UA Walton College professor wins award for ‘Best Paper’

Christian Hofer, associate professor of supply chain management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, has won the Journal of Operations Management Jack Meredith Best Paper Award.

Hofer received the award for his paper "The Competitive Determinants of a Firm's Environmental Management Activities: Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing Industries" published in the Journal of Operations Management, Volume 30.

"This is quite remarkable given that last year his paper "Lean, Leaner, Too Lean? The Inventory-Performance Link Revisited" was one of three finalists for the award," said Matt Waller, chair of the supply chain management department and holder of the Garrison Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Management.

Hofer earned his Ph.D. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland after receiving a bachelor's degree with honors in general and international business from the European School of Business in Reutlingen, Germany, and Reims Management School in France.

His research focuses on competitive dynamics in supply chain management and operations, inventory management and aviation economics.

His work also has been published in the Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, Transportation Research Part E, International Journal of Logistics Management, Transportation Journal, Transportation Research Part D and Journal of the Transportation Research Forum.

Prior to returning to academia in 2003, Hofer worked as a management consultant with Booz & Company in Munich, Germany.