Ananth Raman is a professor in the Technology and Operations Management area where he has taught courses on various aspects of Operational Excellence -- supply chain management, technology and operations management, and service operations -- to MBA students and executive participants. He serves as Faculty Chair for the Owner/President Management Program for business owners and entrepreneurs, and is also actively involved in guiding multiple doctoral students at Harvard Business School.
His research focuses on supply chain management and the investors’ perspective on operations. He is co-director (with Marshall Fisher of the WhartonSchool) of the Consortium for Operational Excellence in Retailing, a research group that involves academics from numerous universities and leading retailers from around the world.
Raman’s research has been published in many leading journals including Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management. He has also authored multiple Harvard Business School case studies that are taught extensively at many schools, including Harvard. His book (co-authored with Marshall Fisher) “The New Science of Retailing” was published in June 2010.
He has consulted with, and been responsible for management education programs for executives at, a number of companies, and has also helped multiple retailers and suppliers design and develop decision-support systems for supply chain management. He serves as an advisor to multiple retail CEOs. He is co-founder of 4R Systems (www.4rsystems.com), a venture-backed startup company.
Raman serves on the board of directors at 4R Systems, and Cumberland Farms, Inc. (http://www.cumberlandfarms.com/). 4R Systems (www.4rsystems.com) uses science and technology to help retail chains maximize profit from their inventory investment. Cumberland Farms is a family-owned and family-operated chain of convenience stores in the United States.
Authors Marshall Fisher and Ananth Raman, argue that the time is ripe for “rocket science retailing.” Just as Wall Street was transformed in the 1970’s by the influx of physicists, engineers, and “rocket scientists” with mathematical techniques that allowed the harnessing of vast, complicated transaction data, so too retailing is now ready, and in fact beginning a “rocket science revolution.”