Research Seminar: Haritha Saranga

Dear all,

Join us in welcoming Professor Haritha Saranga from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore to Trinity Business School on Thursday, 11th of June 2026.

The seminar will take place in room 333 and via Zoom between 2:30 – 4 pm.

Please REGISTER HERE.

Seminar Title: Coordination under constraints in a pro-social supply chain – The case of deceased donation program in India

Abstract: Prosocial supply chains often lack effective coordination due to multi-stakeholder involvement and constraints at different levels, especially in developing countries. Ineffective coordination leads to sub-optimal utilisation and decreasing social welfare, especially when the demand greatly exceeds supply. We study the case of deceased organ donation in Indian states to investigate (i) how coordination is affected in a pro-social supply chain and (ii) how to improve coordination to maximise utility, respecting the constraints. Our findings suggest that a shared vision across the value chain is the first step in ensuring coordination. The input constraints can be managed by creating an idiosyncratic resource environment, such as the “factory-within-factory” approach, and through opportunistic collaboration, such as public-private partnerships. The process constraints can be bypassed with the help of social capital, where a “nexus-of-contracts” perspective is transformed into a “team” perspective for the greater good. We also find that enforcing output constraints through accountability and rewards helps ensure coordination.

Bio: Dr. Haritha Saranga is a Professor in the Production and Operations Management area at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. She has been awarded the IIMB Chair of Excellence in recognition of her contributions to research and teaching at the Institute. She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Sustainability Taskforce at IIM Bangalore. Dr. Saranga’s research focuses on the study of quality, productivity, and sustainability in firms operating across agricultural, automotive, pharmaceutical, and healthcare supply chains, both in India and internationally. Her work employs a combination of empirical and analytical approaches, including data envelopment analysis, multiple regression techniques, time series analysis, panel data methods, and optimization models. Haritha Saranga is a Fellow of MIRCE Academy, Exeter, UK, and a recipient of the T.E. Filbee Research Fellowship. She was also awarded the ISA Babbage Industrial Innovation Policy Award (2026) in recognition of her research contributions that effectively bridge academic scholarship and industrial policy.

She has published several articles in refereed international journals, such as Production and Operations Management, Journal of International Business Studies, European Journal of Operational Research, MIT Sloan Management Review and Journal of Operational Research Society. She also co-authored a book titled, ‘Reliability and Six Sigma’, published by Springer, and has written many cases and book chapters. All her teaching cases have been published in the Harvard Business School Case Portal.

Photographs will be taken during this seminar and may be shared on social media. If you do not wish to appear, please notify tbs.research@tcd.ie.