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Rogelio Oliva

Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship
Professor and Robyn L. '89 and Alan B. Roberts '78 Chair in Business
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Operations Management
Affiliate Faculty, Texas A&M University Energy Institute
Department of Information and Operations Management
Office of the Dean

Education

Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996
MA, University of Lancaster (UK), 1988
BE, Monterrey Institute of Technology (Mexico), 1985

Research Interest

Behavioral Operations, Operations Management, Retail and Service Operations, Supply Chain Management, System Dynamics

Biography


Rogelio Oliva is the Robyn L. ’89 and Alan B. Roberts ’78 Chair in Business in the Department of Information and Operations Management at the Mays Business School and Research Affiliate at  MIT Sloan System Dynamics Group. His research explores how behavioral and social aspects of an organization interact with its technical components to determine the firm’s operational performance. His current research interests include behavioral operations management, retail and service operations, and the transition that product manufacturers are making to become service providers. His research work has been published in several academic journals, among them: Management Science, Organization Science, Journal of Operations Management, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and California Management Review. He is the recipient of the 2019 Jay W. Forrester Award for the best written contribution to the System Dynamics field in the preceding five years.

Dr. Oliva teaches courses in operations management, supply chain management, and management information systems for the MBA and Executive MBA programs. He has received multiple teaching awards including the Production and Operations Management Society’s Skinner Teaching Achievement Award (2014) and the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award at the College (2009) and University (2013) levels.

A native of Cd. Valles, Mexico, he holds a B.E. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (Mexico), an M.A. in Systems in Management from Lancaster University (UK), and a Ph.D. in Operations Management and System Dynamics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Prior to joining the Mays faculty, Professor Oliva served in the faculty of the Harvard Business School, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile,  and ITESM in Mexico. He has worked for small manufacturing businesses in Mexico and consults on improvement of service and manufacturing operations, organizational change initiatives, and the development of system dynamics models. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Operations Management.

Research Publications

Sun X, Oliva R. 2026. Failure modes in servitization: A process theory. Journal of Operations Management 72(1):42-63.

Sun X, Rajapakshe T, Oliva R. 2025. Interplay between servicizing and remanufacturing: Economic and environmental implications. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 27(1):114-126.

Oh HK, Abdulla H, Oliva R. 2024. Behavioral multi-lever decision-making: A study of consumer return policy, price, and inventory decisions. Journal of Operations Management 70(1):137-156.

Chou, YC, Chuang HHC, Chou P, Oliva R. 2023. Supervised machine learning for theory building and testing: Opportunities in Operations Management. Journal of Operations Management 69(4):643-675.

Oliva R, Abdulla H, Gonçalves P. 2022. Do managers overreact when in backlog? Evidence from a serial supply chain experiment. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 24(4):1997-2009.

Chuang HHC, Oliva R, Kumar S. 2022. Group-level information decay and inventory inspection: An empirical-analytical approach. Journal of Operations Management 68(2):130-152.

Chuang HHC, Chou YC, Oliva R. 2021. Cross-item learning for volatile demand forecasting: An intervention with predictive analytics. Journal of Operations Management 67(7):828-852.

Oliva R. 2019. Intervention as a research strategy. Journal of Operations Management 65(7):710-724.

Chuang HHC, Oliva R, Heim G. 2019. Examining the link between retailer inventory leanness and operational efficiency: Moderating roles of firm size and demand uncertainty. Production and Operations Management 28(9):2338-2364.