Saurabh Bansal
Professor of Supply Chain Management
Chief of Staff for the Senior Vice President for Finance and Business
Center Director of Center for Supply Chain Research
My research and teaching focus on three dimensions of supply chain and operations management: a. Model and data driven understanding for how business managers perceive and estimate uncertainties, b. Descriptive models for how they react to these uncertainties, and c. Prescriptive optimization based models for how they should react to the uncertainties. I collaborate with firms to develop new forecasting and optimization models to improve business performance.
Expertise
Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty.
Education
Ph D in Risk Analysis and Decision Making, The University of Texas at Austin, Business School, Austin, TX, 2010-05-31 B. Tech in Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, 2002-05-01
Courses Taught
BA 511 – Statistical Analysis
This course provides a breadth of statistical skills necessary for advanced data analysis. Students will learn how to employ data analytic processes that address challenges associated with experiments, surveys, time-series, panels, and/or multilevel models. Software packages, concepts, and business applications will vary and evolve to keep pace with technology, theory, and instructor interest.
BA 596 – Individual Studies
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
BA 810 – SC Operations Mgmt
Integration and application of decision making to operational and policy problems within the business firm.
SC&IS 545 – Supply Chain Systems Simulation
Application of computer simulation to analysis and design of supply chain and information systems design; simulation experiments in SC&IS research.
SCIS 596 – Individual Studies
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, that are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses. A specific title may be used in each instance and will be entered on the student's transcript.
SCM 421 – Supply Chain Analytics
Models and Methodologies for supply chain analysis.
SCM 421H – Supply Chain Analytics (H)
Models and Methodologies for supply chain analysis.
SCM 494H – Research Project (H)
Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individual or small-group basis.
SCM 496 – Indep Studies
Creative projects, including research and design, that are supervised on an individual basis and that fall outside the scope of formal courses.
SCM 530 – Meth Scm
Methods and tools to support supply chain decision making with emphasis on forecasting, inventory analysis, and demand planning.
SCM 570 – Supply Chain Modeling
Explore current modeling methods and software for design, analysis, execution and integration of supply chains.
SCM 570 – Supply Chn Modelng
Explore current modeling methods and software for design, analysis, execution and integration of supply chains.
SCM 596 – Individual Studies
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, that are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
Selected Publications
Mir S., Bansal S., Ribbink D., Coles P., Zacharia Z. "The Impact of Ecosystem Shocks on the Operational Performance of Worker-heavy Systems: The Role of Cognitive Load" Production and Operations Management, 2026-02-01
Li D., Bansal S., Coles P., Natarajan K. "Redesigning harvesting processes and improving working conditions in agribusiness" Production and Operations Management, 2025-09-01
Naumov S., Bansal S., Guide V. "Efficiency of Circular Economy Configurations: Experimental Evidence" Journal of Operations Management, 2025-07-01
Bansal S., Naumov S., Guide V. "Closed loop supply chains with product remanufacturing: Challanges and opportunities" Journal of Operations Management, vol. 70, 2024-08-01
Wu W., Bansal S., Sharma R. "Three Mountains: Fairness Considerations for Workforce allocations" INFORMS Transacations on Education, 2024-06-01
Gao Y., Bansal S., Guide V. "Servicizing with a Multi-usecycle Business Model: Analysis and Insights" Production and Operations Management, vol. 32, 2024-01-01
Gupta S., Bansal S., Dawande M., Janakiraman G. "Trust-and-Evaluate: A Dynamic Non-Monetary Mechanism for Internal Capital Allocation" Management Science, vol. 70, 2024-01-01
Bansal S., Keisler J., Siebert J., Jenni K. "Applying Decision Analysis to Diverse Domains: An Introduction to the Special Issue" INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, vol. 53, 2023-07-01
Mutha A., Bansal S. "Determining assortments of used products for B2B transactions in reverse supply chain" IISE Transactions, vol. 55, 2023-07-01
Chen W., He Y., Bansal S. "Customized Dynamic Pricing when Customers Develop a Habit or Satiation" Operations Research, 2023-01-01
Bansal S., Sabbaghi M., Sharma R. "Should an Analyst Share Calibration Information with Experts?" Behavioral Decision Analysis, 2022-10-01
Bansal S., Muthulingam S. "Can Precise Numbers Boost Energy Efficiency?" Production and Operations Management, vol. 31, 2022-08-01
Mutha A., Bansal S., Guide V. "Servicizing Demands of a Company: The Need for Inter-Functional Coordinationon" Journal of Operations Management, vol. 68, 2022-08-01
Mani V., Thomas D. J., Bansal S. "Estimating Product Substitution and Basket Abandonment Effects in Retail stores: Implications for Assortment Planning" Management Science, vol. 68, 2022-07-01
Bansal S., Nagarajan M. "A Monge sequence based stochastic programming approach to characterize the competitive newsvendor problem" Operations Research, vol. 70, 2022-03-01
Gupta S., Bansal S. "Optimal Market Integration Decisions by Policy Makers: Modeling and Analysis of Agriculture Market Data" Operations Research, vol. 70, 2022-01-01
