News Room

Many employers hide behind a common misconception: If they set big goals, employees will be pushed to exceed expectations and reach peak performance. These are commonly referred to as "stretch goals," which are set beyond current capabilities. As a June study from the INFORMS journal Organization Science found, stretch goals actually undermine performance for most organizations - 80 percent of participants at the companies surveyed had failed to reach their assigned stretch goal.

A recent study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science found small-format stores can have a big impact on large brand sales.

According to a recent study by Donald Ngwe of the Harvard Business School, "Why Outlet Stores Exist: Averting Cannibalization in Product Line Extensions," which was published by INFORMS, outlet store lifts the sales and profits of the flagship brand, instead of cannibalizing sales and profits.  

Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, Anna Nagurney, INFORMS member and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, discusses how game theory could help improve natural disaster response, in particular, better ensuring the right supplies are getting to those in need.

Julie Swann, NC State professor and INFORMS member, has been selected as the first female department head of the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering Department.