Management Science & Operations
Research Group
Overview
The Management Science and Operations group has six members and a strong mathematical and computational modelling focus.
The main areas of research are:
- flexible operations strategies
- the theory and applications of mathematical modelling
Members
Faculty
- Jane Davies
University Lecturer in Operations Management - Arnoud De Meyer
Director of Cambridge Judge Business School, Professor of Management Studies - Matthias Holweg
Reader in Operations Management - Houyuan Jiang
University Senior Lecturer in Management Science - Benn Lawson
Acting Director of the Centre for Process Excellence and Innovation (CPEI), University Senior Lecturer in Operations Management - Nektarios Oraiopoulos
University Lecturer in Management Science - Daniel Ralph
Director of Research, Professor of Operations Research, Acting Director of CCES and CRS - Stefan Scholtes
Director of the MPhil in Management Science & Operations Programme, Dennis Gillings Professor of Health Management
Fellows & Associates
- Arlo Brady
Fellow in Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility - Stephen Davies
Fellow in Health Management - Richard de Neufville
Fellow in Management Science - Alvaro Figueredo
Research Associate, IKC Commercialisation Laboratory Project - Ludwig Kuntz
Fellow in Management Science - Nick Oliver
Fellow in Operations - Frits Pil
Fellow in Supply Chain Management and Operations Strategy - Sam Savage
Fellow in Management Science - Yves Smeers
Fellow in Management Science - Geoff Williams
Fellow in the Auto Industry
Academic Visitors
- Lourdes Casanova
INSEAD - Soumitra Dutta
INSEAD - Benjamin Hobbs
Whiting School of Engineering, John Hopkins University - Charles Kennel
UC San Diego Sustainability Solutions Institute - Kulwant Singh
National University of Singapore Business School
PhD Students
- Nicholas Antoniou
- Alvaro Figueredo
- Markus Harder
- Eddie Hult
- George Hylden
- Yun Shin Lee
- Niyazi Oztoprak
- Stephan Schramm
- Merieke Stevens
- Evan Ward
- Christian Winzer
Research Areas
Flexible Operations Strategy
(De Meyer, Holweg, Scholtes)
This area focuses on a firm's ability to manage diverse demand and supply and respond to unfolding uncertainties or unforeseen circumstances. Holweg's award-winning work on the implementation of responsive manufacturing strategies in the global motor industry involved research at vehicle manufacturer and supplier plants in Europe, USA, South America, Korea, Japan, China and Australia. De Meyer's work focuses on the management of projects under uncertainty, based on case studies combined with mathematical modelling. Scholtes researches on flexible engineering design in collaboration with MIT and on the economics of collaborative innovation with practical applications, e.g., through his involvement in structuring a flexible, industry award-winning co-development alliance between Cambridge Antibody Technology and AstraZeneca.
Theory and Applications of Mathematical Modelling
(Jiang, Ralph, Scholtes)
Ralph and Scholtes continue their analytical work and algorithm development for mathematical programmes with equilibrium constraints (MPEC). A recent major breakthrough was the establishment of the conditions for convergence of a standard optimisation algorithm when applied to MPEC models. Jiang has recently proposed the first efficient column generation method for the uncapacitated task allocation problem, which sets a benchmark in the field in terms of solution quality and time. Steinberg's leading role in editing Combinatorial Auctions (MIT Press 2006) has established him as a key figure in this growing field.
Selected Publications
Books/Monographs
Loch, C.H., De Meyer, A. and Pich, M.T. (2006) Managing the unknown: a new approach to managing high uncertainty and risk in projects. London: Wiley and Sons.
