Operations management (OM) textbooks now proliferate and it is very difficult for new texts to displace the established staple texts and gain a foothold in the market. My purpose, therefore, in reviewing this text is to determine what features it may have to differentiate it from the other OM texts. My conclusion is it depends on the nature of class you teach, and the make‐up of the student body. I believe the book would work well as a recommended text for bachelor's students, though the style and feel of the book is inevitably US‐orientated and so the text would work better in the USA or international student classes. It would be less well received and relevant for European students where other texts are more relevant and appropriate. The web‐based material and CD‐ROM disc would also help in distance learning programmes – it is here, rather than full‐time on‐campus courses, where this text has a role. The text does have limitations, though, for master's students, whether MSc or MBA – it does not provide sufficient detail in some topics for post‐experience managers and is limited in case studies.
The book provides a good overall content for OM study. The topics are, however, presented in a somewhat confusing order – for example, chapters on facilities design and capacity management are presented after topics on statistical quality control and supply chains. It would have been better to have chapters divided into “Parts” or “Themes” in the same way as many other OM are ordered. This somewhat distracted from the claim in the subtitle that this is an “Integrated Approach” – the result was a rather piecemeal format. However, the content of individual chapters is comprehensive and delivered in a lively and readable style, likely to capture the imagination of conscientious students.
One area where the authors can be congratulated is the provision of online and CD‐ROM material. This is of benefit to new lecturers, seeking to develop their own material and wishing to have a bank of teaching aids to support their teaching. This selling point is less important, though, to more experienced academic staff. The student CD, included in the book, is always an added value item, and the material provided on disc by Reid and Sanders would be particularly useful for those courses comprising spreadsheet and simulation activities.
The Reid and Sanders text is a substantial improvement over the first edition and I particularly liked the vignettes in each chapter on “Inside OM”, “Links to Practice” and “OM across the Organization”. The authors have successfully produced a readable and meaningful treatment of the subject matter. My reservation is the text is very similar to many other core texts. It is ideally suited to undergraduate bachelor's courses, but so are many other competing texts. In Europe and the UK it has more limited appeal, but for US and international classes it provides an excellent introductory text to OM. My conclusion is it provides a useful addition to the OM bookshelf and holds its own against much of the competition – I will certainly be listing it amongst the “additional texts” on courses I teach.
