Asad Ata
Research Affiliate (MIT)
Director, Center for Sustainable Small-owners (CSS)
Area of Expertise:
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Dr. Asad Ata is an Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the Asia School of Business. His primary areas of research include sustainable sourcing and supply chain management.
Dr. Asad has worked full-time in the industry for over 12 years on various supply chain IT, telecom, and e-commerce projects. He has also worked extensively with food and agricultural supply chains with multinational corporations, NGOs, government organizations, and agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and SWIFT.
With a team of more than 35 researchers, field officers, and consultant agronomists, he leads a sustainability center for SMEs and small farmers of oil palm in Malaysia. Dr. Asad is working with small farmer communities to design supply chains that are socially responsible, environmentally sustainable, and economically viable. As of August 2021, Dr. Asad Ata has been appointed on the Technical Advisory Committee for Mechanization & Automation Research Consortium for Oil Palm (MARCOP) Malaysia, a Government-Industry platform to discuss, develop and adopt mechanization and automation technologies for oil palm. In addition he is also on the advisory board of PERTANIGA, an independent smallholder association of Oil Palm farmers in Malaysia.
Dr. Asad teaches graduate programs in the areas of logistics, supply chain management, and sustainability. His teaching and research expertise also covers Business Analytics, Software Systems, and Data Modeling. For more than 11 years, he has been a Research Affiliate with MIT, where he has taught for MIT Global Supply Chain And Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network and has been part of the design team for MIT’s first X-Series MOOC on Supply Chain Management.
Dr. Asad received his Ph.D. in Operations Research from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, USA. He completed his Master’s degree from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, USA, and completed his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
-
- Ata, A. (2020, January). Oil Palm Independent Small Farmer Sustainability Journey through P&G CSS Work, MIMOS, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, December). Oil Palm Supply Chain Traceability and Mapping, P&G Leadership – University Tun Hussien Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, September). Oil Palm Supply Chain Traceability and Mapping, P&G Leadership – University Tun Hussien Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, September). Sustainability in ASEAN, MIT/DTGO Roundtable, Bangkok, Thailand.
- Ata, A. (2019, August). RSPO Smallholder Academy Master Training Workshop, The P&G Smallholder Program, Medan, Indonesia.
- Ata, A. (2019, July). Sustainable Sourcing for Palm Kernel Oil Supply Chain, Booth and Poster presentation, International Congress for Conservation Biology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, June). Challenges for Independent Small Holder Farmer Commitment to Sustainability, Presented at the Launching of Center for Sustainable Small-Owners, Johor, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, April). Improving Livelihood through Yield Intensification for Independent Smallholder Farmers, Presented for the P&G Smallholders Program, Livelihood Improvement Initiative Workshop with Multiple Stakeholders, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, March). Responsible Sourcing for Palm Kernel Oil Supply Chain – through Traceability, Transparency and Accountability, Presented at the Research Seminar, Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, March). “Doing What is Right” How a global commitment to sustainability translated into true partnership and meaningful collaboration through a successful supply chain Engagement, Presented at AMCHAM’s CSR Committee Sharing Sessions, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Ata, A. (2019, February). Opportunities and Challenges with First Mile Logistics Services in Agriculture, Presented at Asian Development Bank’s, Logistics Workshop for National Integrated Logistics Plan for India, New Delhi, India.”
- Khakdaman, M., Lagoudis, I., & Ata, A. (2014, July). On-shelf availability strategies: Analyzing alternative models to assure product availability in high density areas, Presented at the 19th International Symposium on Logistics, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
- Kouma, P., Ata, A., & Lagoudis, I. (2014, July). Cold chain service providers: An evaluation framework”, Presented at the 19th International Symposium on Logistics, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