Cramton, P., Shoham, Y. and Steinberg. R. (eds.) (2006) Combinatorial auctions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp.649
Holweg, M. and Pil, F.K. (2004) The second century: reconnecting customer and value chain through build-to-order. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Journal Articles
Kuosmanen, T., Post, T. and Scholtes, S. (2007) "Non-parametric tests of productive efficiency with errors-in-variables." Journal of Econometrics, 136(1): 131-162 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2005.08.003)
Holweg, M. (2007) "The genealogy of lean production." Journal of Operations Management, 25(2): 420-437 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jom.2006.04.001)
Horn, M.E.T., Jiang, H. and Kilby, P. (2007) "Scheduling patrol boats and crews for the Royal Australian Navy." Journal of the Operational Research Society, 58(10): 1284-1293 (DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602300)
Goulart, P.J., Kerrigan, E.C. and Ralph, D. (2007) "Efficient robust optimization for robust control with constraints." Mathematical Programming (DOI: 10.1007/s10107-007-0096-6)
Giallombardo, G. and Ralph, D. (2007) "Multiplier convergence in trust-region methods with application to convergence of decomposition methods for MPECs." Mathematical Programming (DOI: 10.1007/s10107-006-0020-5)
Ganesh, A., Laevens, K. and Steinberg, R. (2007) "Congestion pricing and non-cooperative games in communication networks." Operations Research, 55(3): 430-438 (DOI: 10.1287/opre.1070.0400)
Hu, X. and Ralph, D. (2007) "Using EPECs to model bilevel games in restructured electricity markets with locational prices." Operations Research, 55(5): 809-827
Jiang, H. (2006) "A Lagrangian relaxation approach for network inventory control of stochastic revenue management with perishable commodities." Journal of the Operational Research Society (DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602359)
Vereecke, A., Van Dierdonck, R. and De Meyer, A. (2006) "Typology of plants in global manufacturing networks, A." Management Science, 52(11): 1737-1750 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1060.0582)
Ernst, A.T., Jiang, H. and Krishnamoorthy, M. (2006) "Exact solutions to task allocation problems." Management Science, 52(10): 1634-1646 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1060.0578)
Anderson, E., Kelly, F. and Steinberg, R. (2006) "A contract and balancing mechanism for sharing capacity in a communication network." Management Science, 52(1): 39-53 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1050.0455)
Fletcher, R., Leyffer, S., Ralph, D. and Scholtes, S. (2006) "Local convergence of SQP methods for mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints." SIAM Journal on Optimization, 17(1): 259-286 (DOI: 10.1137/S1052623402407382)
Holweg, M., Disney, S.M., Hines, P. and Naim, M.M. (2005) "Towards responsive vehicle supply: a simulation-based investigation into automotive scheduling systems." Journal of Operations Management, 23(5): 507-530 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jom.2004.10.009)
Scholtes, S. (2004) "Nonconvex structures in nonlinear programming." Operations Research, 52(3): 368-383 (DOI: 10.1287/opre.1030.0102)
Ralph, D. and Wright, S.J. (2004) "Some properties of regularization and penalization schemes for MPECs." Optimization Methods and Software, 19(5): 527-556 (DOI: 10.1080/10556780410001709439)
Jiang, H. and Ralph, D. (2003) "Extension of quasi-Newton methods to mathematical programs with complementarity constraints." Computational Optimization and Applications, 25(1-3): 123-150 (DOI: 10.1023/A:1022945316191)
Scheel, H. and Scholtes, S. (2003) "Continuity of DEA efficiency measures." Operations Research, 51(1): 149-159 (DOI: 10.1287/opre.51.1.149.12803)
Pich, M.T., Loch, C.H. and De Meyer, A. (2002) "On uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity in project management." Management Science, 48(8): 1008-1024 (DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.48.8.1008.163)
Loch, C.H., De Meyer, A. and Terwiesch, C. (2002) "Exchanging preliminary information in concurrent engineering: alternative co-ordination strategies." Organization Science, 13(4): 402-419 (DOI: 10.1287/orsc.13.4.402.2948)
Holweg, M. and Pil, F.K. (2001) "Successful build-to-order strategies start with the customer." MIT Sloan Management Review, 43(1): 74-83
Scholtes, S. (2001) "Convergence properties of a regularization scheme for mathematical programs with complementarity constraints." SIAM Journal on Optimization, 11(4): 918-936 (DOI: 10.1137/S1052623499361233)

