Portrait image for Christopher S. Tang

Christopher S. Tang

UCLA Distinguished Professor; Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean, Global Initiatives; Faculty Director, Center for Global Management
“Managing supply chains in uncertain times requires visibility, integrity and agility.”
(310) 825-4203
Areas of Expertise:
  • Asia
  • Outsourcing
  • Pricing
  • Retailing
  • Supply Chain Management
About
 
 

Biography

A foremost scholar of global supply chain management, Chris Tang focuses his current research on social innovation in developing countries, identifying how companies operate in the environment to do good while doing well at the same time — “where corporate responsibility, social justice and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand,” as he says.

Tang’s interest in his field began in the private sector when he worked for IBM to solve internal production planning problems. Exposure to real-life industry projects motivated his academic research, where he developed teaching cases on a variety of concerns such as microfinancing for the poor, mobile platforms for developing economies, creating shared values and direct procurement of agricultural products, response management in disasters and new business models in the age of the Internet. These cases exceeded the traditional topics of operations management, addressing the trendy and pressing issues faced by supply chain executives, as well as innovations that industry leaders use to create higher values in the global market.

World-renowned in the field of global supply chain management, Tang has been a consultant to numerous corporations such as Amazon, HP (California, Singapore, South Korea), IBM (New York, San Jose), Nestlé (USA), GKN (UK) and Accenture. He has taught courses at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, National University of Singapore, MIT (Zaragoza) and London Business School, and served as a visiting professor at Cambridge University (UK) and the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) at HKUST. He has delivered more than 200 keynote speeches and seminars at conferences and universities worldwide; chaired numerous advisory committees at various universities in the United States, Europe and Asia; been interviewed and quoted by international press over 100 times; and served on the boards of various nonprofit organizations.

Tang’s research contribution to global supply chain management is recognized by all three major academic societies in the fields of operations research, management science and operations management. He was recently distinguished for research exploring the impact of regulatory policies on the welfare of different stakeholders in on-demand ride service platforms. He has published six books, 30 book chapters, over 100 online blogs and over 160 research articles in various leading academic journals. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s,Financial Times (UK), China Daily, Fortune, Bloomberg Law,Los Angeles Times, SanFrancisco Chronicle, Business Times (Singapore) and The Guardian (UK).

 

Education

Ph.D. Management Science, 1985, Yale University

M.Phil. Administrative Science, 1983, Yale University

M.A. Statistics, 1983, Yale University

B.Sc. Mathematics (First Class Honors) , 1981, King’s College, University of London

 

Courses

Global Supply Chain Management 240F

Operations and Technology Management 474

Global Operations Strategy (a new course I developed at Berekley)

 

Selected Papers

Tang, C. "Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" [Full Text]

Chen, YK.; T Dai, CG Korpeoglu, E Körpeoğlu, O Sahin, CS Tang, S Xiao, “Innovative Online Platforms: Research Opportunities,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Vol. 22, 3, pp. 429-440, 2020.

Bai, J., So, R., Tang, C.S., Chen, M., and Wang, H., “Coordinating Supply and Demand on an On-Demand Platform” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Vol. 21, No. 3, Summer 2019, pp. 556–570

  • SSRN’s Top Ten download list for: Innovation Areas eJournals, November, 2016; May, 2017; June, 2017; February, March, 2018
  • Featured in UCLA Anderson Review
  • First Prize Winner of 2017 POMS College of Supply Chain Management Student Paper Competition

Guo, P., Tang, C.S., Wang, Y., Zhao, M., “The Impact of Reimbursement Policy on Patient Welfare, Readmission Rate and Waiting Time in a Public Healthcare System: Fee-for-Service vs. Bundled Payment” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Vol. 21, 1, 154-170, 2019.

  • SSRN top 10 Download in November 2017, December 2017.

Liao, C.N., Chen, Y.J., and Tang, C.S. “Information Provision Policies for Improving Farmer Welfare in Developing Countries: Heterogeneous Farmers and Market Selection,” (Lead Article) Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 21(2), 254-270, 2019.

