NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
  • About Kellogg
  • Programs
  • Faculty & Research
  • Global
  • News & Events
  • Support Kellogg
Sunil Chopra
Sunil Chopra

MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS & DECISION SCIENCES; OPERATIONS
IBM Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems

Print Overview

Sunil Chopra is the IBM Distinguished Professor of Operations Management. He was also Interim Dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University from 2009-2010. From 2006 – 2009, he served as Senior Associate Dean: Curriculum and Teaching. He became a faculty member of the school in 1989. Previously he was an Assistant Professor at the Stern School of Business Administration at New York University. He has a PhD in Operations Research from SUNY Stony Brook.

Professor Chopra’s research and teaching interests are in Operations Management, Logistics and Distribution Management, design of communication networks and design of distribution networks. He has co-authored the books Managing Business Process Flows and Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation. Both books are published by Prentice Hall and are used at several of the top business schools to teach Operations Management and Supply Chain Management respectively. The Supply Chain Management book was awarded the best book of the year for 2002 by the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Professor Chopra has won several teaching awards at Kellogg.

He has been Departmental Editor for the journals Management Science and an Associate Editor for the Decision Sciences Journal, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and Operations Research. His recent research has focused on risk management in supply chains. He has also studied distribution systems in a variety of companies trying to identify market, manufacturing, and product characteristics that drive the structure of a supply chain.

He has consulted for a variety of firms including Boise Cascade Office Products, GE Capital, W.W. Grainger, Motorola, Intel, and Sara Lee.



Areas of Expertise
Cycle Time Management
Manufacturing
Optimization
Reengineering
Response Time Management
Supply Chain Management and Logistics
Print Vita
Education
PhD, 1986, Operations Research, State University of New York, Stony Brook
MS, 1984, Operations Research, State University of New York, Stony Brook
BT, 1981, Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi

Editorial Positions
Department Editor forOperations and Supply Chain Management, Management Science, 2003-2005
Associate Editor, Management Science, 2000-2002
Associate Editor, Operations Research, 1997-1999

 
Print Research
Research Interests
Operations management, network design, combinational optimization

