Introduction

Introduction

Operations management is an odd member of the business studies family. Once the spearhead in the curriculum of American MBAs and a prestigious degree route in universities across the world, it is now more accurately described as a question mark in the strategic portfolio of subject groups within business schools. Top business schools still run operations management departments but today's popularity of the finance and marketing fields literally ‘dwarfs’ operations. As a result, operations degree routes are rare and whether or not to keep an operations management course within an MBA curriculum is often an ongoing debate.

Is operations management a discipline of the past? Although some may answer ‘yes’, it is important to keep in mind that operations management is an evolving discipline, and ...