Journal of Operations Management 22 (2004) 345–354 Empirical simulation studies in operations management: context, trends, and research opportunities Scott M. Shafer * , Timothy L. Smunt 1 Babcock Graduate School, Wake Forest University, P.O. Box 7659, Winston Salem, NC 27109-7659, USA Available online 15 June 2004 Abstract This study investigates, published simulation studies in operations management (OM) that are empirically based. The results of the study are based on an exhaustive search of twenty leading operations management journals over the period from 1970 to 2000. Approximately, 600 published simulation studies in operations management were identified, but only 85 of these were subsequently identified as being empirical in nature. The 85 articles were next classified into one of 17 categories. Results by journal, topic, time period, and combinations of these factors are reported. Finally, opportunities for future research are discussed. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Operations management research; Simulation; Empirical research 1. Introduction Computer simulation is one of the most widely used research methodologies employed in the field of operations management (OM). For example, Amoako-Gympah and Meredith (1989) found that of the 363 articles published between 1982 and 1987 in- cluded in their survey of OM research, that modeling was the most widely used research approach account- ing for 38.0% of the articles followed by simulation, which represented another 30.8% of the articles. The authors also noted that the simulation studies tended to use randomly generated data and real-world data was only used in a few cases. * Corresponding author. +1 336 758 3687. E-mail addresses: scott.shafer@mba.wfu.edu (S.M. Shafer), tim.smunt@mba.wfu.edu (T.L. Smunt). 1 Tel.: +1 336 758 4423. More recently, Pannirselvam et al. (1999) surveyed the OM literature to investigate the issue of an OM re- search agenda. Based on the OM papers published in seven targeted journals between 1992 and 1997 it was concluded that computer simulation was the second most commonly used methodology, behind optimiza- tion. More specifically, computer simulation was the primary research methodology employed in approxi- mately 18% of the published articles surveyed. Based on the results of the study, Pannirselvam et al. (1999) appeared to be in agreement with Meredith et al. (1989) assertion that OM research tends to be artificial in nature due to its reliance on modeling as opposed to empirical research. We comment that while simu- lation studies are typically associated with modeling research, the flexibility of the simulation methodology readily lends itself to modeling real world scenarios. As opposed to previous studies that have investi- gated published research in OM across a variety of topics and methodologies, the purpose of this study 0272-6963/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jom.2004.05.002