News Releases

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 23, 2019 – Chatbots, which use artificial intelligence to simulate human conversation through voice commands or text chats, incur almost zero marginal costs and can outsell some human employees by four times, so why aren’t they used more often? According to new research, the main contributor is customer pushback.

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 16, 2019– According to new research published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science (Editor’s note: The source of this research is INFORMS), companies can improve sales performance when they adjust sales commissions for the sale of more popular items. Further, the researchers found that when companies provide incentives to the sales force, that is more cost-effective than offering consumers discount pricing. The research centered on automotive sales at the dealership level.

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 13, 2019 –There are more than 60 million business pages on Facebook and that number is from 2017. With those pages come scores of positive and negative posts generated by Facebook users. What researchers have seen is companies have very little control over what customers post, and negative posts can severely damage brands.

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 9, 2019 – Conventional wisdom in the startup community is that with the right incentives, the venture can meet and exceed expectations, and a major component of this is how you structure your contracts for founders and early employees.

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 5, 2019 – Time is money. Especially for rideshare drivers with companies like Uber and Lyft. New research in the INFORMS journal Operations Research looks at a new model for rideshare companies focusing on maximizing the availability of rideshares by optimally routing empty cars. 

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 4, 2019 –Eighteen people die every day waiting for transplants, and a new patient is added to the organ transplant list every 10 minutes. Much of the problem surrounds the lack of registered donors. New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science provides incentives that could lead to a solution and ultimately save lives.

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 3, 2019 – All parents want their children to get the best education possible, so how do school districts allow parents/guardians to have a say in where their child goes to school while still meeting diversity goals for the student body? New research in an upcoming addition of the INFORMS journal Operations Research has a solution, just in time for children to return to school for the 2019-2020 year.

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 3, 2019– Researchers from Texas A&M University published new research in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science (Editor’s note: The source of this research is INFORMS), which shows that retailers’ branded mobile apps are very effective in increasing customer engagement, increasing sales on multiple levels, not just on the retailer‘s website, but also in its stores. At the same time, apps increase the rate of returns, although the increase in sales outweighs the return rates.

CATONSVILLE, MD, August 26, 2019 – The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Accelerated Approval Program was created in 1992 to significantly accelerate the ability to bring certain new drugs to market. New research published in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management reveals a large number of drug manufacturers are failing to complete the approval process, meaning a significant number of drugs on the market are not yet fully approved.

CATONSVILLE, MD, August 22, 2019 – New research shows that as the service sector continues to struggle with how to manage and minimize low labor productivity that hinders profits, the key may be in one word -- “teamwork” -- according to a new study in the INFORMS journal Management Science after studying firms in the restaurant industry. Researchers believe, however, that the findings can be generalized among the service sector to include hotel and retail services.