Harrison Alan

After graduating in chemistry at Oxford University, Alan followed acareer in manufacturing industry with Procter and Gamble, BL andGEC. Having seen the light & been converted to academic life, hejoined Warwick Business School in 1986 as a senior research fellowstudying the application of Japanese management methods in UKmanufacturing. He completed his doctorate in enablers and inhibitorsto material flow at Cranfield School of Management, which he joinedin 1996. As Director of Research, he acts as Academic Leader for theSchool's Demand Chain Management Community. He is author of Justin Time Manufacturing in Perspective (Prentice Hall, 1992), and jointauthor of Operations Management, 2nd edition, Pitman (1998) and of Logistics Management andStrategy 4th edition, Pearson Education (2011). His paper (jointly authored with Professor Koulikoff-Souviron of SKEMA, France) on Evolving HR Practices in Strategic Intra-Firm Supply Relationships hasrecently been published in Human Resource Management.

Alan has led a number of large-scale research projects in several sectors, including automotive,aerospace and grocery. One example is the long-running ECR-Europe ‘Stock Loss' project, whichidentified and helped correct sources of loss in the supply chain, involving collaborative workbetween manufacturers and retailers. Another is his research into customer responsive supplychains, focusing on the development of supply capabilities needed to meet demand variability anduncertainty.