New Faculty: Santosh Mahapatra, Assistant Professor

Dr. Santosh Mahapatra explains green supply chain concepts to sophomore Carolyn Orth.

Santosh Mahapatra joined the Clarkson School of Business faculty in 2006 as an assistant professor in the Global Supply Chain Management Program after completing his Ph.D. at Michigan State University (MSU). He teaches an undergraduate course in Operations/Production Management as well as an upper level undergraduate/MBA course in Green Supply Chain.

Dr. Mahapatra’s primary research interests, as well as his Ph.D. work, encompass optimal sourcing strategy under price uncertainty, strategic sourcing, governance mechanisms, supplier development for superior performance, and buyer-supplier relationship management. Notable in their fields, Distinguished Professor Ram Narasimhan, the John H. McConnell Professor of Supply Chain Management, and Professor Shlomo Levental, Department of Statistics and Probability, both of MSU, served as Dr. Mahapatra’s dissertation advisors.

“Green Supply Chain, a traditional area of interest in environmental science and engineering, has become an emerging field in the business community.” says Dr. Mahaptra, who began pursuing research in Green Supply Chain at MSU under Dr. Steven Melnyk, recipient of National Science Foundation (NSF) grant funding in this area.

“Firms have historically assessed supply chain performance across a linear chain –- from securing resources for production to distribution and sale to consumers,” says Dr. Mahapatra. In a departure from this view, his research assesses the supply chain as a “closed loop.” This includes examining the options available to a firm to recapture the used product or packaging from the consumer and recycle or reuse the materials in existing or next generation products. The “closed loop” supply chain aims to influence the initial design and ongoing redesign of products and processes with the ultimate goal of reducing the impact on the ecosystem while still offering competitive advantage.  His collaborative research has also found that firms with Total Quality Environment Management systems in place are better positioned to achieve competitive advantage.

Dr. Mahapatra has published in the following academic journals:

Decision Sciences Journal
Industrial Marketing Management
International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management
Journal of Business Logistics