Kannan Sethuraman

Kannan currently serves as an Associate Professor of Operations Management at Melbourne Business School.

Upon completing his PhD at the The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Kannan held associate and assistant professorial roles at the Indian Institute of Management and the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, respectively.

Kannan’s research revolves around lean operations and green supply chain management, and how lean principles can be extended and applied in the health care sector. He has worked with several hospitals, including Epworth HealthCare, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, and Mercy Hospital for Women. His research has been published in renowned journals, that include Management Science, INFORMS Journal of Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, and Health Services Research.

Kannan has received extensive teaching accolades at MBS and overseas, and lectures on Operations and Supply Chain Management in the MBA, Executive MBA, Senior Executive MBA, and Master of Business Analytics programs. He has taught in a variety of executive programs that include Accelerated Management Program, Intensive Management Program, and Specialist Certificate in Clinical Leadership.

Most Notable Research

‘On the hospital volume and outcome relationship: Does specialization matter more than volume?’, Lee KC, Sethuraman, K & Yong, J, December 2015, Health Services Research, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 2019–2036.

‘SMS text messaging improves outpatient attendance’, Downer, S, Meara, JG, Da Costa, A & Sethuraman, K, August 2006, Australian Health Review, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 289–296.

‘Locus of supply and global manufacturing’, Ettlie, JE & Sethuraman, K, 2002, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 349–370.

‘Congestion and complexity costs in a plant with fixed resources that strives to make schedule’, Lovejoy, WS & Sethuraman, K, Summer 2000, INFORMS Journal of Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 221–239.

‘Product variety and manufacturing performance: Evidence from the international automotive assembly plant study’, MacDuffie, JP, Sethuraman, K & Fisher, M, March 1996, Management Science, pp. 350–369.

Most Notable Awards

Recipient of Teaching Excellence Award from the full-time MBA graduating class, Melbourne Business School 2003, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2024.

Recipient of Teaching Excellence Award from the part-time MBA graduating class, Melbourne Business School 2007, 2008, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Recipient of Teaching Excellence Award from the Senior Executive MBA graduating class Melbourne Business School 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Recipient of the 1996 BBA Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Michigan Business School, Ann Arbor, 1996.

Recipient of Best Paper Prize for ‘Is sustainability worth the effort? Relationship between sustainability practices and financial performance of firms’, Lam, J, Singh, P & Sethuraman, K at the Ninth ANZAM Operations, Supply Chain and Services Management Symposium, 2011.