Jan Fransoo
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Jan Fransoo
Professor of Operations and Logistics Management at the Department Management‘I believe that we as academics can play an important role in making our expertise available to society at large.’
Jan Fransoo has appeared frequently in the Dutch media in recent weeks to speak about the logistic operation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
What is the main goal of your research?
Conceptually my research uses insights from engineering design to understand and improve the performance of distributed supply chains. I do this in a variety of contexts. For instance, using queuing mode we study how different parking policies for freight delivery improves the efficiency in retail delivery while simultaneously reducing congestion or emissions problems. Using analytical models, we try to get an insight into the competition between various retail channels, such as an online or a convenience channel.
My current main topic of research relates to supply chain decisions that affect the wellbeing of those at the base of the pyramid. Consumers at the base of the pyramid (roughly the poorest 3-4 billion people on the planet) buy their groceries at about 50 million nanostores, mom and pop stores in the immediate vicinity. Digitization and urbanization heavily influence this channel. We make use of a variety of empirical, experimental, and axiomatic research methods.
How does your research contribute to societal problems?
Much of my research centers around helping managers make better decisions, whether they are supply chain managers in large companies, or shopkeepers of a family-owned grocery store. I am a firm believer that better decision by companies (with “ better” defined in a broad context of sustainability) is the best way of addressing much of the grand challenges that we face such as nutrition and global warming. The use of digital technologies play a very important role in providing to better decision for anyone, including those at the base of the pyramid. The principles of engineering design that form the foundation of my view how supply chains should operate to be effective, can also be of great value to public authorities running supply chains. To that extent, I am for instance also involved in the national experiment to legalize the marihuana supply chain, and currently in the deployment of covid-19 vaccines in the Netherlands. While these involvements in public decision making do not necessary lead to immediate academic results, I believe that we as academics can play an important role in making our expertise available to society at large.
What is your main motive?
I am driven by creating impact. The biggest impact that we can realize is by teaching students at all levels, whether BSc, MSc, PDEng, and PhD, as they are the main carriers of the knowledge and experiences we share with them. Many of our graduates will work in industry after graduation and applying the learnings we teach them. Many of our PhD graduates will become professor in the future where they will further carry our thinking. Impacting the thinking, and consequently the lifes of people is what drives me as a professor. As a side benefits, we are lucky to be able to fully independently pick the topics and research questions that we would like to study, to expand my own understanding and be able to again include this in my teaching.
Who is your role model?
Every academic has multiple role models, and there are probably dozens of people that have impacted who I am. My PhD advisor Will Bertrand has had great impact on my perspective on managing supply chains, while my postdoc advisor Hau Lee has truly impacted my perspective on how to have theoretical research and industry applications leverage each other. I have also been very fortunate to learn a lot from my PhD students and other co-authors. As a professor, I find it impossible to keep up with new methods, techniques and tools, and every time I continue to be amazed how new methods can further enhance our understanding of complex problems.