News Releases

Consumers often assume that choosing more environmentally friendly products helps reduce environmental harm. New research suggests the reality may be more complicated.

As demand for eco-sensitive products grows, some companies respond in ways that can unintentionally increase sales of older, less efficient products, potentially offsetting some of the environmental benefits consumers hope to achieve.

Many technology startups assume that if they want global success, they need global customers from the very beginning.

New research suggests the opposite may be true.

Startups can improve their chances of succeeding in foreign markets when they first focus on learning from users closer to home.

For years, remote work has been viewed as one of the most important drivers of employee satisfaction. New research suggests that assumption may be giving remote work too much credit.

A study published in the INFORMS journal Management Science found that while remote employees often report higher job satisfaction, much of that advantage disappears when researchers account for factors such as workplace culture, trust in management, communication and opportunities for professional development.

If the future of warehouse work belongs to humans and robots working side by side, a key question remains: What is the most effective way for them to collaborate?

New research published in Transportation Science, a journal of INFORMS, suggests the answer may be more flexible than many warehouse operators expect. The study, "Picking the Best Bot: Collaboration Strategies for Humans and Bots in Order Pick Systems with Traveling Salesman Problem Routing," found that under many real-world conditions, warehouse workers achieve higher productivity when they dynamically switch among multiple autonomous mobile robots rather than work exclusively with a single robot.

A study published in Management Science finds that the industry’s standard approach of matching video game players against opponents with similar skill levels is not necessarily the most effective way to keep people engaged. Instead, researchers show that more sophisticated matchmaking systems—ones that account for how players respond to recent wins, losses and competitive experiences over time—can significantly increase player retention.

If people form opinions online before they fully evaluate whether information is true, then the fight against misinformation may begin far earlier than most platforms are designed to address. A new study published in Information Systems Research, a journal of INFORMS, suggests that social media users can begin developing stable opinions about unfamiliar topics after seeing only a handful of consistent posts. Researchers found that after roughly five exposures, users’ impressions often began stabilizing and shaping how they responded to future information.

A computerized matching system can be designed to be fair and still produce unequal outcomes if the people using it do not understand how it works.

Big data, artificial intelligence and advanced pricing algorithms make it easier than ever for companies to fine-tune prices for individual products to closely reflect their unique value and cost. The conventional wisdom is straightforward: better data, better algorithms and sharper segmentation should produce better profits. But new research suggests that the most profitable answer isn’t always more fine-grained pricing across a product line. In fact, it is fewer, better-chosen price points.

As artificial intelligence and data-driven analytics rapidly transform online retail, a surprising dynamic is emerging: some e-commerce platforms deliberately allow third-party analytics tools to scrape or access marketplace data, even though doing so could weaken the platform’s competitive advantage.

INFORMS proudly celebrates the election of two distinguished members to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional honors in the field.