Ananth Raman is a Professor in the Technology and Operations Management area at the Harvard Business School. He has been on the HBS faculty since 1993 and specializes in supply chain management. Dr. Raman's research focuses on supply chain management for short lifecycle products with unpredictable demand, and emphasizes production and inventory planning, and the role of incentives.

Dr. Raman has written many articles, case studies and book chapters. He served as co-editor of a special issue of the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management focusing on "Retail Operations Management", and a special issue of the Journal of Production and Operations Management on "Case-based Research in Operations Management." He also serves as an associate editor of Management Science.

He is co-director of a Sloan Foundation funded research project to study retail operations, supply chain, and merchandising practices. Over 30 retailers from the United States, Japan and Europe have participated in this study. The project involves researchers, including six doctoral students, from Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Raman has consulted with, and been responsible for, management education programs for executives in a number of companies, including Unilever plc., IBM, Compaq, Royal Ahold Corporation, i2 Technologies, Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Nordstrom's Inc., and Bertelsmann Music Group. He has also helped companies design and develop decision-support systems for supply chain management.

Raman has a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a Ph.D. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Raman is a Founder of 4R Systems, Inc., a company that provides supply chain planning software to retailers of short lifecycle products.