Essays on socially responsible operations

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three essays on socially responsible operations. The unifying theme is the focus on nonprofits and healthcare supply chains. In particular, the first two essays (Chapters 2 and 3) study perishable inventory management problems motivated by blood supply chain management in a local hospital network, while the third essay (Chapter 4) studies a resource allocation problem faced by nonprofit humanitarian organizations that collect and deliver unused or reusable medical surplus products to underserved healthcare facilities in developing countries. The overarching objectives are to 1) develop (near) optimal and implementable policies that can help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of daily operations in health and humanitarian organizations; and 2) derive insights to shed light into key trade-offs in complex managerial decisions in those settings.