The Role of Production and Operations Managemen

THE FlAgSHIP RESEARCH JOuRNAl OF INTERNATIONAl CONFERENCE OF THE PROduCTION ANd OPERATIONS MANAgEMENT SOCIETy

Volume 1• Number 1• January - June 2008

Changes in The Role of Production and Operations Management in the New Economy

Henrique Luiz Corrêa

Professor of Operations Management Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College hcorrea@rollins.edu

ABSTRACT: The paper analyses how the area of production and operations management (POM) in Brazil should change/adapt in order to remain relevant in the so called “new economy”. Drawing from insights coming from both the relevant literature and a survey, a preliminary research and teaching agenda is proposed. KEY WORDS: Production and operations management, research agenda, teaching, new economy, future

INTROduCTION

The forces behind the development of the so-called “new economy” are substantially changing the ways in which the economy in general and the business world in particular operate. The early XXIst Century literature reflects this notion and Hayes (2002), Teece (1998), McGee and Bonnici (2002), Walters and Buchanan (2001) and Walters (2004) are but a few good and representative examples. But what are the implications of this new economy for the way in which we should manage production and operations? Unfortunately, in this regard, the literature is not as plentiful as it is in announcing the changes. In an attempt to fill this gap, this research more specifically tries to answer the following questions: • What are the main changes brought about by the new economy to the corporate world in general and to production and operations management (POM) in particular? • Which sub-topics, within the general field of POM have been (and in the future are likely to be) most affected by the changes brought about by the new economy? • What would be a research and teaching agenda for the next years so that we, POM researchers and teachers can increase the probability that our

activities remain relevant...