Professor Corbett's research and teaching focus on two main areas: environmental issues in business, and on contracting and coordination in business
networks. The environmental work revolves around examining links between good business practices and environmental protection. This has included
studying the effects and global diffusion of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certification; the way in which supply contracts are changed from volume-based
to service-based to align incentives between suppliers and buyers; and, most recently, the environmental footprint of a project-based industry
such as the motion picture and television industry. His other work has focused mostly on how contracts can help improve coordination between buyers
and suppliers, whether related to inventory control, service contracts, or project management.
Dr. Corbett has published in his field's top academic and business journals in several countries. He is a member of the editorial board of Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, an associate editor of Operations Research, past associate editor of Management Science, and guest editor of three special issues of Production and Operations Management on Environmental Management & Operations. He has also frequently acted as referee for a wide range of professional journals.
He served as Associate Dean of the MBA program from 2004-2006. Before joining the faculty in 1996, Professor Corbett was a visiting scholar at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.