• Phone 617-353-4159
  • Office 601

  • BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    Questrom School of Business
    Rafik B. Hariri Building
    595 Commonwealth Avenue
    Boston, MA 02215

  • Download CV

Dr. Arzum Akkas studies food supply chains. She analyzes the root causes of food waste in supply chains and develops tools to control waste through shelf space management, employee incentives, and inventory management. She collaborates with major retailers, distributors, and manufacturers in the US and in Europe to investigate how to improve operational efficiency, reduce waste, and accomplish sustainability goals. Her research has been published in leading academic journals including Management Science and Production and Operations Management.

Before turning to research, Dr. Akkas worked as an operations manager at Pepsi, a management consultant at the leading strategy and operations firm Archstone Consulting, and a business systems consultant for the supply chain software firm JDA. She has Ph.D. from MIT in Engineering Systems, a Master's degree from MIT in Supply Chain Management, and a Bachelor’s degree from Istanbul Technical University in Industrial Engineering.

Dr. Akkas teaches Operations Management at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and is a faculty affiliate of the BU Institute for Sustainable Energy.

    Education
  • PhD, MIT, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2015
  • MEng, MIT, Supply Chain Management, 2004
  • BS, Istanbul Technical University, Industrial Engineering, 2000
    Publications
  • Akkas, A., Honhon, D. (2022). "Shipment Policies for Products with Fixed Shelf Lives: Impact on Profits and Waste", Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, 24 (3), 1261-1885
  • Akkas, A., Sahoo, N. (2020). "Reducing Product Expiration by Aligning Salesforce Incentives: A Data-driven Approach", Production and Operations Management, 28 (8), 1992-2009
  • Akkas, A. (2019). "Shelf Space Selection to Control Product Expiration", Production and Operations Management, 28 (9), 2184-2201
  • Akkas, A., Gaur, V., Simchi-Levi, D. (2019). "Drivers of Product Expiration in Consumer Packaged Goods Retailing", Management Science, 65 (5), 2179-2195
  • Akkas, A., Gaur, V. (2017). "Product Expiration at Health Cola Inc.",
    Research Presentations
  • Akkas, A. Perishable Inventory Management Approach to Food Waste Management, University of Nebraska College of Business, Lincoln, NE, 2022
  • Akkas, A. Determining Maximum Shipping Age Requirements for Shelf Life and Food Waste Management, INFORMS, Indianapolis, 2022
  • Akkas, A. Perishable Inventory Management to Food Waste Management, London Business School, London, UK, 2022
  • Akkas, A. Food Waste Management in Retailing, Webinar organized by Roland Berger, Online, 2022
  • Akkas, A. A Global Perspective on Food Surplus Management, Consortium for Operating Excellence in Retailing (COER), Harvard University, 2022
  • Akkas, A. Reducing Food Waste: An Operations Management Research Agenda, POMS, Online, 2022
  • Akkas, A. The Pandemic, The Supply Chain, and Shopping: When Will Things Return to Normal?, Special lecture for Brookline Public Schools Adult & Continuing Education, Online, 2022
  • Akkas, A. Reducing Food Waste: An Operations Management Research Agenda, operations management department seminar series, Singapore Management University (Zoom), 2021