News Releases

CATONSVILLE, MD, August 28, 2017 – INFORMS, the leading international association for operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals, is pleased to announced that Tasha R. Inniss, Ph.D. has joined its leadership team as the inaugural Director of Education and Industry Outreach. Inniss has overall responsibility for INFORMS’ education, practice, industry outreach, and professional development activities and programs.

CATONSVILLE, MD, August 11, 2017 – Small formats with limited assortments like Save-A-Lot and Aldi and neighborhood stores like Target Express have been growing recently in popularity in the United States and around the world. For brands, the limited assortments mean greater competition for shelf-space, raising the question of whether it is worth expending marketing effort and slotting allowances to get on to their shelves. According to a forthcoming study in a leading INFORMS scholarly marketing journal, Marketing Science, the answer is “yes.” Gaining the same increase in distribution penetration from limited assortment stores provide much larger increases in sales, relative to that from large assortment stores.

CATONSVILLE, MD, July 20, 2017 – Among the many factors that impact digital marketing and online advertising strategy, a new study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science provides insight to a growing trend among firms and big brands … weather-based advertising. According to the study, certain weather conditions are more amenable for consumer responses to mobile marketing efforts, while the tone of your ad content can either help or hurt such response depending on the current local weather.

CATONSVILLE, MD, July 19, 2017 – Of the women who carry the mutated BRCA1/2 genes, 45-65 percent will develop breast cancer, and 15-39 percent will develop ovarian cancer in their lifetimes. Many women, especially those who have experienced the death of family members to these cancers, elect to undergo preventive surgeries that can significantly increase life expectancy, but require extensive recovery time and can impact later fertility and quality-of-life. However, few guidelines exist that shed light on the optimal age to undergo these procedures, and in what sequence. A new study in the INFORMS journal Decision Analysis provides insight to help enable physicians and patients make better-informed choices.

CATONSVILLE, MD, July 14, 2017 – According to a new study in the INFORMS journal Organization Science, when employers foster an office environment that supports positive, social relationships between women coworkers, especially in primarily male dominated organizations, they are less likely to experience conflict among women employees.

CATONSVILLE, MD, July 7, 2017 – The conventional wisdom is that relying on revenues from outlet stores can destroy a brand’s cachet over time. But according to a forthcoming study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, a leading scholarly marketing journal, outlet stores may actually help improve the brand’s cachet.

CATONSVILLE, MD, June 12, 2017 – New research that examined 4,452 CEOs from 2,666 U.S. firms, as well as 104,129 news articles and 6,567 CNBC interviews, found that CEOs who appeared in CNBC interviews could expect their compensation to increase by $210,239 on average, notwithstanding firm performance and other mitigating factors.

CATONSVILLE, MD, June 8, 2017 - While the general consensus regarding stretch goals is that they boost drive, innovation, and improve organizational performance, new research in the INFORMS journal Organization Science shows that this is the exception, and not the rule. For many organizations, stretch goals can serve to undermine performance.

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.