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Podcast
  • Dr. Mohan Gopalakrishnan on Supply Chain Risk and Management

    11 Aug 2020
  • Dr. Mohan Gopalakrishnan (his students call him Dr. G!) is the Department Chair, Supply Chain Management in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He discusses how supply chain planning and resilience has become even more relevant in today's COVID environment, and how solid supply chain practices can be applied across all aspects of service, including nonprofits.

    Hosted by Jeff Kavanaugh, VP and Head of the Infosys Knowledge Institute.

    “I think the important thing that we've all learned in [the pandemic], and that's probably the number one thing is visibility, and increasing visibility. That's almost become a cliché, but it's the truth.” Dr. Mohan Gopalakrishnan

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Show Notes

  • 00:47

    In a time of historic disruption, what part of your research is especially relevant now?

  • 02:52

    Jeff introduces Mohan

  • 03:16

    What inspired you to pursue your academic path in the area of supply chain and in academia overall?

  • 04:33

    How did you gain expertise specifically for supply chain?

  • 07:55

    Can you talk about your approach and what you've seen, be successful defining, describing, and learning to live with risk?

  • 10:33

    Why is it that these problems are still there when I was with executives 20 years ago, addressing these things? Why do they still persist?

  • 12:09

    I think the nature of its cumulative. Like you said, evolving, you've had considerations that just the demands weren't there as much before. And of course, sustainability as well as a valued dimension has really come to the forefront.

  • 13:34

    Noticed you did some work with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Could you talk about what that project or initiative was and what you gained from it?

  • 19:58

    Can you talk about the conflict between local and global optimization for supply chains?

  • 23:16

    Can you highlight maybe a disconnect between the needs we have now and the structures in place, and some steps executives can take to navigate their way through it?

  • 26:07

    What are three things that executives, leaders, can do to increase resilience in their supply chains?

  • 28:33

    What's a good example of somebody who's really doing it right?

  • 30:23

    For the young person who's considering careers and maybe looking at supply chain, what is your advice to them as they're thinking about supply chain and risk management things they can be thinking about for the next 10 or even 20 years to maybe put their heart and soul into as a career?

  • 32:21

    What are the books or people that have made a big impact on you?

  • 33:23

    If we could swap seats and you could choose someone to interview for a podcast, who would you choose?

  • 34:01

    Any online resources you recommend for further learning?

About Mohan Gopalakrishnan

Mohan Gopalakrishnan

Mohan Gopalakrishnan is an award-winning researcher with a wide range of interests. His work has explored global supply chain risk management, health care operations management, nonprofit humanitarian logistics management, web-congestion and technology capacity management, product design and target costing, pricing and revenue management, “purchase-cards” and inventory management, project management, warehousing and distribution management, and manufacturing planning and control.

His work has been widely cited and published in leading journals, including Journal of Supply Chain Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Operational Research, European Journal of Industrial Engineering, International Journal of Information Management, Leadership Quarterly, and Management Science. His projects have been funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council – Quebec, the Seagram Foundation, and American Express Global Technologies, among others.

His teaching focuses on global operations and supply chain management, business process excellence management, lean and Six Sigma management, project management, and technology management. He has won multiple awards for “Outstanding Teaching Excellence.”

Before coming to ASU in 1998, he held a faculty position in Decision Sciences and MIS at Concordia University, Canada, and previously taught at IIT-Chennai, Great Lakes Institute of Management, and IIM-Ahmedabad. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Madras in India, and his master’s and doctorate at the University of Alabama.

Selected links from the episode

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