Papers by ManMohan S Sodhi
Production and Operations Management, Apr 5, 2023
The Covid‐19 pandemic and other recent disruptions in the early 2020s led to sections in the busi... more The Covid‐19 pandemic and other recent disruptions in the early 2020s led to sections in the business press blaming just‐in‐time (JIT) practices for operational failings. Consequently, there are calls for moving away from JIT toward holding more inventory as preparation against future disruptions, which is referred to as just‐in‐case. The academic community is also divided. Some scholars argue that JIT is not resilient, while others maintain that JIT can continue providing superior performance even with disruptions. Motivated by this debate, we discuss various misconceptions about JIT that underlie this debate. Furthermore, we present different ways to adapt JIT for turbulent environments and argue that companies can improve their supply chain performance if JIT supply chain segments are chosen fittingly—even more so—during disruptions.
Production and Operations Management, Apr 5, 2023
We propose a general modular approach to support decision‐makers' response in the early stage... more We propose a general modular approach to support decision‐makers' response in the early stages of a pandemic with resource expansion, motivated by the shortage of Covid‐19‐related intensive care units (ICU) capacity in 2020 in Italy. Our approach uses (1) a stochastic extension of an epidemic model for scenarios of projected infections, (2) a capacity load model to translate infections into scenarios of demand for the resources of interest, and (3) an optimization model to allocate this demand to the projected levels of resources based on different values of investment. We demonstrate this approach with the onset of the first and second Covid‐19 waves in three Italian regions, using the data available at that time. For epidemic modeling, we used a parsimonious stochastic susceptible‐infected‐removed model with a robust estimation procedure based on bootstrap resampling, suitable for a noisy and data‐limited environment. For capacity loading, we used a Cox queuing model to translate the projected infections into demand for ICU, using stochastic intensity to capture the variability of the patient arrival process. Finally, we used stochastic dynamic optimization to select the best policy (when and how much to expand) to minimize the expected number of patients denied ICU for any level of investment in capacity expansion and obtain an efficient frontier. The frontier allows a trade‐off between investment in additional resources and the number of patients denied intensive care. Moreover, in the panic‐driven early days of a pandemic, decision‐makers can also obtain the time until which they can postpone action, potentially reducing investment costs without increasing the expected number of denied patients.
Social Science Research Network, 2021
Social Science Research Network, 2021
We offer the notion of 'commons' at different levels-within company, private across company, and ... more We offer the notion of 'commons' at different levels-within company, private across company, and government sponsored across industry sectors-and discuss how the creation of such commons enabled firms to be both efficient during normal times and resilient against the disruptions resulting from COVID-19. At the same time, there are many proven strategies providing resilience in supply chains. For instance, companies that used multiple channels to improve efficiency when facing day-today demand-and-supply variations found that the structure also offered resilience without additional cost when COVID struck. We discuss how the presence of commons lowers the cost for firms to adopt such resilience building supply chain strategies. We discuss factors that impact the creation of these commons and conclude with a number of questions to guide further research into the role of industry commons in facilitating supply-chain resilience.
Proceedings - Academy of Management, Aug 1, 2023
Social Science Research Network, 2021
Many governments seek the private sector to meet their development goals. One possible means to e... more Many governments seek the private sector to meet their development goals. One possible means to enlist this support is to impose mandatory or 'hard' corporate social responsibility (CSR) requirements on large companies. To shed light on how mandatory CSR could be helpful in this regard, we study the case of India, where the government has required large companies to spend a fraction of their income towards development as CSR since 2014. We analyzed the expenses of leading Indian companies and found statistically significant similarities among these companies in their spending pattern across the different categories, which we interpret as isomorphism. By looking for the government's motivation and the companies' motivations-both perceive the priorities in unmet social needs-we present a conceptual model to explain this isomorphism in CSR expenditure across different categories. The model suggests that governments may find mandatory CSR helpful to direct corporations in achieving development goals.
