Research in global operations management: some highlights and potential future trends

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shortly overview the research in international operations management (OM), to provide background to the papers published in this special section. Design/methodology/approach As a literature review, the paper investigates the past, present, and future of international OM. It is not a systematic review; the paper just highlights the most important international operational management research networks, streams and concepts in the field. Findings The paper finds that there is a time lag in the field of international OM compared to other research areas within international business and management. It provides some ideas for the future to be researched. Originality/value The paper gives a focused review on international research networks which has not been done before. It also identifies two different streams of researches in international OM: the stream investigating OM differences among geographical areas, and the stream dealing with issues of international manufacturing networks.