Production & Operations Management

Production & Operations Management /desautels/taxonomy/term/2974/all en Competition and coopetition for two-sided platforms /desautels/channels/news/competition-and-coopetition-two-sided-platforms-338483 Authors: <a href="/desautels/maxime-cohen">Maxime C. Cohen</a> and Renyu Zhang Publication: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: Thu, 17 Mar 2022 15:02:30 +0000 angela.l.williams@mcgill.ca 87139 at /desautels A Smart-City Scope of Operations Management /desautels/channels/news/smart-city-scope-operations-management-289480 Authors: <a href="/desautels/wei-qi">Wei Qi</a> and Zuo-Jun Max Shen Publication: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: We are entering an era of great expectations towards our cities. The vision of “smart city” has been pursued worldwide to transform urban habitats into superior efficiency, quality and sustainability. This phenomenon prompts us to ponder what role the scholars in operations management (OM) can assume. In this essay, we express our initial thoughts on expanding OM to the smart-city scope. We review smart-city initiatives of governments, industry, national laboratories and academia. We argue that the smart-city movement will transition from the tech-oriented stage to the decision-oriented stage. Hence, a smart city can be perceived as a system scope within which planning and operational decisions are orchestrated at the urban scale, reflective of multidimensional needs, and adaptive to massive data and innovation. The benefits of studying smart-city OM are manifold and significant: contributing to deeper understanding of smart cities by providing advanced analytical frameworks, pushing OM knowledge boundaries (such as data-driven decision making), and empowering the OM community to deliver much broader impacts than before. We discuss several research opportunities to embody these thoughts, in the interconnected contexts of smart buildings, smart grid, smart mobility and new retail. These opportunities arise from the increasing integration of systems and business models at the urban scale. Mon, 10 Sep 2018 19:59:05 +0000 angela.l.williams@mcgill.ca 73155 at /desautels Designing Risk-Adjusted Therapy for Patients with Hypertension /desautels/channels/news/designing-risk-adjusted-therapy-patients-hypertension-286001 Authors: Manaf Zargoush, <a href="/desautels/mehmet-gumus">Mehmet Gumus</a>, Vedat Verter, Stella Daskalopoulou Journal Name: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: Hypertension has not been well studied by operations researchers from a clinical decision support perspective. Moreover, little personalized (i.e. patient-centric) guidance is available regarding the number and combination of antihypertensive medications. To fill this gap, we develop a Markov Decision Process (MDP) to characterize the optimal sequence (and combination) of antihypertensive medications under the standard medication dose. Our model is patient-centric as it takes into account a set of relevant patient characteristics such as age, gender, blood pressure level, smoking habits, diabetes status, and cholesterol level. Based on a set of intuitive assumptions, we prove that our model yields a series of structured optimal policies. Having calibrated our model based on real data and medical literature, we analyze these optimal policies and discuss their insights to the real practice. We also compare the benefits, in terms of quality adjusted life expectancy, QALE, obtained from our results with those obtained from British Hypertension Society (BHS) guideline. Tue, 20 Mar 2018 19:14:57 +0000 julie.lapalme@mcgill.ca 68524 at /desautels Did Europe Move in the Right Direction on E-Waste Legislation? /desautels/channels/news/did-europe-move-right-direction-e-waste-legislation-285971 Authors: Shumail Mazahir, Vedat Verter, Tamer Boyaci and Luk van Wassenhove Publication: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: This paper presents an analytical framework of the product take back legislation in the context of product reuse. We characterize existing and proposed forms of E-waste legislation and compare their environmental and economic performance. Using stylized models, we analyze an OEM’s decision about new and remanufactured product quantity in response to the legislative mechanism. We focus on the 2012 waste electrical and electronic equipment directive in Europe, where the policy-makers intended to create additional incentives for the product reuse. Through a comparison to the original 2002 version of the directive, we find that these incentives translate into improved environmental outcomes only for a limited set of products. We also study a proposed policy that advocates a separate target for the product reuse. Our analysis reveals that from an environmental standpoint, the recast version is always dominated either by the original policy or by the one that advocates a separate target for the product reuse. We show that the benefits of a separate reuse target scheme can be fully replicated with the aid of fiscal levers. Our main message is that there cannot be a single best environmental policy that is suitable for all products. Therefore, the consideration of product attributes is essential in identification of the most appropriate policy tool. This can be done either by the implementation of different policies on each product category or by implementation of product based target levels. Mon, 19 Mar 2018 17:46:24 +0000 julie.lapalme@mcgill.ca 68521 at /desautels The Dual Impact of Product Line Length on Consumer Choice /desautels/channels/news/dual-impact-product-line-length-consumer-choice-331568 Jalapeño cheddar or zesty lime. Crinkle