Steve New

Steve New is Associate Professor in Operations Management at Saïd Business School and Fellow of Hertford College at the University of Oxford. His areas of expertise include supply chain management and process improvement. 

A leading authority on supply chain management, Steve’s interests lie in developing a more rigorous appreciation of how individuals and organisations construct and interpret their environment and the systems in which they operate. His research takes a multi-faceted approach analysing the meaning and interpretation of supply chain partnerships, exploring the way in which ethical and environmental issues are reflected in the chain, and on the impact of the internet and rise of B2B commerce. His current work on the concept of provenance in supply chains was the subject of a recent article, 'The Transparent Supply Chain' in the Harvard Business Review.

Steve is one of the leading scholars investigating the enigma of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the West’s growing interest in the application of Japanese techniques to manufacturing. His research looks at the nuance and complexity of the so called ‘lean production’ or ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing process, its application to different sectors and how few have managed to emulate Toyota’s model. To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the first English language paper describing the TPS, Steve edited a special issue of the International Journal Production Research, bringing together papers from leading scholars who have attempted to understand the approach.

More recently Steve has been investigating the application of the TPS to medical care, working with the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Surgery to explore the process and outcome of TPS-style interventions on patient quality and safety in an acute surgical ward. Papers have been published in the Annals of Surgery, the British Medical Journal and BMJ Quality and Safety.

Steve began his career as an engineer, working for Rolls Royce plc while completing a degree in physics at Southampton University. After working in management consultancy for Collinson Grant, he went to Manchester Business School (MBS) where he completed his doctorate on the use of visual interactive modelling for decision support in manufacturing. This work was sponsored by the Eaton Corporation, for whom New worked while studying. He taught at the Manchester School of Management, UMIST (now merged with MBS) before joining Saïd Business School in 1996.

Steve serves on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, and the Editorial Advisory Board for Supply Chain Management: an International Journal.