong Li & Kevin Linderman, 2023. "Government support and cross‐border innovation: The effect of China's innovative city policy on Chinese firms' patenting in the United States," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1793-1811, June.

    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. Gérard P. Cachon, 2020. "A Research Framework for Business Models: What Is Common Among Fast Fashion, E-Tailing, and Ride Sharing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1172-1192, March.
    2. He, Bo & Mirchandani, Prakash & Wang, Yong, 2020. "Removing barriers for grocery stores: O2O platform and self-scheduling delivery capacity," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    3. Hau L. Lee & Christopher S. Tang, 2018. "Socially and Environmentally Responsible Value Chain Innovations: New Operations Management Research Opportunities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 983-996, March.
    4. H. Alice Li & Xiang Wan, 2023. "Impact of conflict delisting and relisting on remaining products in retail stores: Sales gains across products categories and spillovers to nearby stores," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(7), pages 2264-2282, July.
    5. Hu, Xinru & Zhou, Shuiyin & Luo, Xiaomeng & Li, Jianbin & Zhang, Chi, 2024. "Optimal pricing strategy of an on-demand platform with cross-regional passengers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    6. Vibhanshu Abhishek & Jose A. Guajardo & Zhe Zhang, 2021. "Business Models in the Sharing Economy: Manufacturing Durable Goods in the Presence of Peer-to-Peer Rental Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1450-1469, December.
    7. Sun, Hao & Wang, Hai & Wan, Zhixi, 2019. "Model and analysis of labor supply for ride-sharing platforms in the presence of sample self-selection and endogeneity," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 76-93.
    8. Marshall Fisher, 2007. "Strengthening the Empirical Base of Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 9(4), pages 368-382, December.
    9. Dong, Tingting & Xu, Zhengtian & Luo, Qi & Yin, Yafeng & Wang, Jian & Ye, Jieping, 2021. "Optimal contract design for ride-sourcing services under dual sourcing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 289-313.
    10. M. Serkan Akturk & Michael Ketzenberg, 2022. "Impact of Competitor Store Closures on a Major Retailer," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(2), pages 715-730, February.
    11. Masoud Kamalahmadi & Qiuping Yu & Yong-Pin Zhou, 2021. "Call to Duty: Just-in-Time Scheduling in a Restaurant Chain," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6751-6781, November.
    12. Bhavani Shanker Uppari & Ioana Popescu & Serguei Netessine, 2019. "Selling Off-Grid Light to Liquidity-Constrained Consumers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 308-326, May.
    13. Jing Dong & Rouba Ibrahimb, 2020. "Managing Supply in the On-Demand Economy: Flexible Workers, Full-Time Employees, or Both?," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 1238-1264, July.
    14. He, Bo & Gupta, Varun & Mirchandani, Prakash, 2021. "Online selling through O2O platform or on your own? Strategic implications for local Brick-and-Mortar stores," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    15. Zhou, Yong-Wu & Zhang, Xiong & Zhong, Yuanguang & Cao, Bin & Cheng, T.C. Edwin, 2021. "Dynamic pricing and cross-channel fulfillment for omnichannel retailing industry: An approximation policy and implications," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    16. Maarten Goos & Melanie Arntz & Ulrich Zierahn & Terry Gregory & Stephanie Carretero Gomez & Ignacio Gonzalez Vazquez & Koen Jonkers, 2019. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on the Future of Work," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2019-03, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Jun Li & Serguei Netessine, 2020. "Higher Market Thickness Reduces Matching Rate in Online Platforms: Evidence from a Quasiexperiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 271-289, January.
    18. David R. Bell & Santiago Gallino & Antonio Moreno, 2018. "Offline Showrooms in Omnichannel Retail: Demand and Operational Benefits," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(4), pages 1629-1651, April.
    19. Jérémie Gallien & Stephen C. Graves & Alan Scheller-Wolf, 2016. "OM Forum—Practice-Based Research in Operations Management: What It Is, Why Do It, Related Challenges, and How to Overcome Them," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 5-14, February.
    20. Tinglong Dai & Sridhar Tayur, 2020. "OM Forum—Healthcare Operations Management: A Snapshot of Emerging Research," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 869-887, September.

    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:inm:ormsom:v:22:y:2020:i:1:p:214-222. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.