Business professor researching future of manufacturing and marketing

Global research project focuses on emerging service systems engineering

Over the next three years, OU Professor of Management Information Systems Vijayan Sugumaran will serve as an international scholar, working with faculty members from Sogang University’s business school, and physics, computer and engineering departments to complete SSE research and launch a new major there.

"SSE could have a major impact on how everything from automobiles to computers are manufactured and marketed," Sugumaran said. "Typically, when you look at manufacturing, the emphasis is on the product and production. In service science, you look at product inception, design, manufacturing, service and disposal. It's a much broader look at the product life cycle.”

Six more international scholars will join the project for joint research and teaching. The major will combine business management, physics, and computer engineering disciplines focusing on the principles of Service Dominant Logic -- integrating engineering and management in a more scientific way.

The grant proposal, “Service Systems Engineering for the Creation of New Growth Engine based on Knowledge Service," was selected by Korea’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for the World Class University project -- a higher education program for the Korean government, bringing together international scholars to collaborate with Korean faculty and establish new academic programs.

"Service science, engineering, and management have been a major area of interest in the last few years, premised on the belief that firms should examine all their activities along the product life cycle -- whether it be a physical or a service product -- with a service focus," Mohan Tanniru, dean, SBA said. "There has been some discussion with one of the pioneers of service dominant logic, Bob Lush of the University of Arizona, on how to reshape the automotive industry's future by allowing it to view itself as a service provider over the product life cycle by co-creating value to the automobile user."

Sugumaran will add his technical expertise in semantic technologies, service-oriented architecture, services computing and engineering to the project. In turn he will bring back knowledge, experience and research in this emerging field to the SBA. Through this partnership, Sogang University becomes an affiliate to the school’s Center for Integrated Business Research and Education (CIBRE).

"Oakland has been interested in SSE, and through this partnership under the CIBRE umbrella, we will be on the cutting edge of research," Sugumaran added.

With a joint appointment at OU and Sogang, Sugumaran will spend the 2010 academic year, and one semester each of the following two years, in South Korea.