Barbara Flynn
Richard M. and Myra Louise Buskirk Professor of Manufacturing Management and Director, IU Center for International Business Education and Research
"Not only is Kelley a first-rate business school, it also has one of the best operations faculty in the country. I really enjoy working with such a talented group of professors and teaching working professionals at the MBA level. As for the research conducted here – it's well done, practical, rigorous and trusted by those in the business community."
After completing a bachelor's degree in psychology and spending several years as an elementary school teacher, Barbara Flynn shifted gears, earning a MBA from Marquette University and a doctorate in business from Indiana University.
For the past 19 years, she has co-directed an international research study of manufacturing practices in a dozen countries, culminating in what is today the largest research database on manufacturing in the world. The database, focusing on three industries – electronics, machinery and transportation – houses information from hundreds of questionnaires completed by professionals in all areas of the business enterprise, including the shop floor, human resources, accounting and technology. Flynn most recently conducted interviews in China and Brazil in an effort to capture data from markets that have developed very rapidly. Several hundred papers related to the research project have been published in various journals over the years.
"Through this work, I have a comprehensive understanding of the factors that impact manufacturing in other countries," Flynn says. "The project offers opportunities for us to travel across the globe, comparing results and reporting back to the companies who participate how they stack up against competitors in their own countries and around the world."
Flynn determines the direction of her research with most studies stemming from the information gathered through the international database. Her primary areas of research interest and expertise are world class manufacturing, quality management, just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, operations strategy and innovation management. Currently, Flynn is working with several PhD students in China to help them prepare papers on supply chain management for publication in U.S. journals.
