Product architecture and organizational communication play significant roles in complex product development efforts. By using networks to characterize both product structure and communication patterns, we examine the impact of mismatches between these on new product development (NPD)...

Jordan and Graves (Jordan, W. C., S. C. Graves. 1995. Principles on the benefits of manufacturing process flexibility. Management Sci. 41(4) 577-594) initiated a stream of research on supply chain flexibility, which was furthered by Graves and Tomlin (Graves, S. C., B. T. Tomlin. 2003. Process...

Most performance evaluation models in the operations management literature implicitly assume that tasks possess standardized completion criteria. However, in many systems, particularly service and professional work, judgment is frequently required to determine how much time to allocate to a...

We study the impact of yield uncertainty (supply side) and self-interested consumers (demand side) on the inefficiency in the influenza vaccine supply chain. Previous economic studies, focusing on demand side, find that the equilibrium demand is always less than the socially optimal demand...

It is well known that flexibility can be created in manufacturing and service operations by using multipurpose production sources such as cross-trained labor, flexible machines, or flexible factories. We focus on flexible service centers, such as inbound call centers with cross-trained agents,...

As companies outsource more product design and manufacturing activities to other members of the supply chain, improving end-product quality has become an endeavor extending beyond the boundaries of the firms' in-house process capabilities. In this paper, we discuss two contractual agreements by...

In this issue, we reproduce 10 of the most important papers published in Management Science from 1954 to 2003. Each paper is followed by a commentary by the author(s) and other scholars that offers insights into the background, creation, or subsequent impact of the paper.

This issue marks the start of the 50th volume of Management Science. As is customary on such "round number" occasions, we will be taking time for a bit of retrospective review and soul-searching speculation. We begin here with an overall assessment of the journal's performance relative to its...

For over half a century, Management Science has promoted scientific research into the practice of management. Because management is a vast and complex activity, early researchers tended to adopt a reductionist approach by concentrating on narrow subproblems. As a result, the journal was...

A Markov model of sequential R&D investment, where successful firms are assumed to have an advantage in related follow-on R&D, is formulated and a solution approach is given. Under this assumption, profit maximizing firms must consider the effect of R&D investments on their future market...