INFORMS Releases

CATONSVILLE, MD, June 7, 2017 – A new study in the INFORMS journal Management Science shows that the U.S. economy is strengthened by H-1B visa holders who fill key roles in enhancing organizations and supplementing the work of their U.S. peers. This is particularly true for trades like the U.S. audit industry that employ a large number of individuals who hold H-1B visas, and who recruit highly skilled foreign workers for specialty occupations. 

CATONSVILLE, MD, June 2, 2017 – Offering comprehensive health insurance plans with low deductibles and co-pay in exchange for higher annual premiums seems like a good value for the risk averse, and a profitable product for insurance companies. But according to a forthcoming study in a leading scholarly marketing journal, the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, such plans can encourage individuals with chronic conditions to turn to needlessly expensive treatments that have little impact on their health outcomes. This in turn raises costs for the insurer and future prices for the insured. 

CATONSVILLE, MD, May 1, 2017 – Online user reviews have become an essential tool for consumers who increasingly rely on them to evaluate products and services before purchase. The business models of online review platforms such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, and e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Expedia critically depend on them. Should such sites pay users to encourage them to write reviews? According to a forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, a leading academic marketing journal, that is a bad idea.

CATONSVILLE, MD, April 10, 2017 – Firms sharing social responsibility for the social good with customers is generally seen as a win-win – more patronage from socially responsible customers and larger benefits to society. A forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal of Marketing Science, a leading academic marketing journal, however, questions the premise. 

LAS VEGAS, NV, April 4, 2017 – With the backdrop of a fast-growing growing global population and looming challenges to produce enough food to feed the world, a group of students from the University of Warwick, Nottingham University, and Cardiff University in the United Kingdom have developed a new method to develop better-performing soybean strains that could lead to a world-wide increase in food production.