IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormsom/v18y2016i1p5-14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

OM Forum—Practice-Based Research in Operations Management: What It Is, Why Do It, Related Challenges, and How to Overcome Them

Author

Listed:
  • Jérémie Gallien

    (London Business School, London NW1 4SA, United Kingdom)

  • Stephen C. Graves

    (Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139)

  • Alan Scheller-Wolf

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

Practice-based research—research performed with the intent of improving the operation of a collaborating practitioner—is an important endeavor for our field: such work may reveal new problems, interesting phenomena, and may also generate data, educational material, and solutions to important practical problems. We argue that the practical relevance of any operations management (OM) research is driven by the two dimensions of generalizability and validity, which together offer a framework for contrasting the potential strengths and weaknesses of theory-based and practice-based research. We review challenges and strategies for successfully engaging in practice-based research, including: choosing a good problem; establishing and managing a relationship with a practitioner; validation; and impact estimation. Finally, we discuss possible ways to encourage more practice-based research in OM. In particular, we argue that our field should, in general, put more emphasis on research validity.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:18:y:2016:i:1:p:5-14
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.2015.0566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.2015.0566
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/msom.2015.0566?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. Sean P. Willems, 2008. "Data Set--Real-World Multiechelon Supply Chains Used for Inventory Optimization," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 10(1), pages 19-23, February.
    2. Sanjog Misra & Harikesh Nair, 2011. "A structural model of sales-force compensation dynamics: Estimation and field implementation," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 211-257, September.
    3. Tudor Bodea & Mark Ferguson & Laurie Garrow, 2009. "Data Set--Choice-Based Revenue Management: Data from a Major Hotel Chain," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 11(2), pages 356-361, December.
    4. Stephen C. Graves & Sean P. Willems, 2000. "Optimizing Strategic Safety Stock Placement in Supply Chains," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 68-83, June.
    5. Stacey Mumbower & Laurie A. Garrow, 2014. "Data Set —Online Pricing Data for Multiple U.S. Carriers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 198-203, May.
    6. Graves, Stephen C., 1983. "Scheduling of re-entrant flow shops," Working papers 1438-83., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    7. Marshall Fisher & Ananth Raman, 1996. "Reducing the Cost of Demand Uncertainty Through Accurate Response to Early Sales," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 87-99, February.
    8. Kimberly M. Thompson & Radboud J. Duintjer Tebbens & Mark A. Pallansch & Steven G.F. Wassilak & Stephen L. Cochi, 2015. "Polio Eradicators Use Integrated Analytical Models to Make Better Decisions," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 5-25, February.
    9. Zhixi Wan & Damian R. Beil & Elena Katok, 2012. "When Does It Pay to Delay Supplier Qualification? Theory and Experiments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(11), pages 2057-2075, November.
    10. Duflo, Esther & Glennerster, Rachel & Kremer, Michael, 2008. "Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 61, pages 3895-3962, Elsevier.
    11. Felipe Caro & Christopher S. Tang, 2015. "The 1st POMS Applied Research Challenge 2014 Awards," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(3), pages 359-359, March.
    12. Senthil Veeraraghavan & Alan Scheller-Wolf, 2008. "Now or Later: A Simple Policy for Effective Dual Sourcing in Capacitated Systems," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(4), pages 850-864, August.
    13. ManMohan S. Sodhi & Christopher S. Tang, 2008. "The OR/MS Ecosystem: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(2), pages 267-277, April.
    14. Marshall Fisher, 2007. "Strengthening the Empirical Base of Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 9(4), pages 368-382, December.
    15. Uday Rao & Alan Scheller-Wolf & Sridhar Tayur, 2000. "Development of a Rapid-Response Supply Chain at Caterpillar," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(2), pages 189-204, April.
    16. Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2013. "OM Forum--Three Rs of Operations Management: Research, Relevance, and Rewards," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 2-5, June.
    17. Craig C. Sherbrooke, 1968. "Metric: A Multi-Echelon Technique for Recoverable Item Control," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 122-141, February.
    18. Jérémie Gallien & Théophane Weber, 2010. "To Wave or Not to Wave? Order Release Policies for Warehouses with an Automated Sorter," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 642-662, September.
    19. John Foreman & Jérémie Gallien & Julie Alspaugh & Fernando Lopez & Rohit Bhatnagar & Chee Chong Teo & Charles Dubois, 2010. "Implementing Supply-Routing Optimization in a Make-to-Order Manufacturing Network," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 547-568, August.
    20. Warren H. Hausman, 1969. "Sequential Decision Problems: A Model to Exploit Existing Forecasters," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 93-111, October.
    21. David Simchi-Levi, 2014. "OM Forum —OM Research: From Problem-Driven to Data-Driven Research," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(1), pages 2-10, February.
    22. 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.
    23. John A. Muckstadt, 1973. "A Model for a Multi-Item, Multi-Echelon, Multi-Indenture Inventory System," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4-Part-I), pages 472-481, December.
    24. Preyas S. Desai & David Bell & Gary Lilien & David Soberman, 2012. "Editorial --The Science-to-Practice Initiative: Getting New Marketing Science Thinking into the Real World," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 1-3, January.
    25. Charles J. Corbett & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 1993. "The Natural Drift: What Happened to Operations Research?," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 41(4), pages 625-640, August.
    26. Felipe Caro & Jérémie Gallien, 2010. "Inventory Management of a Fast-Fashion Retail Network," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 257-273, April.
    27. Aleda V. Roth, 2007. "Applications of Empirical Science in Manufacturing and Service Operations," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 9(4), pages 353-367.
    28. Felipe Caro & Jérémie Gallien, 2012. "Clearance Pricing Optimization for a Fast-Fashion Retailer," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1404-1422, December.
    29. Gérard P. Cachon & Martin A. Lariviere, 2005. "Supply Chain Coordination with Revenue-Sharing Contracts: Strengths and Limitations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 30-44, January.
    30. Gérard P. Cachon, 2012. "What Is Interesting in Operations Management?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 166-169, April.
    31. E. H. Bowman, 1963. "Consistency and Optimality in Managerial Decision Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 310-321, January.
    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. Aniruddh Nain & Deepika Jain & Shivam Gupta & Ashwani Kumar, 2023. "Improving First Responders' Effectiveness in Post-Disaster Scenarios Through a Hybrid Framework for Damage Assessment and Prioritization," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(3), pages 409-437, September.
    2. Hadid, Majed & Elomri, Adel & Mekkawy, Tarek El & Jouini, Oualid & Kerbache, Laoucine & Hamad, Anas, 2022. "Operations management of outpatient chemotherapy process: An optimization-oriented comprehensive review," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C).
    3. Christopher S. Tang, 2017. "OM Forum—Three Simple Approaches for Young Scholars to Identify Relevant and Novel Research Topics in Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 338-346, July.
    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. Maria Besiou & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2020. "Humanitarian Operations: A World of Opportunity for Relevant and Impactful Research," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 135-145, January.
    6. Jérémie Gallien & Alan Scheller-Wolf, 2016. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Practice-Focused Research," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 1-4, February.

