David Robb

David is Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management in the Graduate School of Management at the University of Auckland Business School.

He has an Engineering Science degree from the University of Auckland, an MBA and PhD in Operations Management from The University of Calgary, where he also served as Assistant Professor (1992-1994). He joined the University of Auckland Business School in 1994.

He has worked in and consulted for various companies, including Dulux Paints, Fletcher Steel, Fletcher Aluminium, New Zealand Post International, Scott Panel & Hardware, and Zuellig Pharma, developing and implementing inventory/logistics management systems in manufacturing and distribution settings. He has taught Operations Management/Strategy and Supply Chain Management on various programmes and companies such as Adams & Robertson Shoes, Aventis China, Fletcher Building, Sellagence, Sinopec, and Whitcoulls.

His research interests include inventory/supply chain management, and operations strategy, and have resulted in over thirty publications in Computers & Operations Research, Decision Line, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operational Research, European Management Journal, IIE Transactions, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Interfaces, International Journal of Innovative Computing, Information and Control, International Journal of Inventory Research, International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Journal of Operational Research, Naval Research Logistics, OMEGA: International Journal of Management Science, Operations Management Review, PM Network and Production and Operations Management.

David is the Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Auckland, Advisor to the Beachheads Programme China Advisory Group of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Visiting Professor and Research Fellow at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management, and co-Director of the Consortium for Operational Excellence in Retailing – Greater China. He is a faculty affiliate of the New Zealand Centre for Supply Chain Management, and a member of APICS, CORS, INFORMS, ORSNZ, and POMS. He serves on the Editorial Boards of the European Management Journal , International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, and the University of Auckland Business Review, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta.