Dr Ali Esfahbodi SFHEA, PhD, MSc, BEng, PGCHE

Dr Ali Esfahbodi

Department of Management
Associate Professor in Operations Management and Sustainability
School Director of Postgraduate Programmes UK, Dubai, Singapore

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 8304
Email
a.esfahbodi@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Department of Management
Birmingham Business School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT

Dr Ali Esfahbodi is an Associate Professor in Operations Management and Sustainability, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and Business School Director of MSc Programmes at the University of Birmingham.  Ali’s research lies primarily in sustainable and circular economy supply chains, digitalisation and SCM 4.0, and the exploration of new technologies in manufacturing such as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IoT), Digital Twin, and GS1 standards and their impacts on the sustainability performance.

His work aims to help companies with successful undertakings of emerging technologies and offer opportunities to achieve better economic performance and greater environmental protection. Ali has a wide portfolio of teaching expertise in Operations and SCM at various levels of Higher Education (Undergraduate, Masters, MBA, and PhD). He has consulted with many firms, presented at national and international academic and practitioner conferences, published many peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals, and won several awards for research excellence.

You can follow Ali on LinkedIn

Qualifications

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
  • PhD in Management
  • MSc in Engineering Management
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE)
  • BSc in Mechanical Engineering 

Biography

Dr Ali Esfahbodi is a Senior Lecturer in Operations Management and Sustainability at Birmingham Business School. Ali holds a PhD in Management, an MSc in Engineering Management, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) from the University of Birmingham. He also holds a BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Science and Research Tehran.  Ali has a solid engineering and manufacturing background and social sciences expertise, drawing together core management disciplines and engineering vision and manufacturing systems. In addition, he possesses a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research skills and rigorous data analysis expertise in multivariate statistics, including structural equation modelling, path analysis and hierarchical moderated regression.

Ali’s research interests are in the areas of supply chain digital transformation (SCM 4.0), big data-driven supply chain, and new technologies and supply chain sustainability, and Social Sustainability Supply Chain Practices (SSSCP). His PhD thesis empirically analysed the organisational performance of UK manufacturing firms within a sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) context, investigating whether the implementation of SSCM initiatives can be both environmentally beneficial and commercially viable. He received several awards and achievements throughout his PhD such as the ‘Best Paper Award’ at the 9th International Symposium on Global Manufacturing and China (2014) and the ‘Outstanding Paper Award’ at the Midland Regional Doctoral Colloquium Conference - University of Birmingham (2013).

Ali was involved in the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union on Europe-China High Value Engineering Network (EC-HVEN) project, contributing to the development of the industrial sustainability research stream by establishing and promoting international collaboration on sustainable manufacturing and engineering technologies between Europe and China. He has also collaborated with Expo Milano on the development of green and renewable energy initiatives theme, which was awarded the Silver Prize Medal for ‘Sustainable Design’. Ali has gained extensive experience in supply chain ecosystem development and sustainable supply network design from several overseas industrial consulting projects and would be keen to develop industrial links further.

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • Introduction to Business Strategy and Supply Chain Management (Year 1)

Postgraduate

  • Operations Management (GDBA)
  • Strategic Purchasing and Supply Management (GDBA)
  • Quantitative Management Techniques (GDBA)
  • Value Chains, Outsourcing and Procurement (MSc Management)
  • Value Chains, Outsourcing and Procurement (MSc IB Singapore)
  • Organisational and Operations Management (MSc Advanced Engineering Management UK)
  • Organisational and Operations Management (MSc Construction Management Dubai & Advanced Engineering Management Dubai)

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Ali Esfahbodi welcomes PhD candidates who are interested in engaging with the broad areas of Operations and Supply Chain Management and the following areas.

