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Keywords Operations management, Methodology, Operational research, Research, Quantitative modelling
Abstract Gives an overview of quantitative model-based research in operations management, focusing on research methodology. Distinguishes between empirical and axiomatic research, and furthermore between descriptive and normative research. Presents guidelines for doing quantitative model-based research in operations management In constructing arguments, builds on learnings from operations research and operations management research from the past decades and on research from a selected number of other academic disciplines. Concludes that the methodology of quantitative model-driven empirical research offers a great opportunity for operations management researchers to further advance theory.
Introduction
Quantitative modeling has been the basis of most of the initial research in operations, labeled as operational research in Europe, and was also the basis of initial management consulting and operations research (OR) in the USA. Initially, quantitative modeling in operational research was oriented very much towards solving real-life problems in operations management (OM) rather than towards developing scientific knowledge. Especially in the USA, a strong academic research line in OR emerged in the 1960s, working on more idealized problems and thus building scientific knowledge in operations management. During that same period, however, much of this research lost its empirical foundations, and research methods have been primarily developed for these more or less theoretical research lines, leaving the more empirically-oriented research lines for more than 30 years in the blue with regard to research methodology.
Recently, this tide has however turned, and the need to develop explanatory and predictive theory regarding operational processes and OM has become apparent. Articles have been published that formulate requirements for theory development in OM (Schmenner and Swink, 1998; Amundson, 1998; Wacker, 1998) or that try to connect the knowledge generated along the various research lines into a more general theoretical framework (Melnyk and Handfield, 1998a).
In this article, we will give an overview of quantitative model-based research in OM, focusing on research methodology. OM is defined as the process of design, planning, controlling and executing operations in manufacturing and service industries. Our emphasis will be on model-based quantitative research, i.e. research where models of causal relationships between control variables and performance variables are developed, analyzed or tested. Performance variables can be either physical variables such as inventory position or utilization...