Interesting and impactful research avenues emerge from teaching operations management

Purpose This article reflects on how teaching operations management (OM) to graduate students and executives provides a rich source of interesting and impactful OM research avenues. Design/methodology/approach While it is common to hear that the latest research should keep teaching fresh and relevant, this article flips this advice to discuss interesting and impactful OM research topics emerging from the challenges of teaching an MBA core course. Findings This article suggests six avenues for future research that emerged from teaching – how company operations pertain to its strategy, the role of chief operating officer (COO), enterprise processes, process improvement, performance measurement, and automation/artificial intelligence (AI) – and specific research questions within each avenue. Research limitations/implications The proposed research questions are exemplary and not comprehensive. Practical implications Addressing the proposed research questions will lead to interesting, practically relevant and impactful results. Social implications Addressing the proposed research questions will lead to socially relevant and impactful results. Originality/value This article reverses the typical admonition to let research inform teaching, showing how considering the counter-relationship illuminates interesting and impactful research avenues.