List of Concentrations

Operations Management

A great product and a lot of cash are not enough for success. Along with having strong finance and marketing plans, a business idea needs to be "operationalized." Look at some of the most admired companies: Amazon, Southwest Air, Ritz-Carlton, Toyota, FedEx. These operational giants stand out because of how they create value.

We approach operations by examining the impact of management decisions on the day-to-day running of a company, as well as the reverse: how the daily workings affect management decisions. Through this two-way lens, you will learn to successfully manage an organization's resources - its human capital, plants and facilities, processes, machinery and technology, raw materials, and other "inputs" - in order to maximize the four value creators: time, price, quality, and variety. In learning to combine concepts, models, and data to develop better systems, you will be equipped to make better operations decisions.

COCURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
COURSE SAMPLING
FACULTY SAMPLING

COCURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
You'll have the chance to explore operations outside the classroom in numerous ways that will also allow you to build new skills, relationships and networks. These include:

Operations Management Group

The Operations Management Group offers mentorship, expert speakers from various disciplines, and activities to expand on the operations management foundation on which successful futures are built.

Corporate Management and Strategy Group

Students, faculty and the business community come together in the Corporate Management and Strategy Group to help students develop functional and managerial skills; facilitate recruiting; offer guidance and support throughout the recruiting process; and provide a forum on leadership and management concepts.

Operations/Management Science Workshop

Faculty, students and visitors present papers on current research.

COURSE SAMPLING
You’ll have the option of taking courses that address your individual career choices. Samples include:

Supply Chain Strategy and Practice

Special emphasis is given to understanding how the business context shapes managerial decisions regarding the strategic design and management of the supply chain as you examine how to improve the flow of materials and information through this network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.

Operations Strategy and Performance Analysis

You will learn how to develop an integrated model linking operational performance measures to financial value; analyze indicators of opportunities for operational improvement; identify levers (techniques) to improve operational performance; and value potential operational improvements, both individually as well as collectively.

Managerial Decision Modeling

Successful decision-making requires the ability to structure complex problems, to analyze available options in an uncertain world, and to finally make the best decision given the information available. You learn how to apply analytical tools including optimization, simulation, and decision trees to examine managerial decision models. Business applications include resource allocation, risk analysis and sequential decision-making through time.

Revenue Management

You will learn to identify, formulate, solve and implement systems for pricing and revenue optimization. You will develop a fundamental understanding of the use of pricing and capacity concepts combined with optimization tools to achieve revenue improvement within the practical context of limited resources and information.

Managing Service Operations

You will learn how to design and improve the service offering for sustained excellence as well as how to identify and overcome key challenges in the service delivery. This course draws ideas not only from operations management, but also from consumer behavior, marketing, and strategy. You will learn to develop a Service Model encompassing - the Service Offering, the Funding Mechanism, the Employee Management System, and the Customer Management System - to analyze both existing and new services.

FACULTY SAMPLING
You’ll study with professors who conduct groundbreaking research, collaborate with the entrepreneurial and private equity communities, and bring their own entrepreneurial experiences into the classroom.

	Dan Adelman, publishes regularly in leading academic journals such as Manufacturing and Service Operations Management and Operations Research, both of which he also serves as an associate editor.		Rodney P. Parker, studies dynamic, stochastic operational systems under centralized and competitive control, frequently with production capacity limits; inventory theory under stochastic demand in single-installations and multi-echelon supply chains; market entry and deterrence strategies; and pricing decisions in conjunction with operational considerations. Parker also has held positions on the IBM Research staff and General Motors Corporation's advanced engineering staff, and practiced as an engineer with BHP Steel.
	John R. Birge, studies mathematical modeling of systems under uncertainty, especially for maximizing operational and financial goals using the methodologies of stochastic programming and large-scale optimization. He has published widely and is the recipient of the Best Paper Award from the Japan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences Fellows Award, and the Institute of Industrial Engineers Medallion Award.		Burhaneddin Sandikci, studies decision-making problems under uncertainty with special interest in problems in medical decision making and health care operations. He has given several invited talks at INFORMS Annual Meetings as well as at institutions including Bogazici University in Istanbul, Stanford University, University of Michigan, University of Western Ontario, and University of Waterloo.
	Laurens G. Debo, studies operations management with a special interest in the economics-operations interface, queuing games, and global supply chain management. Debo's published works include "Queuing for Expert Services" in Management Science and "Life Cycle Dynamics for Portfolios with Remanufactured Products" in Production and Operations Management.		Che-Lin Su, is interested in developing and applying computational methods to study applications that arise in operations, economics, accounting, and quantitative marketing. His current research topics include empirical estimation of economics models, incentive problems with applications to executive compensation design and nonlinear pricing, and dynamic competition between firms.
	Donald D. Eisenstein, studies the analysis of logistical systems including production, material handling, scheduling, routing, and distribution. His most recent project surveyed CEOs of mid-size and larger companies about their views on the role of supply chains and their organization's strategy and success.