Robert Sroufe

Photo of Robert Sroufe
Professor of Sustainability

Hometown: Addison, MI
Joined Chatham: August 2023

ACADEMIC AREAS OF INTEREST

In his research, Professor Sroufe primarily aims to understand what drives sustainability performance and how firms can develop effective environmental management systems to enable the measurement and management of an integrated bottom line. His work has been published in a number of journals, including the Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, the European Journal of Operations Research, Journal of Supply Chain Management, International Journal of Production Research, the Production and Inventory Management Journal, Greener Management International, and Business Strategy and the Environment, while also publishing books on Integrated Management: How Sustainability Creates Value for Any Business, Developing Sustainable Supply Chains to Drive Value: Management Issues, Insights, and Tools; and Strategic Corporate Environmental Management Systems. Professor Sroufe consults with a range of corporations and conducts quantitative and qualitative research with firms including Alcoa, Baxter, Dow, Eco Labs, Ford, Gillette, GSA, Herman Miller, IBM, Intel, Interfaces, KPMG, Lucent, MSA, and Steelcase.

PERSONAL AREAS OF INTEREST

Hobbies and personal interests: anything that will get him outdoors, including, but not limited to, camping, hiking, fly fishing, kayaking, golf, and training working dogs, primarily Labrador retrievers.

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Sroufe is among the top 2% of global scientists recognized by Stanford University researchers for being career authors published in the top-ranked science categories of business management, environmental sciences, and high-level economics and business. He is a Professor of Sustainability at Chatham University. Professor Sroufe develops and teaches courses on Sustainability, Operations, Supply Chain Management, and Experiential Learning covering the forces and models driving current decision-making while integrating sustainable business practices into business practices. Sroufe believes students thrive when challenged with real-world problems. Thus, he likes to engage students in problem-based learning and research that has the potential for tangible impact. During the fall and spring semesters, he develops project-based courses for student teams working with corporate, SME, and NGO clients. He is currently developing new opportunities for the integration of sustainability within graduate and undergraduate curricula. Sroufe's courses have been selected internationally by the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program (Aspen BSP) as one of its Ideas Worth Teaching Award winners. He was also an Aspen Institute Faculty Pioneer finalist and has received University Creative Teaching Awards, the Wickham Skinner Teaching Innovative Award from the Production and Operations Management Production Society (POMS), the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) Instructional Innovation Award for the development and delivery business school courses integrating strategic sustainability, and Page Prize for Best U.S. Environmental Curriculum.

My research focuses on "Environmental Management Systems" defined as the formal and informal systems integrating procedures and processes for the training of personnel, monitoring, summarizing, and reporting of specialized triple bottom line performance information to internal and external stakeholders. These systems have evolved from reactive Environmental Health and Safety systems of the past to proactive, present-day ability Operating Systems improving environmental performance, stakeholder engagement, and resource efficiency. The primary question driving my research involves what systems and tools effectively measure and manage environmental, social, and financial practices linked to performance? Other secondary questions involve what obstacles hinder integrated bottom line performance in new product development and supply chains; how will Life Cycle Analysis change supply chain management; how do managers define and comply with voluntary initiatives such as sustainable development to create shared value; and how can managers integrate new information and metrics into existing systems to effectively manage the innovation necessary for sustainable business practices? I consider operations management and supply chain management enablers of new initiatives that call for cross-functional collaboration and visibility. The research questions above capture what are arguable some of the main challenges that today's managers face when generating and delivering value within the emerging domain of "sustainability" both internally and externally for a firm. Prior to joining Chatham Professor Sroufe held an endowed chair at Duquesne University, was an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at Boston College. He holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University (MSU) in Operations and a dual M.B.A. in Materials and Logistics Management, along with Procurement from MSU.

View Google Scholar Page | ResearchGate Profile

EDUCATION
  • Ph.D. Operations Management, Michigan State University
  • MBA, Materials & Logistics Management, Michigan State University
  • BS, Conservation & Environmental Law, Lake Superior State University
  • ADs in Water Quality Technology, Natural Resource Technology
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS