ISB Faculty Win Prestigious Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Paper Award

A research paper co-authored by ISB Professors Sarang Deo and Sripad Devalkar, along with Prof Maya Ganesh (IIM Bangalore) and Rakesh Allu (Cornell University), has been awarded the 2025 Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Paper Award.

Published in in the journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, the paper "Technology-Enabled Agent Choice and Uptake of Social Assistance Programs: Evidence from India's Food Security Program" explores how technology can improve access to public welfare programs. 

This prestigious award, conferred by the Industry Studies Association, recognises outstanding research that exemplifies engagement with industry or public sector practitioners and provides deep insights into real-world challenges. The winning paper was selected from nominations by editorial teams of ten leading global journals, including Journal of Operations Management (JOM), MSOM, Organization Science (OS), Production & Operations Management (POM), and Strategic Management Journal (SMJ). 

Bridging Research and Policy 

The paper investigates the impact of introducing beneficiary choice in India’s Public Distribution System (PDS), which provides subsidised food to millions of households across the country. Traditionally, each beneficiary is assigned a single local ration dealer (agent), creating monopolistic conditions that can lead to poor service quality, especially in areas with weak government oversight.

By analysing data from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the researchers studied the effects of a government-led reform that allowed beneficiaries to choose from multiple agents. Using a rigorous reverse difference-in-differences approach, their findings reveal significant insights: 

• Improved Uptake: Providing agent choice resulted in a 6.6% increase in the quantity of entitlements collected by beneficiary households.
• The Importance of Alternatives: The impact was four times higher in regions with multiple agents available, demonstrating that meaningful choice requires viable alternatives.  
• Behavioural Changes: Nearly all the increase in uptake came from new beneficiaries collecting entitlements from their original assigned agents, suggesting that the mere possibility of choice prompted agents to improve their service quality and adherence to operating guidelines. 

About the authors

Sarang Deo is a Professor of Operations Management at the Indian School of Business. He also serves as the Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research and as the Executive Director of the Max Institute of Healthcare Management (MIHM).

Sripad Devalkar is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at the Indian School of Business

Maya Ganesh is an Assistant professor of Production & Operations Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Maya completed her doctoral-level programme-- the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) at ISB.  

Rakesh Allu is currently a PhD scholar at Cornell University. Prior to this, he worked as a Research Analyst with Digital Identity Research Initiative (DIRI) at the Indian School of Business.