Christopher Tang

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).

Courses

• Global Supply Chain Management 240F
• Operations and Technology Management 474
• Global Operations Strategy (a new course I developed at Berekley)

Education

• B.Sc. (First Class Honors) Mathematics, 1981, King’s College, University of London
• M.Phil. Administrative Science, 1983, Yale University
• M.A. Statistics, 1983, Yale University
• Ph.D. Management Science, 1985, Yale University

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