Bardia Kamrad

Professor Kamrad’s primary research interest focuses on risk management and decision making problems in the face of uncertainty. Within this broad area, he has principally concentrated on operational risk management issues and related capital investment problems in production and manufacturing operations. The nature of Professor Kamrad's research is interdisciplinary and effectively can be described as the interface between economics, finance and operations. In this sense, one of his key research objectives has been to reconcile operations management with market and process related problems. "Essentially, through bridging such gaps, a more in-depth understanding and a greater economic perception regarding production processes can be achieved that is also strategically valuable to decision makers in this arena." Professor Kamrad has numerous related articles that address the joint problems of pricing, warranty and supply contracts, risk and profit sharing, and quality decisions within an options/economic framework. For instance, the risk associated with producing items when price uncertainty and system failures can be managed through innovative “warranty” contracts that include the moral hazard implications arising from shared expenditures. In other situations, his research uncovers how purchasing agreements with profit sharing provisions between a manufacturer and its suppliers can help mitigate operating risks arising from purchase quantity variations due to exchange rate uncertainties. In other settings, Professor Kamrad's research demonstrates how production policies can be optimally changed over time to maximize profits when production yields are subject to random variation and demand for the product is uncertain. Professor Kamrad's broader research interests involve Applied Stochastic Processes; Applied Control Theory and Dynamic Programming; Contingent Claims Analysis; Warranty and Supply Contract valuation; Risk Management problems in Supply Chains; and Inventory modeling. His research has been published in prestigious academic journals, including Management Science; Operations Research; IIE Transactions; Naval Research Logistics; IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management; and the European Journal of Operational Research. Professor Kamrad joined the Georgetown’s Faculty in the Fall of 1991. He teaches at the Executive, Graduate, and Undergraduate levels. His current course offerings include: Real Options Valuation; Operations Research; Productions and Operations Management, Regression Modeling and Analysis; and Decision Analytics. Dr. Kamrad is a member of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS); Production and Operations Management Society (POMS). He is also a member of the American Finance Association (AFA), the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), and previously, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Dr. Kamrad's consulting experience is equally significant and includes projects in risk management modeling, purchasing and inventory problems, pricing, and forecasting issues.

Education

• Case Western Reserve University - Ph.D.
• University of Minnesota-Twin Cities - B.S.

Publications

Articles in Journals (17)

B. Kamrad with S. Ulku and G. Schmidt. "Analyzing Product Architecture under Technological Change: Modular Upgradeability Tradeoffs." IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 60, 2 (2013): 289-300.

B. Kamrad with A. Siddique and R. Ernst. "Partial Equilibrium in Risk-based Production Decision." Naval Research Logistics, 59, 1 (2012): 1-17.

B. Kamrad with B. Kaku. "A Framework for Managing Supply Chain Risks." Supply Chain Management Review, 15, 4 (2011): 24-31.

B. Kamrad with R. Ernst and K. Ord. "Delivery Performance in Vendor Selection Decisions." European Journal of Operational Research, 176, 1 (2007): 534–541.

B. Kamrad with R. Ernst. "Estimating Demand by Using Sales Information: Inaccuracies Encountered." European Journal of Operational Research, 174, 2 (2006): 675–688.

B. Kamrad with K Ord. "Market Risk and Process Uncertainty in Production Operations." Naval Research Logistics, 53, 7 (2006): 627–640.

B. Kamrad with A. Siddique, S. Lele and R. Thomas. "Innovation Diffusion Uncertainty, Advertising and Pricing Policies." European Journal of Operational Research, 164, 3 (2005): 829–850.

B. Kamrad with A. Siddique. "Supply Contracts, Profit Sharing, Switching, and Reaction Options." Management Science, 50, 1 (2004): 64-82.

B. Kamrad with R. Ernst. "An Economic Model for Evaluating Mining and Manufacturing Ventures with Output Yield Uncertainty." Operations Research, 49, 5 (2001): 690-699.

B. Kamrad with R. Ernst. "Evaluation of Supply Chain Structures through Modularization and Postponement." European Journal of Operational Research, 124, 3 (2000): 495-510.

B. Kamrad with S. Lele. "Production, Operating Risk and Market Uncertainty: A Valuation Perspective on Controlled Policies." IIE Transactions, 30, 5 (1998): 455-468.

B. Kamrad with A. Reisman. "A Contingent Planning Process for Counter-trade Based Projects: A Decision Analytic Perspective." International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, 3, 1 (1997)

B. Kamrad with R. Ernst. "Allocation of Warehouse Inventory with Electronic Data Interchange and Fixed Order Intervals." European Journal of Operational Research, 103, 1 (1997): 117–128.

B. Kamrad. "A Lattice Claims Model for Capital Budgeting." IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 42, 2 (1995): 140 - 149.

B. Kamrad with P. Ritchken. "Valuing Fixed Price Supply Contracts." European Journal of Operational Research, 74, 1 (1994): 50-60.

B. Kamrad with P. Ritchken. "A Binomial Contingent Claims Model for Valuing Risky Ventures." European Journal of Operational Research, 53, 1 (1991): 106–118.

B. Kamrad with P. Ritchken. "Multinomial Approximating Models for Options With k State Variables." Management Science, 37, 12 (1991): 1640-1652.

Articles in Books (3)

B. Kamrad. "Capacity Expansion as a Contingent Claim: Flexibility and Real Options in Operations." The Handbook of Integrated Risk Management in Global Supply Chains, 197–217. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2011.

B. Kamrad with V. Babich. "Option Pricing: Theory and Numerical Methods." Wiley Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2011.

B. Kamrad with R. Ernst. "Multi-product Manufacturing with Stochastic Input Prices and Output Yield Uncertainty." Real Options in Capital Investment: Models, Strategies, and Applications, Greenwood/Prager, 1995