Charles Fine

Charles Fine is the Chrysler Leaders for Global Operations Professor of Management, a Professor of Operations Management and Engineering Systems, and the Co-Director of the International Motor Vehicle Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

His research focuses on supply chain strategy and value chain roadmapping, with a particular focus on fast-clockspeed manufacturing industries. Fine’s work has supported design and improvement of supply chain relationships for companies in electronics, automotive, aerospace, communications, and consumer products. His current research examines outsourcing dynamics, with a focus on dynamic models for assessing the leverage among the various components in complex industrial value chains and the principles for value chain design, based on strategic and logistical assessments.

At MIT Sloan, he teaches Operations Strategy and Supply Chain Management and directs the roadmapping activities in the Communications Futures Program. Fine teaches and consults widely with such clients as 3M, Accenture, Agile Software, Alcan, BellSouth, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bombardier, Caterpillar, Chrysler, Delphi Automotive, Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, Embraer, Fluor, GE, GM, Goodyear, HP, Honeywell, Intel, Kodak, Lucent, Mercury Computer, Merrill Lynch, Motorola, NCR, Nokia, Nortel, Oracle, Polaroid, PTC, Research-in-Motion, Rolls-Royce, Sematech, Teradyne, Toyota, TRW, Unilever, Volkswagen, Volvo, and Walsin Lihwa. He also serves on the board of directors for Greenfuel Technologies Corporation, a biotechnology company that he co-founded, which focuses on renewable energy. Fine also serves as co-director of an executive education program, Driving Strategic Innovation, which is a joint venture between MIT Sloan and IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He is the author of Clockspeed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage (Perseus Books, 1998). His work on quality management, flexible manufacturing, supply chain management, and operations strategy has appeared in a variety of publications, including Management Science, Operations Research, Journal of Manufacturing and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Annals of Operations Research, Games and Economic Behavior, Sloan Management Review, Supply Chain Management Review, and Interfaces.

Fine holds an AB in mathematics and management science from Duke University as well as an MS in operations research and a PhD in business administration from Stanford University.