    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. 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.
    2. Christopher S. Tang, 2016. "OM Forum—Making OM Research More Relevant: “Why?” and “How?”," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(2), pages 178-183, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Michael W. Toffel, 2016. "Enhancing the Practical Relevance of Research," Harvard Business School Working Papers 16-082, Harvard Business School, revised Mar 2016.
    5. Philip Kaminsky & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2001. "Utilizing Forecast Band Refinement for Capacitated Production Planning," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 3(1), pages 68-81, August.
    6. Yue Dai & Tianjun Feng & Christopher S. Tang & Xiaole Wu & Fuqiang Zhang, 2020. "Twenty Years in the Making: The Evolution of the Journal of Manufacturing & Service Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 1-10, January.
    7. Jérémie Gallien & Adam J. Mersereau & Andres Garro & Alberte Dapena Mora & Martín Nóvoa Vidal, 2015. "Initial Shipment Decisions for New Products at Zara," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 269-286, April.
    8. 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.
    9. Ghoudi, Kilani & Hamdouch, Younes & Boulaksil, Youssef & Hamdan, Sadeque, 2024. "Supply chain coordination in a dual sourcing system under the Tailored Base-Surge policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 317(2), pages 533-549.
    10. David Simchi-Levi & Yao Zhao, 2005. "Safety Stock Positioning in Supply Chains with Stochastic Lead Times," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 295-318, December.
    11. Eruguz, Ayse Sena & Sahin, Evren & Jemai, Zied & Dallery, Yves, 2016. "A comprehensive survey of guaranteed-service models for multi-echelon inventory optimization," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 110-125.
    12. Asif Muzaffar & Shiming Deng & Muhammad Nasir Malik, 2020. "Contracting mechanism with imperfect information in a two-level supply chain," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 349-368, March.
    13. Christopher S. Tang, 2017. "OM Forum—Three Simple Approaches for Young Scholars to Identify Relevant and Novel Research Topics in Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 338-346, July.
    14. Nathan C. Craig & Ananth Raman, 2016. "Improving Store Liquidation," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 89-103, February.
    15. Sodhi, ManMohan S. & Tang, Christopher S., 2014. "Guiding the next generation of doctoral students in operations management," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 28-36.
    16. 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.
    17. de Kok, Ton & Grob, Christopher & Laumanns, Marco & Minner, Stefan & Rambau, Jörg & Schade, Konrad, 2018. "A typology and literature review on stochastic multi-echelon inventory models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 955-983.
    18. Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2013. "OM Forum--Three Rs of Operations Management: Research, Relevance, and Rewards," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 2-5, June.
    19. Zahraei, Seyed Mehdi & Teo, Chee-Chong, 2017. "Optimizing a supply network with production smoothing, freight expediting and safety stocks: An analysis of tactical trade-offs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 262(1), pages 75-88.
    20. Martin A. Lariviere, 2016. "OM Forum—Supply Chain Contracting: Doughnuts to Bubbles," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 309-313, July.

    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:18:y:2016:i:1:p:5-14. 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.