INFORMS Releases

CATONSVILLE, MD, August 30, 2017 – While online networking sites enable individuals to increase their professional connections, to what extent do these ties actually lead to job opportunities? A new study in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that, despite the ability to significantly increase the number of professional connections and identify more job leads with limited effort on these sites, unless the connection is a strong one, they typically will not lead to job offers.

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.