Articles
Sohoni, Milind, Sunil Chopra, Usha Mohan and Nuri Sendil. Forthcoming. Threshold Incentives and Sales Variance. Production and Operations Management.
Abstract
Sohoni, Milind, Achal Bassamboo, Sunil Chopra, Usha Mohan and Nuri Sendil. 2010. Threshold Incentives over Multiple Periods and the Sales Hockey Stick Phenomenon. Naval Research Logistics. 57(6): 503-518.
AbstractLink
Lim, Michael, Mark S. Daskin, Achal Bassamboo and Sunil Chopra. 2010. A Facility Reliability Problem: Formulation, Properties, and Algorithm. Naval Research Logistics. 57(1): 58-70.
AbstractLink
Tyagi, Rajesh, Gilles Reinhardt and Sunil Chopra. 2008. Simple Standardized Patient hand-off system that increases accuracy and completeness. Journal of Surgical Education. 65(1)
Link
Chopra, Sunil, Gilles Reinhardt and Usha Mohan. 2007. Importance of Decoupling Disruption and Recurrent Risk in a Supply Chain. Naval Research Logistics. 54(5): 544-555.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil and ManMohan S. Sodhi. 2007. Looking for the Bang from the RFID Buck. Supply Chain Management Review.: 34-41.
Chopra, Sunil and Martin Lariviere. 2005. Managing Service Inventory to Improve Performance. MIT Sloan Management Review. 47(1): 56-63.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil, William Lovejoy and Candace Yano. 2004. Five Decades of Operations Management and the Prospects Ahead. Management Science. 50(1): 8-14.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and ManMohan S. Sodhi. 2004. Managing Risk to Avoid Supply Chain Breakdown. MIT Sloan Management Review. 46(1): 53-61.
Chopra, Sunil, Maqbool Dada and Gilles Reinhardt. 2004. The Effect of Lead Time Uncertainty on Safety Stocks. Decision Sciences. 35(1): 1-24.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and Maqbool Dada. 2003. Coal Movement by Railroad in the Powder River Basin. Energy Studies Review. 11(1): 59-75.
Chopra, Sunil. 2003. Designing the Distribution Network in a Supply Chain. Transportation Research. 39(2): 123-140.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and Peter Meindl. 2003. What will drive the enterprise software shakeout. Supply Chain Management Review. 7(1)
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and Chih-Yang Tsai. 2002. A Branch-and-Cut Approach for Minimum Cost Multi-level Network Design. Discrete Mathematics. 242(1): 65-92.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil, Daniel Granot and Jeroen Kuipers. 2002. Cost Allocation for a Tree Network with Heterogeneous Customers. Mathematics of Operations Research. 27(4): 647-661.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil. 2001. Evaluating B2B e-Commerce Opportunities in a Supply Chain. Supply Chain Management Review.
Link
Chopra, Sunil and Jan A. Van Mieghem. 2000. Which e-business is Right for Your Supply Chain?. Supply Chain Management Review.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil and Jonathan H. Owen. 1999. Partitioning of Hypergraphs. Discrete Applied Mathematics. 90(1-3): 115-133.
AbstractLink
Bienstock, Daniel, Sunil Chopra, Oktay Gunluk and Chih-Yang Tsai. 1998. Minimum Cost Capacity Installations for Multicommodity Network Flows. Mathematical Programming. 81(2): 177-199.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil, Itzhak Gilboa and S. Trilochan Sastry. 1998. Source Sink Flows with Capacity Installation in Batches. Discrete Applied Mathematics. 85(3): 165-192.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil, M. R. Rao and Chih-Yang Tsai. 1997. Computational Study of the Multi-echelon Production Planning Problem. Naval Research Logistics Quarterly. 44(1): 1-19.
Chopra, Sunil and Jonathan H. Owen. 1996. An Extended Formulation for the A-Cut Problem. Mathematical Programming. 73(1): 7-30.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil and Kalyan T. Talluri. 1996. Minimum Cost Node Disjoint Steiner Trees in Series-Parallel Networks. VLSI Design. 4(1): 53-57.
Chopra, Sunil. 1996. The Graphical Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Polyhedron: Symmetric Inequalities. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics. 9(4): 602-624.
Chopra, Sunil. 1995. Compositions for Matroids with the Fulkerson Property. Annals of Operations Research. 62(1-3): 87-101.
Chopra, Sunil and M. R. Rao. 1995. Facets of the k-partition Polytope. Discrete Applied Mathematics. 61(1): 27-48.
Chopra, Sunil. 1994. Comparison of Formulations and a Heuristic for Packing Steiner Trees in a Graph. Annals of Operations Research. 50(1): 143-171.
Chopra, Sunil. 1994. The Graph Partitioning Polytope on Series-Parallel and 4-Wheel Free Graphs. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics. 7(1): 16-31.
Chopra, Sunil and M. R. Rao. 1994. The Steiner Tree problem I: Formulations, Compositions and Extensions of Facets. Mathematical Programming. 64(1-3): 209-229.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil and M. R. Rao. 1994. The Steiner Tree Problem II: Properties and Classes of Facets. Mathematical Programming. 64(1-3): 231-246.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil and M. R. Rao. 1993. On the Multiway Cut Polyhedron. Networks. 21(1): 51-89.
Chopra, Sunil and M. R. Rao. 1993. The Partition Problem. Mathematical Programming. 59(1): 87-115.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil. 1992. Polyhedra of the Equivalent Subgraph Problem and Some Edge Connectivity Problems. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics. 5(3): 321-337.
Chopra, Sunil, Edgar R. Gorres and M.R. Rao. 1992. Solving a Steiner Tree Problem on a Graph Using Branch and Cut. ORSA Journal on Computing. 4(3): 320-335.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil. 1992. The Equivalent Subgraph and Directed Cut Polyhedron on Series-parallel Graphs. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics. 5(4): 475-490.
Chopra, Sunil. 1992. The k-edge Connected Spanning Subgraph Polyhedron. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics. 7(2): 245-259.
Chopra, Sunil. 1989. On Ternary Problems. Mathematical Programming. 45(1-3): 35-47.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil. 1989. On the Spanning Tree Polyhedron. Operations Research Letters. 8(1): 25-29.
Chopra, Sunil, David L. Jensen and Ellis L. Johnson. 1989. Polyhedra of Regular p-Nary Group Problems. Mathematical Programming. 43(1-3): 1-29.
AbstractLink
Chopra, Sunil and Ellis L. Johnson. 1987. Dual Row Modules and Polyhedra of Blocking Group Problems. Mathematical Programming. 38(3): 229-270.
AbstractLink
Working Papers
Lim, Michael, Achal Bassamboo, Sunil Chopra and Mark S. Daskin. 2008. Flexibility and Fragility in Supply Chain Network Design.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil, Usha Mohan and Gilles Reinhardt. 2005. The Effect of Supply Chain Disruption on Sourcing Strategy.
Barnes, Earl R., Sunil Chopra and David L. Jensen. 2002. A Polynomial Time Version of the Affine Scaling Algorithm.
Chopra, Sunil, Monique Guignard and Nicholas G. Hall. 2002. Maximum Value Job Shop Scheduling.
Chopra, Sunil, Edgar R. Gorres and Chih-Yang Tsai. 2002. On the Node Weighted Steiner Tree Problem.
Book Chapters
Chopra, Sunil. 2001. "Polyhedral Approaches for the Steiner Tree Problem on Graphs." In Steiner Trees in Industry, edited by D.Z. Du and X. Cheng, 175-202. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Link
Chopra, Sunil and David Simchi-Levi. 2000. "Communication Networks." In Handbook of Discrete and Combinational Mathematics, edited by Kenneth H. Rosen, 683-691. CRC Press.
Chopra, Sunil and David Simchi-Levi. 2000. "Packing and Covering." In Handbook of Discrete and Combinational Mathematics, edited by Kenneth H. Rosen, 996-1005. CRC Press.
Chopra, Sunil, Itzhak Gilboa and S. Trilochan Sastry. 1996. "Algorithms and Extended Formulations for One and Two Facility Network Design." In Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 5, Springer-Verlag.
Other
Chopra, Sunil and Giovanni Rinaldi. "The Graphical Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Polyhedron." May.
Chopra, Sunil and Giovanni Rinaldi. "The Graphical Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Polyhedron." May.
Books
Anupindi, Ravi, Sunil Chopra, Sudhakar D. Deshmukh, Jan A. Van Mieghem and Eitan Zemel. 2006. Managing Business Process Flows: Principles of Operations Management. Prentice Hall, 2nd edition.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and Peter Meindl. 2003. Supply Chain Management:Strategy, Planning, Operation. Prentice Hall.
Abstract
Anupindi, Ravi, Sunil Chopra, Sudhakar D. Deshmukh, Jan A. Van Mieghem and Eitan Zemel. 1999. Managing Business Process Flows. Prentice Hall.
Cases
Chopra, Sunil, Scott Flamm and Sachin Waikar. 2011. Body Scans and Bottlenecks: Optimizing Hospital CT Process Flows. Case 5-211-256.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and Roby Thomas. 2009. Focus on Diamond Retailing: Blue Nile, Zales, and Tiffany . Case 5-408-754 (KEL394).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2007. Wills Lifestyle in India. Case 5-107-003 (KEL362).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil, Jeffrey Blount, Peter Meindl, Marek Prach, Danny Su and Fuminori Takemura. 2006. Postponement. Case 7-204-250 (KEL128).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2006. Quality Wireless (A): Call Center Performance. Case 5-405-756(A) (KEL153).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2006. Quality Wireless (B): Call Center Performance. Case 5-405-756(B) (KEL154).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2004. Excel Logistics Services. Case 5-104-005 (KEL019).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2004. Six Sigma Quality at Flyrock Tires. Case 5-104-004 (KEL028).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil and R. Canan Savaskan-Ebert. 2004. Weight Solutions Clinic Bariatric Surgery Center. Case 5-104-006 (KEL030).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2003. CRU Computer Rentals. Case 5-403-750 (KEL017).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil. 2003. Seven-Eleven Japan Co.. Case 5-403-757 (KEL026).
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil, Fernando del Cid, Roger Gordon, Brian Kearns, Paul Lennick and Andreas Sattlberger. 2003. Vendor Managed Inventories. Case 7-403-750.
Abstract
Chopra, Sunil, Adrian Alonso, Lance Donenberg, Daniel Gamba and David Vely. 1996. Technical Note: Third-Party Logistics: Current Issues and World Wide Web Resources. Case 7-204-251 (KEL281).
Abstract

