August 1996 € Volume 23 € Number 4

INFORMS Set to Launch Operations Management Journal


Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, a new INFORMS journal dedicated to publishing state-of-the-art theory and practice-oriented articles related to managing all aspects of the production of goods and services, is scheduled to make its debut in early 1998. MSOM will be published on a quarterly basis. The initial Call for Papers will be mailed to INFORMS members in late summer or early fall.

Leroy B. Schwarz of the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University will serve as the journal's first editor.

A widespread interest among the INFORMS membership in having a benchmark operations management journal prompted the founding of MSOM. Operations management manuscripts currently account for about one-quarter of the submissions and published papers in both management science and operations research.

"I am truly excited about being given the opportunity to provide leadership for what I fully expect to be, from Volume 1, Number 1, the benchmark journal in operations management," Schwarz says. "I expect MSOM to publish first-rate manuscripts that involve the application of mathematical modeling to operations management, but I am, quite frankly, most excited about using the journal to encourage the application of other sciences and disciplines to the study of managing operations. And I am keenly interested in manuscripts that interpret state-of-the-art practice from the viewpoint of current theory and/or examine contemporary practice in order to suggest new opportunities for research."

Schwarz says four broad classes of manuscripts are of particular interest:

1. Manuscripts that examine the application of mathematical modeling to operations management in novel and interesting ways;

2. Manuscripts that examine the application of the social sciences;

3. Manuscripts that examine management concerns at the interfaces between operations management and other functional areas (e.g., accounting, finance, MIS, marketing, strategy); and

4. Manuscripts that interpret state-of-the-art practice from the viewpoint of current theory and/or examine contemporary practice in order to suggest new opportunities for research.

Topics of interest include:
  • Operations Strategy (e.g., the role of operations in corporate strategy, the impact of technology, industry structure, organization, etc. on operations, organizational design and coordination, regulatory and environmental issues).

  • Product/Service Design (e.g., design considerations in managing operations, managing the design process).

  • Technologies and Processes (e.g., technology choice, process analysis and (re)engineering, facility design, total quality management).

  • Manufacturing Operations (e.g., master scheduling and capacity planning, shop-floor planning and control, materials management, project scheduling).

  • Service Operations (e.g., demand management, capacity planning and scheduling, resource allocation and pricing, public-sector issues).

  • Supply-Chain Operations (e.g., forecasting and inventory management, location and capacity, logistics and transportation, sourcing and contracting, purchasing).

  • Cross-Functional Coordination (e.g., with accounting, finance, human resources, management information systems, research and development).

  • Global Coordination (e.g., international competitiveness, siting and sourcing, technology transfer).

  • Practice-Based Research (e.g., benchmarking and survey research, case studies, new paradigms for understanding practice, new topics and problems).

    Schwarz teaches operations management and manufacturing management at the Krannert Graduate School.

    Schwarz received his Ph.D. in Business from the University of Chicago. Before joining the Purdue faculty, he taught at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, the Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College, and at the Graduate School of Management, University of Rochester.

    He is a member of INFORMS, OMA, POMS, APICS and the AIIE.

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