Final reminder: the submission deadline for the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Journal (M&SOM) Special Issue on Operations Management for Developing Economies is June 1 (no extensions), less than month from now, see the original announcement here Call for Papers | Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.
If you are considering a submission, I encourage you to read our new position paper on Development Operations Management, co-authored with my wonderful co-editors, Mahyar Eftekhar and Yanchong Zheng. The paper argues that research in this area should not be defined simply by geography, but by whether developing-economy frictions are central to the operational problem and the theory being developed https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6636898.
The core idea is straightforward: many important operational systems function under binding frictions such as weak enforcement, informality, unreliable infrastructure, liquidity constraints, and trust deficits. These are not side details. They shape decisions, outcomes, and what good theory should look like. The paper proposes a friction-to-theory cycle: start by identifying the system and its binding frictions, define developmentally meaningful outcomes, identify operational levers, refine through field engagement, and generalize by mechanism rather than by context.
Our hope is to encourage work that is both rigorous and relevant, and that expands the core of Operations Management by taking seriously the contexts in which much of the world actually operates.
Please read the paper if this research area is of interest, and please share widely. We would especially value broad feedback from scholars, PhD students, editors, practitioners, and colleagues working in adjacent fields. Reactions, critiques, examples, and suggestions for strengthening this research agenda are all very welcome!
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Serguei Netessine
Senior Vice Dean and Professor
The Wharton School
Philadelphia PA
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