Ops21™: Operations for 21st Century

Capacity Building + Rigorous Research. Shared Impact

Our Mission

Let's Create Impact Together

Ops21™’s mission is to collaboratively build organizational capacity to tackle 21st-century challenges and opportunities through applied, rigorous Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) research that generates both practical impact and scholarly contributions.

Our Objectives

Impacting Practice & Scholarship

01

Capacity-building at partner organizations to

enhance operational effectiveness and
create value (economic and socio-environmental) through operations and supply chain-focused business models

02

Knowledge creation and dissemination through

scholarly research articles and
trade and policy publications

Testimonials - TO HIDE

The MBA taught me to lead with courage, embracing discomfort, uncertainty, and growth as essential fuel for principled leadership. - by Damian Graizevsky (MBA25). Asia School of Business truly embodies the 'mens et manus' motto, where learning meets practice

Diinalan A/L Gunasagaram MBA25

Through diverse experiences, the MBA broadened both my global perspectives and self-awareness. My direction forward now feels more intentional.

Deewakshi Shrestha MBA25

My MBA journey taught me to integrate strategic thinking with empathy to balance analytical rigor with human-centric leadership for sustainable organizational success.

Parvinjeet Kaur A/P Powvinder Singh MBA25

Our Focus Areas

Driving Impact Across Four Pillars

Agile, Resilient, and Adaptive Supply Chains

Build capacity for organizations and supply chains to be agile and resilient to operational disruptions and create organizational vigilance to notice longer-term systemic shifts and adapt organizations and supply chains.

Operations and Supply Chain 4.0

Exploit the advances in information technology, including AI, to make operational processes more efficient and effective.

Supply Chain Orchestration as a Business Model

Foster new organizations (including social enterprises and non-profits) that create economic, social, and environmental value by orchestrating supply chain operations

Operations for Sustainable Development

Enable a resolute and pragmatic transition to operations to achieve sustainable development goals

Our Projects

Impact in Action - TO HIDE

Scenario Planning for Resilient Chemical Logistics Company

Collaboration with a chemical logistics company to examine how scenario planning can inform both long-term strategy and operational decisions.

From Analogue to Digital – A Transformation Journey

Project with a steel tube manufacturing company on its transformation from analogue to digital operations, focusing on how digital technologies can enhance operational visibility, process efficiency, and data-driven decision-making.

Transforming Retail Through Supply Chain Orchestration

Collaboration with a large multi-industry conglomerate to explore how digital platforms and supply chain orchestration can transform retail operations.

Our Partners

Our Collaborators for Impact - TO HIDE

Diinalan A/L Gunasagaram MBA25

Through diverse experiences, the MBA broadened both my global perspectives and self-awareness. My direction forward now feels more intentional.

Deewakshi Shrestha MBA25

My MBA journey taught me to integrate strategic thinking with empathy to balance analytical rigor with human-centric leadership for sustainable organizational success.

Parvinjeet Kaur A/P Powvinder Singh MBA25

Our Publications

Research That Drives Impact - TO HIDE

01 Agile, Resilient, and Adaptive Supply Chains

02 Operations & Supply Chain 4.0

03 Supply Chain Orchestration as a Business Model

04 Operations for Sustainable Development

Founding Director, Ops21™: Operations for 21st Century

Shardul Phadnis is a Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the Asia School of Business. He studies the intersection of supply chains and strategic management: how organizations create value by orchestrating supply chain operations and how strategy processes like scenario planning influence the adaptability of supply chain infrastructures and processes.

Shardul has led collaborative applied research projects in various industries including chemicals, food and beverage, retail, pharmaceutical distribution, semiconductors, as well as government agencies in Asia, Europe, North and South America (incl. US). He served as the President of the board of directors of The Lost Food Project—one of Malaysia’s largest food banks—for 2.5 years, where he is currently President Emeritus.

Shardul holds a PhD (2012) in Engineering Systems from MIT. He worked in manufacturing companies for seven years before joining academia (with the last role as the head of the Lean Promotion Office).