Optimization - Publications - Faculty & Research

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning

down?" However, this assumes that all else is held constant—that the same terms and conditions apply. In reality, these other factors, these terms and conditions, might have a dramatic effect on the optimal price. For instance, while... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

28 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Sophisticated Investors May Be Harming Fintech Lending Platforms

provider, you have 10 million data points that help you decide on how to optimally allocate your money, and everything is automated. That’s the future of banking.” The robot edge Investors in marketplace lending who do their due diligence... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Banking; Financial Services

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Companies Must Forget—and Borrow

we can charge a premium for," he said. He described how one student, given two weeks to complete a portion of a course, finished it off in nine hours. She couldn't tear herself away from the program. "We are optimizing this every single... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Education; Advertising

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How One Center of Innovation Lost its Spark

environment not by doing nothing, but by accelerating past organizational routines based on established assumptions.— Donald N. Sull The benefits of this knowledge sharing, however, are likely to decline over time as the industry settles on a dominant design and... View Details

Keywords: by Donald Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

16 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 16, 2018

time-varying, regularized parameters, and multiplicative errors can make its quantile forecasts more accurate than leading diffusion models, such as the Bass, gamma/shifted-Gompertz, and trapezoid models. Fifth, the model's estimation procedure is based on an efficient... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

23 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

The Open Office Revolution Has Gone Too Far

shift slightly in mindset to optimize for their work more often. Related Reading: Hiding From Managers Can Increase Your Productivity Airplane Design Brings Out the Class Warfare in Us All Why You Are Unhappy at Work What do you think?... View Details

Keywords: Re: Ethan S. Bernstein

13 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Paid Search Ads Pay Off for Lesser-Known Restaurants

maybe they don’t. Why don’t we collaborate on an experiment testing their impact?” That was music to Donaker’s ears. Yelp had run experiments to optimize advertisements and had consultants try to figure out the impact of ads. But in the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

26 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 26

that each $1 invested in display and search leads to a return of $1.24 for display and $1.75 for search ads, which contrasts sharply with the estimated returns based on standard metrics. We use these results to show how optimal budget... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 May 2000
Research & Ideas

The Emerging Art of Negotiation

It's easy to come up with a recipe for disaster when the subject is negotiation. As in chess, once you sit down at the table every move counts. So many factors compete to undermine an optimal settlement: the emotions of both participants;... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 10

guidance for leaders considering these questions and can help them estimate their optimal span of control. The issues explored are ones many senior executives-not just CEOs-should revisit throughout their careers. The best leaders stay... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

18 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 18, 2007

Working PapersOptimal Reserve Management and Sovereign Debt Authors:Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. However,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 Nov 2018
Research & Ideas

'Always On' Isn't Always Best for Team Decision-Making

solutions after every third round. THE GOLDILOCKS POINT Past research led them to expect the group with constant interaction to have the highest average quality in their solutions, but less variety and less success finding the optimal... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

16 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Nitin Nohria: Why US Competitiveness Matters

a more competitive workforce, and high-value-added jobs-steps that would restore optimism and confidence in the US economy. In times of anxiety, it's natural to begin pointing the finger of blame at others. That's what is happening right... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

payroll hours in an industry full of uncertainties. "In an optimal world, a manager would know exactly how much workload would exist at a store in any given month. In reality, that's never clear—some customers require more time than... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

05 Oct 2016
What Do You Think?

Can the US Economy Regain the Growth and Prosperity of the Past?

Whose Job Is It to Rebuild the US Middle Class? Optimism among respondents to this month’s column concerning future United States growth rates hinges on whether the middle class can be restored. That’s a big contingency. Those commenting... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Dec 2005
What Do You Think?

Is Growth Good?

markets is a measure of optimism about the present and future. The general conclusion that is to be taken from this work is that growth, as defined by Friedman, should be sought by everyone. But of course, this raises some additional... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

17 Jul 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: As America Recedes from Global Leadership, Its CEOs are Stepping Up

As America recedes from global leadership under President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, a new generation of business statesmen is stepping up to take on global issues of monumental importance: global trade, climate change, job creation, and healthy living.... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

24 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Can Obamacare Be Saved?

operating in the commercial employer market. Commercial employers buy health insurance for pools of employees–sometimes thousands of them. The decision-makers are often skilled human resource specialists who can estimate risk, compare prices and View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau; Insurance; Health

15 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 15

subjects' decisions are consistent with those predicted by the Intuitive Criterion refinement, which is based on equilibrium domination logic, or the Undefeated refinement, which is based on Pareto optimization logic, and find the... View Details