Steve New
Associate Professor in Operations Management
- steve.new@sbs.ox.ac.uk
Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford
OX1 1HP
Profile
Steve's main areas of expertise are supply chain management and process improvement.
A leading authority on supply chain management, Steve’s interests lie in developing a more rigorous appreciation of how individuals and organisations construct and interpret their environment and the systems in which they operate. His research takes a multi-faceted approach analysing the meaning and interpretation of supply chain partnerships, exploring the way in which ethical and environmental issues are reflected in the chain, and on the impact of the internet and rise of B2B commerce. His current work on the concept of provenance in supply chains was the subject of a recent article, 'The Transparent Supply Chain' in the Harvard Business Review.
Steve is one of the leading scholars investigating the enigma of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and the West’s growing interest in the application of Japanese techniques to manufacturing. His research looks at the nuance and complexity of the so called ‘lean production’ or ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing process, its application to different sectors and how few have managed to emulate Toyota’s model. To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the first English language paper describing the TPS, Steve edited a special issue of the International Journal Production Research, bringing together papers from leading scholars who have attempted to understand the approach.
More recently Steve has been investigating the application of the TPS to medical care, working with the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Surgery to explore the process and outcome of TPS-style interventions on patient quality and safety in an acute surgical ward. Papers have been published in the Annals of Surgery, the British Medical Journal and BMJ Quality and Safety.
Steve began his career as an engineer, working for Rolls Royce plc while completing a degree in physics at Southampton University. After working in management consultancy for Collinson Grant, he went to Manchester Business School (MBS) where he completed his doctorate on the use of visual interactive modelling for decision support in manufacturing. This work was sponsored by the Eaton Corporation, for whom New worked while studying. He taught at the Manchester School of Management, UMIST (now merged with MBS) before joining Saïd Business School in 1996.
Steve serves on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, and the Editorial Advisory Board for Supply Chain Management: an International Journal.
Alongside his role at Saïd Business School, Steve is a Fellow of Hertford College at the University of Oxford.
Research
Steve’s research addresses process improvement and supply chain management.
Within these areas, the focus of his recent work has been the application of the Toyota Production System (TPS) in medical care, and in the development of an underlying theory of provenance within supply chains which provides the foundation for understanding reputation and ethics within supply chains.
Steve’s broader interests include the effectiveness of public sector services, and the social construction of value.
A further strand of work relates to the methodology of operations management, and, in particular, the construction of a critique of the use of structural equation modelling in operations management research.
His research work is informed by extensive consulting and training work for organisations in a wide range of sectors.
Publications
How to create an optopia? - Kim Stanley Robinson's "Ministry for the future" and the politics of hope(opens in new window)
- Journal article
- Journal of Management Inquiry
Ethics in supply chains: an illustrated survey(opens in new window)
- Chapter
- Global Logistics: New Directions in Supply Chain Management
Book Review Symposium: Maurizio Atzeni and Immanuel Ness (eds), Global Perspectives on Workers’ and Labour Organizations(opens in new window)
- Journal article
- Work Employment and Society
Deconstructing Modern Slavery Statements: A Detailed Analysis of Arcadia Group and Babcock International(opens in new window)
- Journal article
- SSRN
Modern slavery and supply chain transparency(opens in new window)
- Chapter
- The Oxford Handbook of Supply Chain Management
Reports
Accountability, Monitoring and the Effectiveness of Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act: Evidence and Comparative Analysis
London: Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre | 2021
L Hsin, S New, I Pietropaoli and L Smit
Engagement
Steve's work takes three main forms.
Consultancy, advice and training
As a consultant, advisor and trainer, Steve has worked with a diverse group of organisations ranging from government departments and other public sector bodies, to large charities and small hi-tech start-ups. In particular, for many years he has collaborated with colleagues at Oxford in supporting the work of the UK’s National Audit Office.
Research and student projects
Steve’s research focuses on projects which deal with the detail of organisations’ operations and he has worked extensively with organisations ranging from the UK’s National Health Service to a variety of firms in the retailing and manufacturing sectors. He also engages with a wide range of organisations in the supervision of student projects; these include projects undertaken by Oxford MBA, EMBA, Diploma and MEng students.
Industry events
Steve is a regular speaker at industry conferences and seminars. In the past, these have included the Annual Conference of the European Power Transmission Distribution Association, the Sustainable Luxury Forum, CIPFA Performance Improvement Network, and the Procurement and Commissioning Forum of the Institute of Public Finance.
Steve won the Fellowship of the Operations Management Association (UK) 1993-4 for his work in Purchasing and Supply.
Teaching
Steve’s teaching draws on his industrial, consulting and research experience and fosters critical engagement within the operations management field.
The courses he teaches are:
MBA Core Course in Operations Management
New teaches the Operations Management core course on the MBA programme. The course is heavily case-based, and explores key operations ideas in both the manufacturing and service sectors. While laying the basic conceptual and technical foundations of operations, the course also encourages a critical engagement with the key ideas in the field, drawing on Steve’s extensive industrial, consulting and research experience. The course also makes use of the Discovery production simulation, in which students work together to uncover some essential insights into the nature of process management and process improvement.
MBA/EMBA Elective Course in Corporate Turnaround and Business Transformation
Steve teaches an elective course for the MBA and Executive MBA which focuses on the challenges of organisations in trouble. The course takes a multi-disciplinary approach, with an operations emphasis, and examines how organisations get into difficulty, and how managers, investors and consultants can engage in efforts to reverse decline. The course is distinctive in that it employs a rich mixture of traditional case teaching, video-driven cases, and the use of electronically-assisted classroom interaction, and ‘in tray’ experiential cases – in which students, under time pressure, have to make sense of an unfolding story. This course is designed to complement other electives such as Managing Strategic Change, Private Equity, and Mergers and Acquisitions.
Undergraduate Course in General Management (MEng in Economics, Management and Engineering; BA in Economics and Management)
Steve provides tutorial teaching for Hertford College for the first year General Management paper, in which students following Economics and Management and Engineering, Economics and Management are exposed to the main academic strands of Management Studies. Topics covered include management history, strategy, organisational behaviour, operations and technology management and marketing.
MSc in Surgical Sciences and Practice
Steve teaches a course on Quality Improvement Science and Systems Analysis on this master’s programme for practising surgeons, coordinated by Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education and the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences. Read more about the course.
Executive Education
Steve teaches Operations Management, Process Improvement and Financial Operations Management on a range of Executive Education Programmes at the School, both on open and custom programmes.
