Michael A. Lapré

Michael A. Lapré

Associate Professor of Operations Management

Research Interests/Areas of Expertise

Learning curves, organizational learning, quality, productivity, industry studies, sports analytics, competitive balance

Subject Areas

Operations Management & Quantitative Methods

Biography

Professor Michael A. Lapré is an internationally known expert on organizational learning curves.

Awards & Accomplishments

Professor Lapré has been awarded the Shingo Research Prize, the Stan Hardy Award (twice), Wickham Skinner Awards for Best Paper (thrice), the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research at Owen, and the Dean's Teaching Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning.

Leadership

Professor Lapré is the Area Coordinator of Operations Management & Quantitative Methods. He is a senior editor for Production and Operations Management. He has served as a department editor for Production and Operations Management and as an associate editor for Management Science and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. He has won meritorious service awards from Management Science and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

Publications

Professor Lapré's research has appeared in California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, Management Science, Production and Operations Management, and Queueing Systems. He has co-authored a monograph on Organizational Learning Curves published in Foundations and Trends in Technology, Information, and Operations Management.

Teaching

Professor Lapré currently teaches Managing Operations in Vanderbilt’s Undergraduate Business Minor, Sports Analytics in the MBA program, and Operations Management in the MMHC program.

On A Personal Note...

Before his doctoral studies at INSEAD, Professor Lapré served as an Officer and Operations Research Analyst in the Royal Dutch Navy. He also coached his daughter's Double Dutch jump rope team to back-to-back Grand National Championships in 2018 and 2019.

Research Interests

Professor Lapré's research interests center on improving longitudinal organizational performance. He has studied quality, productivity, customer dissatisfaction, service failure, bankruptcy, after-sales service, race wins, and competitive imbalance. His industry studies include steel-cord manufacturing, U.S. airlines, semiconductor manufacturing, Formula One racing, and the FIFA World Cup.

Education

Ph.D., Management, INSEAD (France), 1997

Drs., Operations Research, Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands), 1991

Select Publications

Articles

The evolution of seeding systems and the impact of imbalanced groups in FIFA Men’s World Cup tournaments 1954–2022

Lapré, M.A., E.M. Palazzolo.  2023.  The evolution of seeding systems and the impact of imbalanced groups in FIFA Men’s World Cup Tournaments 1954-2022.  Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, published online ahead of print.

When success is rare and competitive: Learning from others’ success and my failure at the speed of Formula One.

Lapré, M.A., C. Cravey.  2022.  When success is rare and competitive: Learning from others’ success and my failure at the speed of Formula One.  Management Science 68(12) 8741-8756.

Quantifying the impact of imbalanced groups in FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments 1991-2019

Lapré, M.A., E.M. Palazzolo.  2022.  Quantifying the impact of imbalanced groups in FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments 1991-2019. Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 18(3) 197-199. 

Investigating operational predictors of future financial distress in the U.S. airline industry

Alan, Y., M.A. Lapre. 2018. Investigating operational predictors of future financial distress in the U.S. airline industry. Production and Operations Management. 27(4) 734-755.

Mishandled baggage

Lapré, M.A.  2011.  Reducing customer dissatisfaction: How important is learning to reduce service failure?  Production and Operations Management 20(4) 491-507. [Lead article]

Wickham Skinner Award for best paper - Runner-up

Stan Hardy Award for best paper published in OM in 2011

 

The Organizational Learning Curve

Lapré, M.A., I.M. Nembhard. 2010.  Inside the organizational learning curve: Understanding the organizational learning process.  Foundations and Trends in Technology, Information and Operations Management 4(1) 1-103.

Organizational Learning Curves for Customer Dissatisfaction: Heterogeneity across Airlines

Lapré, M.A., N. Tsikriktsis. 2006. Organizational learning curves for customer dissatisfaction: Heterogeneity across airlines. Management Science 52(3) 352-366.

Performance Improvement Paths in the U.S. Airline Industry: Linking Trade-offs to Asset Frontiers

Lapre, M.A., G.D. Scudder. 2004. Performance improvement paths in the U.S. airline industry: Linking trade-offs to asset frontiers. Production and Operations Management 13(2) 53-71. [Lead article]

Wickham Skinner Award for best paper

Stan Hardy Award for best paper published in OM in 2004

Managing Learning Curves in Factories by Creating and Transferring Knowledge

Lapré, M.A., L.N. Van Wassenhove. 2003. Managing learning curves in factories by creating and transferring knowledge. California Management Review 46(1) 53-71.

Shingo Research Prize

Learning across Lines: The Secret to More Efficient Factories

Lapré, M.A., L.N. Van Wassenhove. 2002. Learning across lines: The secret to more efficient factories. Harvard Business Review 80(10) 107-111.

Creating and Transferring Knowledge for Productivity Improvement in Factories

Lapré, M.A., L.N. Van Wassenhove. 2001. Creating and transferring knowledge for productivity improvement in factories. Management Science 47(10) 1311-1325. [Lead article]

Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction

Lapré, M.A., A.S. Mukherjee, L.N. Van Wassenhove. 2000. Behind the learning curve: Linking learning activities to waste reduction. Management Science 46(5) 597-611. [Lead article]

Knowledge Driven Quality Improvement

Mukherjee, A.S., M.A. Lapré, L.N. Van Wassenhove. 1998. Knowledge driven quality improvement. Management Science 44(11-2) S35-S49.

Chapters

Deliberate learning.

Lapré, M.A., I.M. Nembhard.  2020.  Deliberate learning.  L. Argote, J.M. Levine, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Group and Organizational Learning.  Oxford University Press, New York, 35-56.

Inside the learning curve

Lapré, M.A.  2011.  Inside the learning curve: Opening the black box of the learning curve.  M.Y. Jaber, ed. Learning Curves: Theory, Models, and Applications.  CRC Press, Boca Raton, 23-35.

Learning by experimentation

Bohn, R.E., M.A. Lapré.  2011.  Accelerated learning by experimentation. M.Y. Jaber, ed. Learning Curves: Theory, Models, and Applications.  CRC Press, Boca Raton, 191-209.