Operations

Featured Operations Articles

Quadruple Scull Rowing Team Practicing, Blurred Motion

Get Things Done With Smaller Teams

Frontiers |

Chris DeBrusk

By creating smaller, more agile teams, managers can facilitate collaboration and efficiency.

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Breaking Logjams in Knowledge Work

Sheila Dodge et al.

How organizations can improve task flow and prevent overload.

person draws abstract tree with colorful smoke flare

Customer Relationships Evolve — So Must Your CRM Strategy

Jonathan Z. Zhang et al.

Customers relationships evolve. Understanding how is the key to tailoring your CRM strategy.

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Operations Innovation in Health Care

How Innovative Partnerships Are Changing Health Care Delivery

September 20, 2018 | Regina E. Herzlinger, interviewed by Steven C. DeMaio

Innovation is transforming the health care industry, with unlikely collaborators teaming up to provide higher-quality, lower-cost services. In this interview with MIT SMR, Harvard Business School professor Regina Herzlinger, an expert in health care delivery and innovation, discusses recent collaborations between retailers and insurers, such as CVS’s partnership with Aetna and Walmart’s with Humana, and explains why hospitals and other providers must be more innovative, too.

Frameworks for Collaboration

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The Next Steps for Operations

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Beyond the Speed-Price Trade-Off

Frontiers |

Jason Acimovic et al.

In response to increasing consumer demands for faster deliveries without added cost, more companies are implementing IT solutions that enable access to real-time sales data and inventory data across the whole enterprise. Real-time sales and inventory information, coupled with advanced analytics enables networks to accommodate fluctuations and changes in the business environment quickly, a quality the authors call distribution agility.

Uncertainty

Why Supply Chains Must Pivot

Frontiers |

Laurent Chevreux et al.

Even today’s most digitally advanced supply chains still try to predict what will happen, then optimize performance against plan. The problem is, the world is not predictable. For operations teams, the challenge and competitive advantage becomes: how well do you respond and execute against ongoing uncertainty?

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The Savvy Project Manager

Five Rules for Managing Large, Complex Projects

Andrew Davies et al.

Research reveals five lessons that can help executives manage big, complex projects more effectively.

When Communication Should Be Formal

Antti Tenhiälä and Fabrizio Salvador

Formal communication protocols may seem outdated, but they offer crucial performance advantages.

Five Ways to Improve Communication in Virtual Teams

Frontiers |

N. Sharon Hill and Kathryn M. Bartol

New research reveals five communication strategies that boost performance in virtual teams.

Your Project Is Vulnerable. Do You Know the Warning Signs?

Nancy Lea Hyer and Richard Ettenson

If you’re running a big project, watch out for these signs that stakeholders have doubts about it.

Video Series: Following the Digital Thread

Our eight-part video series explores how integrated digital technologies can transform business.

PROLOGUE: The Path Toward the Digital Enterprise

EPISODE 1: Revolutionizing Supply Chains

EPISODE 2: Creating a Smart Part and Managing Its Life Cycle

EPISODE 3: Augmenting Part Design With Topology Optimization

EPISODE 4: A Digital Safety Net

EPISODE 5: Fabricating Within the Digital Thread

EPISODE 6: Testing and Validation

EPISODE 7: How the Digital Thread Weaves Its Way Through the Business

EPISODE 8: The Digital Thread Takes Flight

EPILOGUE: Beyond Manufacturing

When Communication Should Be Formal

June 29, 2018 | Antti Tenhiälä and Fabrizio Salvador

Why Supply Chains Must Pivot

Frontiers |

July 19, 2018 | Laurent Chevreux, Michael Hu, and Suketu Gandhi

Five Rules for Managing Large, Complex Projects

August 31, 2017 | Andrew Davies, Mark Dodgson, David M. Gann, and Samuel C. MacAulay