 
Print Teaching
Teaching Interests
Operations management, network design, combinational optimization
Full-Time / Part-Time MBA
Designing and Managing Business processes (OPNS-440-0)
The course focuses on designing and managing business processes to best support the strategic objectives of the organization and the needs of the market segments being served. We will first develop a strategic framework that allows a process designer to understand what the process needs to do particularly well (process competence) based on the needs of the customer being served. We then define key operational metrics – flow time, throughput, inventory, cost and quality – and link them to financial measures of performance. Such a linkage allows a manager to identify operational metrics along which a process needs to excel or improve. We then discuss how various operational metrics can be tracked and measured. The rest of the course then focuses on identifying design and management levers that allow a manager to improve process performance along each of the key operational metrics. Prerequisites: Background in basic probability and statistics, and enrollment in the MMM Program

Supply Chain Management (OPNS-455-0)

This course counts toward the following majors: Managerial Analytics, Operations, Technology Industry Management.

What are the key capabilities a supply chain must develop to support the business strategy of a firm? What is the relationship between the desired capabilities and the structure of a supply chain? This course provides a framework to answer these questions. We define supply chain structure in terms of the following drivers of performance: facilities, information, inventory and transportation. The relationship between structure and performance is analyzed using various case studies that require students to develop analytical spreadsheet models to support their decision making. Students are taught the strategic role of the supply chain. The course also discusses methodologies for designing and planning a supply chain.

Executive MBA
Operations Management (OPNSX-430-0)
Operations Management examines the basic principles of managing the production and distribution of goods and services. The course approaches operations as a managerial integration function and provides frameworks and tools to target and implement improvements in business processes.

Strategic Decisions in Operations (OPNSX-455-0)
This course builds on the core operations management class with an emphasis on strategic level decisions. It emphasizes the long-term, "big" decisions firms face in structuring their operations. Topics covered range from evaluating flexible technologies to designing supply chains.