Balram Avittathur

Balram Avittathur

Designation

Professor
Academic Group: Operations Management

Contact

Phone No.: +91-33-7121-2003 (O), +91-33-7121-7003 (R)
Email ID.: balram

Biography

Contact Details:

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta; Diamond Harbour Road, Joka P.O.; Kolkata - 700104, India.

Academics

Academic Background:

Courses Taught:

    Degree Programmes at IIM Calcutta
  1. Logistics & Supply Chain Management (MBA2)
  2. Production and Operations Management (MBA1)
  3. Production Management (PGPEX-VLM)
  4. Seminar Course on Supply Chain Management (Doctoral Course)
    International Degree Programme Assignments
  1. Research Seminar on Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the SCM Master's at WU, Vienna, Austria during May, 2021
  2. Supply Chain Management in the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management MBA at Leipzig, Germany during May, 2018
    Training Programmes for IIM Calcutta
  1. Programme Director of Supply Chain Management, IIMC Management Development Program (MDP), coming year: Dec 11-15, 2023
  2. Programme Director of Value Creation through Resilient Operations, IIMC Management Development Program (MDP), coming year: Jan 15-19, 2024
  3. Programme Director of HHL Leipzig Global Executive MBA (GEMBA) International Term (hosted by IIM Calcutta in April 2017, March 2019)
  4. Directed In-Company Training Programs for ArcelorMittal, IOCL, ITC and NTPC
  5. Directed IIMC Long Duration Programs (LDP) namely Senior Management Program (SMP), Retail Management Program (RMP) and Executive Program on Retail Management (EPRM)
  6. Regular sessions on Supply Chain Management, Operations Management and Operations Strategy in various MDPs and In-Company Programs offered by IIM Calcutta.

Awards:

  • Recipient of Fulbright Post-Doctoral Research Scholarship for the year 2002-2003 (worked with Dr Paul M. Swamidass of Auburn University, USA)
  • PD Agarwal-TCI Award for best doctoral research proposals in Management for the year 1997

Consulting Interests:

Consultant to industry on Optimization, Just In Time (JIT) and Supply Chain Management (SCM).

    Important Projects Completed:
  1. "Rationalization of Coal Movement from Source to NTPC Power Stations" with Prof. S. Mitra, 2015.
  2. "Review of Trading Business of MSTC Limited" with Prof. A. Banerjee, 2010.
  3. "Review of JIT at Ispat Industries Limited" with Prof. A. Bhattacharyya and Prof. M.N. Pal, 2008.
  4. "Medium and Short Term Business Plan for Balasore Alloys Limited" with Prof. A. Banerjee and Prof. P. Mishra, 2008.
  5. "Review of JIT at Gontermann-Peipers (India) Limited" with Prof. A. Bhattacharyya and Prof. M.N. Pal, 2007.
  6. "Development of Oil Management Game (simulation software for oil industry)" with Prof. A. Banerjee, 2006.
  7. "Tariff Fixation for Kolkata Port Trust" with Prof. A. Bhattacharyya and Prof. A. Sen, 2002.
  8. "Rationalisation of Train Services - Passenger Reservations" for South Eastern Railway with Prof. V.N. Reddy and Prof. R. Roy, 2001.

Current Projects:

    Research Projects Completed:
  1. Assessment of Competitiveness of Hi-Tech Manufacturing Start Ups in India with P. Mehta and D. Ghosh, 2018 (Government of India funded project).
  2. Study of cross-border supply chain practices of Indian SMEs with Matthias Thürer of Jinan University, 2017 (IIMC funded research project).
  3. Next Generation Manufacturing Supply Chains and Digital Economy Research Collaboration with faculty of UK universities, IIMB, IITB and IIT Kgp, 2010.
  4. “Study of Supply Chain Management Practices in Indian Firms,” 2007 (MHRD funded research project).
  5. Development of Corporate Game (simulation software) for Post-Graduate Programme course “Management Games” as well as corporate training programs, 2006.
  6. “The Domestic Airline Industry” with B.K. Sinha, 2002 (IIMC funded research project).
  7. “Modelling and Evaluation of In-house and Third Party Maintenance” with U.D. Kumar, 2001 (IIMC funded research project).
  8. “Distribution Modelling at Kurlon Limited” with J. Shah, 1999 (as FPM student, IIMB).

Experience

Work Experience:

  1. 2008 – present: Professor, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata
  2. 2015 – 2017: Member of the Board of Governors (as Faculty Representative), Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata
  3. 2004 – 2008: Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata
  4. 2002 – 2003: Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Auburn University, USA (on Academic Leave from IIM Calcutta)
  5. 1999 – 2004: Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata
  6. 1989 – 1994: Production Engineer, Ashok Leyland Limited, Chennai

Research

Journal Publications:

Link to my Google Scholar Citations

  1. Indranil Biswas, Graduated in 2015 (2016 Convocation), Associate Professor at NEOMA Business School, France.
  2. Arnab Adhikari, Graduated in 2016 (2017 Convocation), Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Management Ranchi.
  3. Milan Kumar, Graduated in 2018 (2019 Convocation), Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam.
  4. Shounak Basak, Graduated in 2018 (2019 Convocation), Assistant Professor at XLRI Xavier School of Management.
  5. Subhasis Mishra, Graduated in 2022 Convocation
  6. Tania Saha, Graduated in 2022 (2023 Convocation), Assistant Professor at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR).
  7. Shivanee Pethe, Graduated in 2023 (2024 Convocation), Assistant Professor at Masters' Union.
  8. Samir Biswas, Graduated in 2023 (2024 Convocation), Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Management Udaipur.