Interfaces, Feb 1, 2011
This special issue of Interfaces is devoted to the finalists of the 39th annual competition for t... more This special issue of Interfaces is devoted to the finalists of the 39th annual competition for the Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences, the profession's prestigious award for the practice of operations research. The six finalists this year cover a wide range of industries, functions, and countries around the globe. The winning entry demonstrates the use of operations research (OR) by INDEVAL, Mexico's central financial securities depository, to decrease daily liquidity requirements by $130 billion. One finalist entry describes the OR analyses and the politics that led to the implementation of optimization-based water-release policies by the Delaware River Basin Commission. Another entry shows how OR models were used to increase the brand value of Deutsche Post DHL in Germany by over $1 billion in five years. A fourth reflects the development and deployment of OR-based tools at New Brunswick Department of Transportation to save over $70 million per year in maintaining 18,000 kilometers of roads. Yet another entry discusses the use of single-stage and multiechelon inventory optimization techniques to reduce Procter & Gamble's investment in inventory by $1.5 billion. A sixth entry describes the use of simulation models to save approximately $230 million over a 10-year period at the Sasol Synfuels coal-to-liquids conversion facility in South Africa.
We analysed 401 mathematical modelling-related job advertisements from Monster.com and OR/MS Toda... more We analysed 401 mathematical modelling-related job advertisements from Monster.com and OR/MS Today to find out what employers want from graduates from mathematical modelling related courses. We used content analysis to analyse job advertisements by tallying up relevant phrases and keywords and phrases in the advertisements regarding (1) skill requirements, (2) degree requirements, and (3) background disciplines requirements. Our analysis shows that many skills required for mathematical modelling jobs are “soft” skills pertaining to problem solving and to communication, which are not covered by ordinary mathematical modelling curricula. Educators can help students to obtain such soft skills by adopting innovative teaching methods such as team exercises, competitive exercises, group discussions, presentations, and case analysis.
Interfaces, Feb 1, 2009
Please scroll down for article-it is on subsequent pages With 12,500 members from nearly 90 count... more Please scroll down for article-it is on subsequent pages With 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit http://www.informs.org
Journal of Operations Management, Mar 4, 2007
We explore the link between a company's performance and the extent of its offshoring of IT-enable... more We explore the link between a company's performance and the extent of its offshoring of IT-enabled services, focusing on large western companies. Our performance measures comprise sales, profit as percentage of sales, profit/employee and sales/employee over 1999-2004. To measure offshoring, we consider the extent to which these companies have offshored (1) software development and other IT-related development and maintenance, (2) business processes such as payroll or claims processing, and (3) call centers. We performed cluster analysis using the three corresponding offshoring variables to obtain broad patterns of offshoring. Then we compared the average performance of the companies in different clusters using ANOVA; did a regression analysis of the performance measures against the extent of offshoring for the three types of offshoring activities; and performed nonparametric correlations within industry sectors. None of these tests indicated a clear link between company performance and the extent of offshoring thus suggesting that further study is needed to understand when to offshore and how best to do it.
International series in management science/operations research, 2012
ABSTRACT Recognizing various natural and man-made disasters have caused major supply chain disrup... more ABSTRACT Recognizing various natural and man-made disasters have caused major supply chain disruptions over the last two decades, this chapter illustrates the vulnerability of many global supply chains and provides justifications for companies to develop a systemic approach to managing supply chain risks. Viewing supply chain risk management as comprising four steps—identifying risks, accessing risks, mitigating risks, and responding to risks—this chapter highlights the overall structure and key objectives of the book.
Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 2014
Supply Chain Management Review, May 1, 2007
Subtitle: There's general agreement that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is ... more Subtitle: There's general agreement that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is a potential boon to supply chain management. What's not as clear is who benefits and how. In the retail space, the authors conclude that the benefits, costs, and risks of RFID vary depending on where you are in the supply chain. But in all cases, you need to strive to get the biggest bang for your buck.
Production and Operations Management, Oct 19, 2022
Springer series in supply chain management, Nov 16, 2022
The other day someone said that operations refer essentially to manufacturing. In today’s economy... more The other day someone said that operations refer essentially to manufacturing. In today’s economy, it is worthwhile to discuss how operations underlie everything a company does – manufacturing, finance, human resources, IT, marketing and even pricing. Not only do all these functions have “operations,” but also ideas from manufacturing operations apply to operations in other functions. Likewise, quality control from manufacturing applies to operations in other functions as well.
Social Science Research Network, Jun 23, 2006
Senior managers formulate strategy to maximize shareholder value; supply chain planners run optim... more Senior managers formulate strategy to maximize shareholder value; supply chain planners run optimization models to minimize costs. Combining scenario planning with supply-chain planning achieves the best of both worlds, which leads to long-term competitive advantage.
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Papers by ManMohan S Sodhi