Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

MSOM currently operates five Special Interest Groups (SIGs), representing to the extent practicable the varied interests of the Society members. SIGs are expected to maintain a set of activities that may include (but are not limited to) sessions at the INFORMS and international meetings as well as organizing a one-day, single-track conference one day prior to the annual MSOM Society Conference.

Additional SIGs may be created by petition to the Society President. A call for new SIG petitions shall be sent out no later than February 1 of each year. Petitions will be due no later than April 1 and the officers must vote on each SIG petition no later than June 1. A majority vote is required to pass. Further details on SIG formation may be found in the MSOM bylaws.

Healthcare Operations Management

 Healthcare Operations Management SIG will endeavor to:

  1. Encourage interest in the field of Healthcare Operations Management
  2. Promote discussions and interactions among individuals having an interest in Healthcare Operations Management both among themselves and between them and other members of both MSOM and INFORMS
  3. Facilitate domain-knowledge discussions of relevant high quality and high impact  research and applications with physicians, hospital administrators, and business executives in the general area of Healthcare Operations Management
  4. Promote the Healthcare SIG sessions among non MSOM members who currently have clinical or executive Operations Management responsibilities in  the healthcare sector

iFORM - Interface of Finance, Operations, and Risk Management

iFORM is a research, education, and applications field striving for (1) synergetic application of ideas, methods, and tools from Finance, Operations, and Risk Management to business problems, and (2) development of new interdisciplinary solutions and insights to help managers of global enterprises with complex decisions.

iFORM research topics include:

  • The role of financial institutions and financial markets in operations and supply chain management;
  • Joint operational and financial decisions of the firms;
  • Operational and financial risks: identification, measurement, pricing, and management; Integrated approaches to operational and financial risk management;
  • Games, incentives, asymmetric information in operational and financial risk management;
  • Applications of financial engineering, mathematical and computational finance in operations;
  • Applications of real options in operations;
  • Econometric methods for financial and operational risk management;
  • Empirical studies of operational risk management and integration of financial and operational decisions.

Service Management

The Service Management SIG is dedicated to improving and enhancing our understanding of service operations. Topics include service system design, location and site planning, service capacity allocation and pricing, customer behavior, technology-driven services and quality.  The group's interest also lies in the interfaces of service operations with other functional areas, such as marketing, engineering or human resource management. All research methods (data-driven or analytical approaches) and industries are considered.

Supply Chain Management

In virtually any business, supply chains play an integral role in what challenges an organization faces and how these issues are addressed. The MSOM special interest group on Supply Chain Management (SCM) aims to bring together researchers and practitioners who are interested in developing and applying operations research and management science techniques to current and emerging practices, challenges and trends in supply chains. We think of supply chains as broadly focusing on the interactions necessary to match supply and demand. These interactions may be between inventory levels held at different locations or between a firm and its suppliers and customers.

The SCM SIG will promote and foster research, applications, and education in a broad range of topics in SCM including the management of inventory, the interactions between multiple players (both within and across organizations), the design of supply chains, and the management of risk and disruptions. The group is open to a range of methodologies including analytical, empirical, and behavioral. In addition, the SCM SIG is amenable to a variety of objectives including profit maximizing firms as well as non-profit or humanitarian aims.


Sustainable Operations

This SIG aims to promote research on topics at the interface of operations and sustainability (environmental, social and economic). Examples of current and emerging research in this area include, but are not limited to:

  • Eco-efficiency

    Using operations management tools to reduce environmental impact, based on the integration of environmental impact measurement into manufacturing or service operations management.

  • Product stewardship

    Analysis of closed-loop supply chains, eco-labeling, green sourcing, carbon footprinting, design for the environment.

  • Sustainable technology

    Analysis of novel operational problems faced by organizations that develop or adopt new products or services in areas such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, green chemicals, organic agriculture, sustainable mobility, or green building.

  • Sustainable development

    Application and adaptation of operations management concepts and tools in the effective provision of products and services to the "bottom of the pyramid."

  • SIG Chair

Basak Kalkanci (Georgia Institute of Technology), Basak.Kalkanci@scheller.gatech.edu


Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (TIE)

The Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (TIE) SIG would aim to promote research on product and process innovation, business model innovation, technology management, new product development, and entrepreneurial activities (from venture formation to launch to scale).

Here is additional information about the TIE SIG. You may contact the following TIE team members with your related questions.  

  • Founding Chair: Morvarid Rahmani (Georgia Institute of Technology), morvarid.rahmani@scheller.gatech.edu
  • Advisory Committee: Francis de Vericourt (ESMT Berlin); Stelios Kavadias (Cambridge University); Serguei Netessine (University of Pennsylvania); Kamalini Ramdas (London Business School); Guillaume Roels (INSEAD).
  • 2023-2024 SIG Chair: Guillaume Roels (INSEAD), guillaume.roels@insead.edu.
  • 2023 TIE SIG Day Co-Chairs: Tian Chan (Emory University) and Jun Li (University of Michigan)
  • 2023 TIE SIG Informs Track Co-Chairs: Pascale Crama (Singapore Management University) and Sreekumar Bhaskaran (SMU Cox)