Conferences:

  1. Keynote Address titled "Managing Research and Teaching Challenges in an Academic Career" at the IMRDC2024 conference organized by IIM Bangalore on February 2, 2024.
  2. Sustainable renewable energy through Time of Use retail pricing in the Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Sustainable Leadership held at Salzburg, June 3-6, 2014, pp 11-25.
  3. Ordering Strategies for Short Product Life Cycle Products with R. Patil and J. Shah in the Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Logistics (15th ISL), held at Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia; July 4 – 7, 2010, pp. 301-310.
  4. Ordering Strategies for Short Product Life Cycle Made-To-Stock Products with R. Patil and J. Shah in the Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Logistics (13th ISL), held at Bangkok, Thailand; July 6 – 8, 2008, pp. 387-394.
  5. Design of an Oil Management Game Software with A. Banerjee in the Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM’08), held at Melbourne, Australia; June 30 – July 2, 2008, pp. 449-454.
  6. The Retailer’s SKU Allocation Problem with J. Shah in the Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Logistics (9th ISL), held at IIM Bangalore; July 11-14, 2004, pp. 187-195.
  7. Distribution Centre Location Modelling for Differential Sales Tax Structure with P. Jain, U. Saha and J. Shah in the Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Logistics, held at IIM Bangalore; July 11-14, 2004.
  8. Productivity/Efficiency Based Resource Allocation Problem with B.K. Sinha and M.N. Pal in “Mathematical Applications in Social and Industrial Sectors,” edited by N.C. Mahanti, Narosa Publishing House, 2001, pp 224-237.
  9. The Airline Fleet-Mix Cum Aircraft Allocation Problem with B.K. Sinha in the Proceedings of OM Conference 4, held at IIT Madras from December 22-24, 2000, pp. 87-93.
  10. Optimal Stock Keeping Policy for a Retailer Offering a Standard Product and its Customized Extensions with J. Shah at First AIMS International Conference on Management at IIM Bangalore on December 29, 2003.
  11. An Approximation Procedure for a Non-Linear Mixed Integer DC Location Problem with J. Shah and O.P. Gupta at INFORMS 2003 Conference, held at Atlanta, USA during October 19-22, 2003.
  12. Fit between Plant Flexibility and Supplier Flexibility Enhances Profits in US Manufacturers Abroad with P.M. Swamidass at INFORMS 2003 Conference, held at Atlanta, USA during October 19-22, 2003.
  13. The Airline Capacity Planning Problem for Network dominated by Low Traffic Sectors with B.K. Sinha at Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) Annual Meeting at Savannah, GA, USA in April 2003.
  14. Distribution Centre Location Modelling for Differential Sales Tax Structure with J. Shah at OM Conference 5, held at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai during December 21-23, 2001.
  15. The Airline Fleet-Mix Cum Aircraft Allocation Problem with B.K. Sinha at OM Conference 4, held at IIT Madras during December 22-24, 2000.

  16. Evaluation of Supply Chain Management Strategies with J. Shah at ICOQM Conference, NIM, Ahmedabad, 1999.

    Working Papers

  17. Improving Quality in Agricultural Supply Chain through Financing the Smallholder Farmers in Emerging Economies, IIMC WPS, No. 895, May 2023.
  18. Value of Time of Use pricing in decarbonizing a grid with significant RE Capacity, IIMC WPS, No. 854, December 2020.
  19. Mid-term Electricity Demand Forecasting: A Parsimonious Model, IIMC WPS, No. 832, August 2019.
  20. Financially Constrained Limited Clearance Sale Inventory Model, IIMC WPS, No. 815, November 2018.
  21. Channel coordination using Option Contract under simultaneous price and inventory competition, IIMC WPS, No. 767, July 2015.
  22. The Price-Setting Newsvendor Model with Variable Salvage Value, IIMC WPS, No. 753, September 2014.
  23. Impact of Structure, Market Share and Information Asymmetry on Supply Contracts for a Single Supplier Multiple Buyer Network, IIMC WPS, No. 743, March 2014.
  24. Impact of Time of Use (TOU) Retail Pricing in an Electricity Market with Intermittent Renewable Resources, IIMC WPS, No. 739, January 2014.
  25. Energy Utility Fuel Allocation Model for Non-Linear Revenue and Regulatory Tariff Implications, IIMC WPS, No. 705, July 2012.
  26. Modelling and Evaluation of In-House and Third Party Maintenance with U.D. Kumar, IIMC WPS, No. 402/2000, 2000.
  27. Product Design from a Supply Chain Management Perspective with J. Shah and L.S. Murty, IIM Bangalore Working Paper No. 154, 2000.
  28. Comparison of Production-Distribution Strategies with Review Periods as Decision Variables: Case of Multi-Product, Multi-Region Production-Distribution System - Part II with J. Shah and L.S. Murty, IIMC WPS, No. 364/99, 1999.
  29. Comparison of Production-Distribution Strategies with Review Periods as Decision Variables: Case of Multi-Product, Multi-Region Production-Distribution System - Part I with J. Shah and L.S. Murty, IIMC WPS, No. 363/99, 1999.

Research Interests:

Supply Chain Management; Service Operations Management; Business Simulation Games

Books/Book Chapters:

Articles/Cases: