Research talk: Prof. Ravi Subramanian

Ravi Subramanian
Assistant Professor of Operations Management
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

Key Factors in the Market for Remanufactured Products: Empirical Evidence from eBay

Measures, such as remanufacturing, to extend the economic lives of products are receiving increasing attention because of various economic and regulatory factors. In this paper, we complement the analytical closed-loop supply chain research in operations management by empirically testing the validity of existing assumptions, quantifying the parameters used in analytical models, and expanding the scope of phenomena treated in the literature, by examining market data on remanufactured and new products purchased on eBay. Our analysis shows that seller reputation significantly explains the price differentials between new and remanufactured products. We also find that products remanufactured by original equipment manufacturers or their authorized factories are purchased at relatively higher prices than products remanufactured by third parties. Furthermore, we find that post-purchase satisfaction is relatively greater for remanufactured products as compared to new products. To complement our findings, we conduct post-hoc analyses and report on price differentials across different product categories.

Bio

Ravi Subramanian is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at the College of Management, Georgia Tech. He holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani (India), a MBA from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and a MS in Industrial and Operations Engineering and PhD in Operations and Management Science (Ross School of Business) from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

His research focuses on the interface between business operations and the environment with an emphasis on strategic managerial responses to recent market-based and goal-oriented environmental policies. More recently, he has been empirically studying the market for remanufactured products and the linkage between firms’ environmental performance and market valuation. His work has appeared in Journal of Industrial Ecology, Journal of Operations Management, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management. A paper based on his dissertation research won the second prize at the 2004 INFORMS MSOM student paper competition.

Dr. Subramanian has business experience in operations strategy, manufacturing planning, and ERP implementation. He is also currently Principal Scientist at UrjaNet (a startup offering solutions in the Energy Domain). He serves as Secretary of the POMS College of Sustainable Operations.