  • Selected as one of the featured articles in the INFORMS editor’s cut, 2017

Tang, C.S., and Veelenturf, L.P., “The Strategic Role of Logistics in the Industry 4.0 Era,” (Lead Article), Transportation Research: Part E, Vol. 129 (2019), pp. 1-11.

  • Lead Article, September issue, Transportation Research: Part E

Wirtz, J., and Tang, C.S., Georgi, D., “Examining the Effectiveness of Referral Reward Programs: Successful Participation and Inductor Segmentation,” Journal of Service Management, 30 (1), 48-74, 2019.

Ye, S., Layth, A., Tang, C.S., and Yue, X., “A Newsvendor Model with Autocorrelated Demand under a Time Consistent Dynamic CVaR measure,” IISE Transactions, Vol. 51, 6, 653-671. 2019.

Gui, L., Tang, C.S, and Yin, S., “Improving Micro-Retailer and Consumer Welfare in Developing Economies: Replenishment Strategies and Market Entries,” Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Vol (21), 1, 231-250. 2018.

Sodhi, M., Tang, C.S. “Research Opportunities in Supply Chain Transparency,” Production and Operations Management, Vol. 28, 12, pp. 2946-2959, 2019.

  • Top 10 SSRN download in June, July, 2018.

Lo, C., Tang, C.S., Zhou, Y., Yeung, A., Fan, D., “The Impact of Environmental Incidents on Market Value of Firms in China: Legitimacy and Political Ties,” (Lead Article) Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 20 (3), 422-439, 2017.

  • Top 10 SSRN download in June and July 2017
  • Featured in UCLA Anderson Review
  • Winner of the 2017 Responsible Research in Management Award (Association for Chinese Management Research)

Books

Supply Chain Risk Management. Co-written with ManMohan Sodhi. Springer Publishers, 2012.

A Long View of Operations Research/Management Science Research. Co-edited with ManMohan Sodhi. Springer Publishers, 2010.

Operations Management Models with Consumer-Driven Demand. Co-edited with Serguei Netissine. Springer Publishers, 2009.

Supply Chain Analysis: Information, System and Optimization. Co-edited with C.P. Teo and K.K. Wei), Springer Publishers, 2008.

Product Variety Management. Co-edited with Teck Ho. Kluwer Publishers, 1998.

 

Video

Rethinking the Global Supply Chain in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Christopher S. Tang, UCLA Distinguished Professor, and Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration

Supply Chain Innovations for Alleviating Poverty

Christopher S. Tang, UCLA Distinguished Professor, and Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration

 

Recognition

Teaching Excellence Award, UCLA-NUS Executive MBA Program, 2020, 2016, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2005

Best Paper Award (2nd Prize), “A Balancing Act of Regulating On-Demand Ride Services,” by Jiayi Joey Yu, Christopher S. Tang, et al. (2019), Institute of Supply Chain and Operations Management Annual Conference, 2019

Responsible Research in Management Award, “Environmental Incidents and the Market Value of Firms: An Empirical Investigation in the Chinese Context,” by Chris K. Y. Lo, Christopher S. Tang, et al. (2018), Association for Chinese Management Research, 2017

Author of top 10 Google Classic Papers in Operations Research, 2017

Salzberg Medallion (for research contributions in supply chain management), 2017

Editor, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 2015–present

Lifetime Fellow, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society (MSOM), 2015

Dean’s Excellent Service Award, UCLA Anderson School of Management, 2014

Best Paper Award, “Linking Process Quality and Resource Usage: An Empirical Analysis,” by D. Andritsos and C. S. Tang, Production and Operations Management (2014), International Conference on Big Data and Analytics in Health Care, 2014

Clayburn La Force Faculty Leadership Award, UCLA Anderson School, 2013

UCLA (university-wide) Distinguished Teaching Award, 2012

Lifetime Fellow, Institute of Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS), 2011

Lifetime Fellow, Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), 2011

Neidorf “Decade” Teaching Award, UCLA Anderson, 19991