The Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) invites you to join us for an in-person, one-day academic conference on Friday, November 17, 2023, “Doing Good With OM and OR”.

We will have 6 great speakers from Duke, Georgia Tech, MIT, UNC, UVA, and NC State talk to us about their work on such topics as healthcare operations, sustainable business model innovation, food and agriculture, and sustainability in developing economies.

The conference is open to Faculty, Postdocs, and Ph.D. students (Postdocs and Ph.D. students are encouraged to attend!)

Date: Friday, November 17, 2023
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Talley Student Union, Room 4140 (Governance Chamber)
Parking: Paid visitor parking is available at the Coliseum Parking Deck
Parking Permit: For visitors driving to the workshop, you can either (i) park on the 1st level of the Coliseum Deck (pay lot with a $15 daily rate) or (ii) obtain a virtual permit ($10) for the day ahead of time and park anywhere on levels 2 through 5 (see instructions here). Please see this map for where to enter and exit the parking deck (this depends on which permit method you use).
Directions: More information can be found here
Map: Map of Talley Student Union and Coliseum Parking Deck

Registration

*Registration is free, however, please do not register if you cannot commit to attending. Space is limited to 60 people, an accurate headcount is necessary for us to plan for food and parking. To register for this event, please click here.

Agenda

Speakers

Andre Calmon
Assistant Professor
Georgia Tech
Scheller School of Business

Presentation Title: The Classroom-to-Startup-to-Research Pipeline
Abstract: We examine two cases of how research-informed entrepreneurial projects in Operations Management (OM) classes can foster the creation of sustainability-focused startups with innovative business models. We then discuss how these startups can be leveraged as research partners for practice-driven research in sustainability. We illustrate this classroom-to-startup-to-research pipeline by discussing Essmart and StanPlus — two startups that began as OM course projects and ultimately served as partners for research published in M&SOM and POM.

Maria Mayorga
University Faculty Scholar and Professor of Personalized Medicine
NC State University
Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Presentation Title: Health Analytics to Improve Decision-Making in Clinical Practice
Abstract: The quantity and variety of health data is vast and increasing every day. However, the data is often messy, complex, missing or incomplete and requires domain expertise for sense-making. If we can harness the power of this data, it can be used to improve all parts of the patient care cycle, from prevention to diagnosis to treatment. I will discuss some of these challenges and opportunities and provide a brief overview of health analytics related research projects in Health Systems Engineering at NC State. In addition, I will provide details on a project which aims to identify individuals at risk of developing vision threatening diabetic retinopathy.

Bradley Staats
The Ellison Distinguished Professor of Operations, Senior Associate Dean for Strategy and Academics and Faculty Director of the Center for the Business of Health
UNC Chapel Hill
Kenan-Flagler Business School

Presentation Title: Discretionary Tasks under Operating and Peer Performance: Evidence from the Emergency Department
Abstract: We investigate the factors that influence knowledge workers’ decisions to undertake discretionary tasks. Using an emergency department (ED) setting, this study focuses on the impact of operating factors such as workload, time left in shift, prior interactions, and relative performance compared to peers on a physician’s discretionary decision to order a CT scan. We collect detailed operational, clinical, and physician level data from the ED of a large healthcare system in a U.S. East Coast metropolitan city and examine over 50,000 patient observations and over 90 physicians over a year. Our findings increase our theoretical understanding of knowledge worker discretionary decisions and offer important managerial implications.

Jayashankar Swaminathan
GlaxoSmithKline Distinguished Professor of Operations
UNC Chapel Hill
Kenan-Flagler Business School

Presentation Title: Process Standardization in Healthcare Operations
Abstract: Healthcare services provided to patients with similar health conditions are known to vary. Using detailed nonpublic inpatient discharge data from about 35 million inpatient stays at 296 acute care hospitals in California between 2008-2016, we create a metric that quantifies process standardization measured in terms of consistency of healthcare services rendered. We examine the impact of such process standardization on the cost, quality, and variation in quality of care delivered by a hospital. We find that process standardization is associated with a reduction in cost per discharge, readmission rates and variation in readmission rates. We also find that increasing capacity utilization and complexity of patient disease mix is associated with a reduction in process standardization, while increasing focus and process adherence is associated with an increase in process standardization.

Doug Thomas
Henry E. McWane Professor of Business Administration
University of Virginia
Darden School of Business

Presentation Title: How Trade Policy Reshapes Global Supply Chains
Abstract: In this talk I will discuss four factors that will lead to an unprecedented reshaping of global supply chains: (1) Consumer and investor preferences, (2) what is likely to be fleeting attention to supply chain resilience, (3) technology, and (4) trade policy. While all four factors are important, I will spend most of the talk on trade policy. An ever-increasing number of trade agreements, each with increasing complexity, makes operations-related research and insights more important than ever. I will share initial observations from very early-stage research on how the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has started to reshape apparel supply chains. I will attempt to connect these observations to operations principles that can be applied more generally in evaluating trade policy.

Yanchong Zheng
George M. Bunker Professor and Associate Professor of Operations Management
MIT
Sloan School of Management

Presentation Title: Incentive Design for Sustainable Practices in Smallholder Supply Chains
Abstract: In this talk, we examine and contrast two mainstream approaches to motivate smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable practices: carbon offsetting by third-party intermediaries vs. carbon insetting by downstream supply chain buyers. We develop a principal-agent model where the principal aims to ensure continued compliance with sustainable practices at minimal cost, while farmers allocate limited resources between two competing efforts: sustainable practice and agricultural production. Our results highlight when the offsetting or insetting approach may be more effective and economical. As such, we provide practical insights for companies as they develop their investment strategies to meet carbon goals.