Bansal S., Nagarajan M. "Portfolio Management Issues in the Commercial Seed Industry: A Modeling Framework and Industry Implementation" Agricultural Supply Chain Management Research: Operations and Analytics in Planting, Selling, and Government Interventions, 2021-10-01
Mutha A., Bansal S., Guide V. "Managing the inter-functional tension between accounting- and financial-profits in remanufacturing multiple-usecycle products" Production and Operations Management, vol. 30, 2021-09-01
Bansal S., Gutierrez G., Nagarajan M. "Theory-driven Practical Approach to Integrate R&D and Production Planning for Portfolio Management in Agribusiness" INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, vol. 51, 2021-09-01
Mutha A., Bansal S., Guide V. "Case Article: Managing Demand Uncertainty in Closed-Loop Remanufacturing" INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2021-02-01
Mutha A., Bansal S., Guide V. "ReCellular Inc: Managing Demand Uncertainty in Closed-Loop Remanufacturing" INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2021-02-01
Bansal S., Lougee R. "Introduction to the second edition of INFORMS Editor's Cut on Agribusiness" INFORMS, 2021-01-01
Bansal S., Lowe T., Jones P. "Case: Suncrest AgriBusiness Company: Exploiting the Flexibility of Backup Capacity" INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2020-12-01
Bansal S., Lowe T., Jones P. "Exploiting the Flexibility of Backup Capacity" INFORMS Transactions on Education, 2020-12-01
Bansal S., Pachamanova D. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Nonconvex Portfolio Optimization" The Engineering Economist, vol. 64, 2020-08-01
Bansal S., Gutierrez G. "Estimating uncertainties using judgmental forecasts with expert-heterogeneity" Operations Research, vol. 68, 2020-03-01
Bansal S., Dyer J. "Managing customer-driven substitution in agribusiness" Operations Research, vol. 68, 2020-02-01
Bansal S., Lowe T., Jones p. "The value of a second chance" OR/MS today, 2020-02-01
Mutha A., Bansal S., Guide V. "Selling Assortments of Used Products to Third-Party Remanufacturers" Production and Operations Management, vol. 28, 2019-07-01
Oprean D., Simpson M., Miller R., Keller K., Bansal S., Klippel A. K. "Human Interpretation of Trade-Off Diagrams in Multi-Objective Problems: Implications for Developing Interactive Decision Support Systems" HICSS, 2019-01-01
Bansal S., Lougee R. "Introduction to the first edition of INFORMS Editor's Cut on Agribusiness" INFORMS, 2018-08-01
Bansal S., Rosokha Y. "Impact of compound and reduced risk specification on valuation of projects with multiple risks" Decision Analysis, vol. 15, 2018-01-01
Bansal S., Dyer J. "Multivariate partial-expectation results for exact solutions of two-stage problems" Operations Research, vol. 65, 2017-10-01
Bansal S., Nagarajan M. "Product portfolio management with production flexibility in agribusiness" Operations Research, vol. 65, 2017-08-01
Bansal S., Gutierrez G., Keiser J. "Using experts’ noisy quantile judgments to quantify risks: theory and application to agribusiness" Operations Research, vol. 65, 2017-01-01
Bansal S., Gutierrez G., Keiser J. "Quantifying uncertainties and risks using managerial judgments in a dynamic new product development environment" Production and Operations Management, vol. 25, 2016-12-01
Mutha A., Bansal S., Guide V. "Managing Demand Uncertainty through Core Acquisition in Remanufacturing" Production and Operations Management, vol. 25, 2016-08-01
Bansal S., Moritz B. B. "Perceived Versus Actual Value of Operational Flexibility: An Experimental Investigation" Journal of Operations Management, vol. 38, 2015-09-01
Bansal S., Transchel S. "Managing Supply Risk of Vertically Differentiated Products" Production and Operations Management, vol. 23, 2014-09-01
Bansal S., Dyer J. "Updating Inventories of Substitutible Products with Forecasts Updates" Production and Operations Management, vol. 23, 2014-05-01
Honors and Awards
Finalist, Biennial Applied Research Competition at POMS, Production and Operations Management Society, (2024-12-31)
Finalist, INFORMS Case Competition, INFORMS, (2024-12-31)
Senior Editor Award at Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, (2024-12-31)
Winner, Decision Analysis Practice Award, INFORMS, (2024-12-31)
Finalist, Decision Analysis Practice Award, INFORMS, (2023-12-31)
Finalist, INFORMS Case Competition, INFORMS, (2023-12-31)
Best MBA Core Professor, Smeal MBA Program, (2022-12-31)
Winner, Decision Analysis Society Publication Award, INFORMS, (2022-12-31)
Best Supply Chain Management Professor, Smeal MBA Program, (2021-12-31)
Winner, Decision Analysis Practice Award, INFORMS, (2021-12-31)
40 Under 40 Professors by Poets and Quants, (2020-12-31)
Winner, Wagner Prize for the practice of Operations Research and Management Science, INFORMS, (2020-12-31)
Senior Editor Award, Production and Operations Management Society, (2019-12-31)
Winner, INFORMS Case Competition, INFORMS, (2019-12-31)
Best Supply Chain Management Professor, Smeal MBA Program, (2018-12-31)
Finalist, Biennial Applied Research Competition, Production and Operations Management Society, (2016-12-31)
Finalist, Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS Practice Award, Decision Analysis Society, (2015-12-31)
Honorable Mention, Society of Judgment and Decision Making Student Research Competition, Society of Judgment and Decision Making, (2015-12-31)
Emerging Scholars Program, Production and Operations Management Society, (2013-12-31)
Dillwyn P. Paiste, III Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (2012-12-31)
Nominated, Fred Moore Teaching Award, The University of Texas at Austin, (2009-12-31)
The University of Texas Continuing Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin, (2009-12-31)
Bonham Fund Scholarship, The University of Texas at Austin, (2006-12-31)
William Cooper Scholarship, The University of Texas at Austin, (2005-12-31)