Preface—New Directions for Operations Management Research

In the summer of 1992, we announced a special issue on “New Directions for Operations Management Research.” The objective of the special issue was to broaden the range of research articles published in Operations Research in the operations management field. We were particularly interested in identifying new problem contexts and new research paradigms for this rapidly evolving field. Traditional, model-based research associated with operations management is being augmented by a wide range of interdisciplinary and empirical approaches. For example, economic models which are typically more parsimonious than engineering models have been applied to areas such as global manufacturing strategy and new product development. Similarly, survey research and benchmarking studies, focusing on operations performance metrics concerned with quality, time, and flexibility, have emerged in studies with significant managerial impact.