How Research in Production and Operations Management May Evolve in the Era of Big Data

Abstract

W e are living in an era in which data is generated in huge volume with high velocity and variety. Big Data and technology are reshaping our life and business. Our research inevitably needs to catch up with these changes. In this short essay, we focus on two aspects of supply chain management, namely, demand management and manufacturing. We feel that, while rapidly growing research on these two areas is contributed by scholars in computer science and engineering, the developments made by production and operations management society have been insufficient. We believe that our field has the expertise and talent to push for advancements in the theory and practice of demand management and manufacturing (of course, among many other areas) along unique dimensions. We summarize some relevant concepts emerged with Big Data and present several prototype models to demonstrate how these concepts can lead to rethinking of our research. Our intention is to generate interests and guide directions for new research in production and operations management in the era of Big Data.

Big Data Analytics in Operations Management

“…Most recently, Guha and Kumar (2018) discuss the emergence of big data research and they examine the topic from the following three perspectives: information systems, operations and supply chain management, and healthcare. Feng and Shanthikumar (2018) propose analytical models for probable future research in manufacturing and demand management in the big data era. Fisher and Raman (2018) explore the use of big data in retail operations.…”

Social Media for Disaster Management: Operational Value of the Social Conversation

“…, Tushman and Nadler ). In particular, the word “actionable” is defined as “relating to or being information that allows a decision to be made or action to be taken (AHD ).” Thus, actionable information can be acted on (Feng and Shanthikumar ) as it relates directly to disaster management operations. We define the term “actionable informational support” as informational support with practical value for organizations and users.…”

To Be or Not to Be? Big Data Business Investment Decision-Making in the Supply Chain

“…Our research problem also belongs to the research area of information technology investment in supply chain management. Information technology investment has a huge impact on supply chain management and operations management [20][21][22][23]. Tiwari et al [24] investigate the research and application of big data analytics in supply chain management from 2010 to 2016, and point out that big data analytics is one of the best technologies to solve supply chain management problems.…”