  • Supply Chain Digital Transformation (SCM 4.0)
  • Industry 5.0 and Disruptive Technologies in Operations and SCM
  • Supply Chain Sustainability
  • Social Sustainability Supply Chain Practices (SSSCP)
  • Supply Chain Resilience and Risk Management

Research

Research interests

  • Sustainable supply chain management
  • Supply chain analytics - big data
  • New technologies in operations and supply chain - Industry 4.0; Web 2.0; Data-driven information technologies; Smart factories; Intelligent manufacturing technology systems
  • Manufacturing firms and industrial sustainability
  • Conceptual framework and structural modelling
  • Performance measurement and management
  • Leagile manufacturing strategies and operations

Other activities

Ali serves as an Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, International Journal of Supply and Operations Management, and International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development. He is also a member of the European Operations Management Association (EUROMA), Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Ambituuni, A, Oyinlola, M, Ajala, O, Sule, H, Esfahbodi, A & Barrow, D 2025, 'Mechanic Village Business Networks and Circular Economy Practices in the Automotive Industry', Business Strategy and the Environment, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4122

Lonsdale, C, Sanderson, J & Esfahbodi, A 2024, 'Good Team Players? The Impact of Team Member Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities on Sourcing Teamwork and Sourcing Task-Work Effectiveness', Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-10-2023-0529

Li, X, Esfahbodi, A & Zhang, Y 2024, 'The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Implementation on Enterprises’ Financial Performance: Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies', Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 5, 1848. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051848

Esfahbodi, A, Zhang, Y, Liu, Y & Geng, D 2023, 'The fallacy of profitable green supply chains: the role of green information systems (GIS) in attenuating the sustainability trade-offs ', International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 255, 108703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108703

Esfahbodi, A, Pang, G & Peng, L 2022, 'Determinants of Consumers’ Adoption Intention for Blockchain Technology in E-commerce', Journal of Digital Economy, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 89-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdec.2022.11.001

Mousapour Mamoudan, M, Mohammadnazari, Z, Ostadi, A & Esfahbodi, A 2022, 'Food products pricing theory with application of machine learning and game theory approach', International Journal of Production Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2022.2128921

Sanderson, J, Esfahbodi, A & Lonsdale, C 2022, 'The effect of team-member knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) and a common learning experience on sourcing teamwork effectiveness', International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 52, no. 5-6, pp. 393-413. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-07-2021-0277

Esfahbodi, A, Zhang, Y, Watson, G & Zhang, T 2017, 'Governance pressures and performance outcomes of sustainable supply chain management – An empirical analysis of UK manufacturing industry', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 155, pp. 66-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.098

Esfahbodi, A, Zhang, Y & Watson, G 2016, 'Sustainable supply chain management in emerging economies: Trade-offs between environmental and cost performance', International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 181, pp. 350-366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.02.013

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Esfahbodi, A & Zhang, Y 2020, Effects of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) Practices on Performance Outcomes in UK Manufacturing Industry: The Moderating Role of Green Information Systems. in European Operations Management Association: EurOMA 27. vol. 1, pp. 592-602. https://doi.org/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/mediacentre/wmgevents/euroma2020/proceedings/1936_exordo-euroma2020-version-1.pdf

Esfahbodi, A & Zhang, Y 2020, Sustainable supply chain management in developed vs. emerging economies: evidence from the UK and China’s manufacturing industry. in S Hashmi & IA Choudhury (eds), Encyclopedia of Renewable and Sustainable Materials. 1st edn, vol. 5, Elsevier, pp. 537-549. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813195-4.11506-8

Conference contribution

Esfahbodi, A, Zhang, Y & Watson, G 2013, An Integrated Framework to assess the Impact of Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices on Firms’ Performance. in Global Manufacturing Conference 2013.

Esfahbodi, A, Zhang, Y & Watson, G 2012, The implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM): An exploratory study on the essential factors and performance implications. in The Cambridge International Manufacturing Symposium.

Review article

Zhang, Y, Lin, Y & Esfahbodi, A 2025, 'Digital Transformations of Supply Chain Management via RFID Technology: A Systematic Literature Review', Journal of Digital Economy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdec.2025.06.001

View all publications in research portal