cut or wavy. Potato chips are as varied as people’s appetites – and the chances are pretty good that everyone’s local corner store features dozens of choices to suit every taste. But do the countless variations of this humble snack food satisfy consumer demand for variety, or intimidate the indecisive by making it too difficult to choose? Wed, 16 Jun 2021 19:25:49 +0000 julie.lapalme@affiliate.mcgill.ca 80913 at /desautels Constant Job-Allowance Policies for Appointment Scheduling: Performance Bounds and Numerical Analysis /desautels/channels/news/constant-job-allowance-policies-appointment-scheduling-performance-bounds-and-numerical-analysis-330001 Authors: S. Zhou, <a href="/desautels/yichuan-daniel-ding">Yichuan Ding</a>, W.T. Huh, and G. Wan Publication: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 18:21:37 +0000 julie.lapalme@affiliate.mcgill.ca 80640 at /desautels Designing Risk‐Adjusted Therapy for Patients with Hypertension /desautels/channels/news/designing-risk-adjusted-therapy-patients-hypertension-288606 Authors: Manaf Zargoush, <a href="/desautels/mehmet-gumus">Mehmet Gumus</a>, <a href="/desautels/vedat-verter">Vedat Verter</a>, Stella S. Daskalopoulou Publication: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: Limited guidance is available for providing patient‐specific care to hypertensive patients, although this chronic condition is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. To address this issue, we develop an analytical model that takes into account the most relevant risk factors including age, sex, blood pressure, diabetes status, smoking habits, and blood cholesterol. Using the Markov Decision Process framework, we develop a model to maximize expected quality‐adjusted life years, as well as characterize the optimal sequence and combination of antihypertensive medications. Assuming the physician uses the standard medication dose for each drug, and the patient fully adheres to the prescribed treatment regimen, we prove that optimal treatment policies exhibit a threshold structure. Our findings indicate that our recommended thresholds vary by age and other patient characteristics, for example (1) the optimal thresholds for all medication prescription are nonincreasing in age, and (2) the medications need to be prescribed at lower thresholds for males who smoke than for males who have diabetes. The improvements in quality‐adjusted life years associated with our model compare favorably with those obtained by following the British Hypertension Society's guideline, and the gains increase with the severity of risk factors. For instance, in both genders (although at different rates), diabetic patients gain more than non‐diabetic patients. Our sensitivity analysis results indicate that the optimal thresholds decrease if the medications have lower side‐effects and vice versa. Wed, 08 Aug 2018 13:17:35 +0000 angela.l.williams@mcgill.ca 71532 at /desautels Supply Diagnostic Incentives under Endogenous Information Asymmetry /desautels/channels/news/supply-diagnostic-incentives-under-endogenous-information-asymmetry-288138 Authors: Mohammad E. Nikoofal, <a href="/desautels/mehmet-gumus">Mehmet Gumus</a> Publication: Production and Operations Management, Forthcoming Abstract: This paper develops a dyadic supply chain model with one buyer who contracts the manufacturing of a new product to a supplier. Due to the lack of experience in manufacturing, the extent of supply risk is unknown to both the buyer and supplier before the time of contract. However, after the contract is accepted, the supplier may invest in a diagnostic test to acquire information about his true reliability, and use this information when deciding on a process improvement effort. Using this setting, we identify both operational and strategic benefits and costs of diagnostic test. Operationally, it helps the supplier to take the first-best level of improvement effort, which would increase efficiency of the total supply chain. Strategically, it enables the buyer to reduce the agency costs associated with implementing process improvement on the supplier. Besides these benefits, diagnostic test increases the degree of information asymmetry along the supply chain. This in turn provides the supplier with proprietary information, whose rent would be demanded from the buyer in equilibrium. Benefit-cost analysis reveals two key factors in determining the value of diagnostic test: (i) degree of endogenous information asymmetry between supply chain firms, and (ii) the relative cost of diagnostic test with respect to process improvement cost. Our results indicate that when both are high, the mere presence of diagnostic test can result in less reliable supply chain. This implies that when incentives are not properly aligned, information asymmetry amplified due to diagnostic test neutralizes all its benefits. Mon, 23 Jul 2018 14:21:05 +0000 angela.l.williams@mcgill.ca 70727 at /desautels Production & Operations Management /desautels/research/desautels-top-tier-publications/production-operations-management <big>The mission of <a href="http://www.poms.org/journal/" target="_blank">Production and Operations Management</a> is to serve as the flagship research journal in operations management in manufacturing and services.</big><big> The journal publishes scientific research into the problems, interest, and concerns of managers who manage product and process design, operations, and supply chains. It covers all topics in product and process design, operations, and supply chain management and welcomes papers using any research paradigm.</big> Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:29:02 +0000 julie.lapalme@mcgill.ca 67673 at /desautels