Technology & Operations Management
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- May 2024
- Case
Market by Met: Revolutionizing Food Pantries in the Digital Age
By: Elisabeth Paulson and Michael W. ToffelIn fall 2023, the Food Program of Met Council—America’s largest Jewish charity dedicated to fighting poverty—completed the rollout of the newest version of its digital pantry platform to twelve food pantries in the Met Council food pantry network. The digital initiative coincided with a shift from food pantries’ traditional “pre-packed” model—in which pantry staff and volunteers pre-packed standardized bags of foods and handed them out to long lines of waiting clients (the standard model in the US)—to a “client choice” model, where clients could choose their own food items. Over half of the pantries in Met Council’s network were undergoing the transition to client choice. For most of these pantries, the client choice model was initially implemented as an in-person shopping experience, similar to a small-scale grocery store. For the digital pantries, though, clients would be able to see available items and place orders online, similar to an online grocery shopping experience. Met Council viewed the digital initiative as the next step towards increasing the dignity of the pantry experience and incentivizing healthy food choices. This case discusses the evolution of the digital pantry; specifically, the pros and cons of each pantry model from an operational efficiency perspective, how operational levers can influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, fairness in resource allocation problems, and “push” versus “pull” inventory distribution models.
- May 2024
- Case
Market by Met: Revolutionizing Food Pantries in the Digital Age
By: Elisabeth Paulson and Michael W. ToffelIn fall 2023, the Food Program of Met Council—America’s largest Jewish charity dedicated to fighting poverty—completed the rollout of the newest version of its digital pantry platform to twelve food pantries in the Met Council food pantry network. The digital initiative coincided with a shift from food pantries’ traditional “pre-packed” model—in...
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- 2024
- Working Paper
Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions
We investigate whether corporate officers should grant managers discretion to override AI-driven demand forecasts and labor scheduling tools. Analyzing five years of administrative data from a large grocery retailer using such an AI tool, encompassing over 500 stores, 100,000 employees, and 1.5 million store-date observations, we find that managers persistently make overrides, on average 3 weeks in advance of each focal work date, that reallocate labor away from the AI tool's forecasted demand. Fixed effects and instrumental variables regressions reveal that these overrides increase store labor productivity. Supporting the hypothesis that managers' private information about store demand drives these productivity gains, we show that overrides made by managers: (1) positively correlate with foot traffic, with increases (decreases) in labor on a given day following increases (decreases) in foot traffic, (2) have larger effects for customer-interaction-intensive categories like made-to-order foods and tobacco products, (3) increase basket sizes, (4) reduce self-checkout usage, and (5) become more effective with increasing managerial tenure, suggesting accrual of domain knowledge over time. However, overrides consume significant managerial time and lead to less consistent employee work schedules, potentially due to managers aggressively aligning labor with their private beliefs about demand, which may not fully account for its impact on employee welfare.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions
We investigate whether corporate officers should grant managers discretion to override AI-driven demand forecasts and labor scheduling tools. Analyzing five years of administrative data from a large grocery retailer using such an AI tool, encompassing over 500 stores, 100,000 employees, and 1.5 million store-date observations, we find that...
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- April 2024
- Case
New Belgium Brewing and Climate Change
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Michael NorrisIn 2023, Colorado-based craft brewery New Belgium Brewing was considering how best to meet its emissions reduction targets. After decades of growth, the beermaker had grown to become one of the largest craft brewers in the U.S., and was purchased in 2019 by Japanese brewer Kirin. Throughout its history, New Belgium had taken actions to lower emissions and improve the sustainabiilty profile of its products. This included the 2020 decision to certify its flagship beer, Fat Tire, as carbon neutral. Under the ownership of Kirin, New Belgium was subject to the parent company's Science Based Targets initiative emissions reduction targets, and had to pur forth a plan to significantly lower emissions by 2030. Given a range of possible actions they could take, which should they choose?
- April 2024
- Case
New Belgium Brewing and Climate Change
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kenneth P. Pucker and Michael NorrisIn 2023, Colorado-based craft brewery New Belgium Brewing was considering how best to meet its emissions reduction targets. After decades of growth, the beermaker had grown to become one of the largest craft brewers in the U.S., and was purchased in 2019 by Japanese brewer Kirin. Throughout its history, New Belgium had taken actions to lower...
About the Unit
As the world of operations has changed, so have interests and priorities within the Unit. Historically, the TOM Unit focused on manufacturing and the development of physical products. Over the past several years, we have expanded our research, course development, and course offerings to encompass new issues in information technology, supply chains, and service industries.
The field of TOM is concerned with the design, management, and improvement of operating systems and processes. As we seek to understand the challenges confronting firms competing in today's demanding environment, the focus of our work has broadened to include the multiple activities comprising a firm's "operating core":
- the multi-function, multi-firm system that includes basic research, design, engineering, product and process development and production of goods and services within individual operating units;
- the networks of information and material flows that tie operating units together and the systems that support these networks;
- the distribution and delivery of goods and services to customers.
Recent Publications
Market by Met: Revolutionizing Food Pantries in the Digital Age
- May 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Sixty Years of Sylvia’s
- April 2024 |
- Teaching Plan |
- Faculty Research
Driving Decarbonization at BMW
- April 2024 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions
- 2024 |
- Working Paper |
- Faculty Research
New Belgium Brewing and Climate Change
- April 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Retailers and Health Systems Can Improve Care Together
- March–April 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
How Fast Should Your Company Really Grow?
- March–April 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
Coursera's Foray into GenAI
- March 2024 (Revised April 2024) |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
- 09 May 2024