Sustainable operations management

Paul Kleindorfer was among the first to weigh-in on and help nurture the stream of Sustainable Operations Management. The thoughts laid out here are based on conversations that we had with Paul relating to the foundational drivers underlying Sustainability as a management issue - population and per capita consumption growth; the limited nature of resources and sinks; and the responsibility and exposure of firms to ensuing ecological risks and costs. We then discuss what an Operations Management lens brings to the issue, briefly reviewing current and ongoing research in the field. This article relates to a presentation prepared by Paul and delivered by Morris Cohen for Paul's Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Distinguished Fellows Award given at Columbia University, June 18, 2012. We undertook the writing of this article at Paul's request.