Topic: Operations

Taxi driver waiting outside his car Research Brief / Ride-Sharing Services

Not All Disruption Is Welcome: Reducing Fallout from Ride-Share Companies

Municipalities address increased traffic, pollution, taxi company bankruptcies and driver poverty

A couple watching TV Research Brief / Compensation

New Technology Lifted Pay, Especially for the Bosses

Top executives saw much larger gains after broadband adoption than the workers below them

Illustration of dollar bills folded into a Staff of Hermes Research Brief / Health Care

Medicare Could Save by Subsidizing Providers’ Capital Spending

Projects that make health care delivery more efficient require upfront financial help

City street Research Brief / Health Care

Maximizing Life Saving through Better Placement of Defibrillators

Just putting one where the last cardiac arrest occurred isn’t optimal — more calculations to get to fewer steps

Telescopes with sky and clouds Research Brief / Innovation

Maximizing Capacity Utilization of Unique Equipment

An algorithm to reduce telescope repositioning time boosts productivity between 10% and 25%

Illustration of car outline made of parts Research Brief / Manufacturing

Mass Customization Makes Forecasting Parts Purchases a Manufacturer’s Nightmare

A method that establishes a range of needs — and then tightens the range — works better

Hospital emergency room Research Brief / Health Care

Machine Learning Can Help Reduce Post-Surgical Hospital Readmissions

A model outperformed simpler statistical approaches in predicting which patients would encounter trouble

Illustration of vultures sitting on a sign in a city Research Brief / Debt

Less Leveraged Than the Competition: Ready to Snag Distressed Assets in a Recession

When bad times hit, highly indebted companies often have to sell operations and equipment at fire-sale prices

Two doctors performing surgery Research Brief / Health Care

Kidney Transplant Outcomes Suffer at Clinics That Add Liver Transplants

Younger-patient mortality rate nearly triples, 20 years of data indicate

A color image of a sugar cane factory in the background with sugar cane in the foreground. Research Brief / Labor

In a Boom, Incumbent Firms Can Redeploy Workers to Rapidly Expand

Startups lack bench strength, a disadvantage in tight labor markets

A nest thermostat on the wall reads 25 degrees Research Brief / Energy

Improving Utility Calculations on Energy Demand to Reduce Costs

Power companies haven’t maximized the benefits of customers agreeing to short-term electricity interruptions

A military cargo airplane taxis on a n airbase runway Research Brief / Operations

Improving Airlift Schedules with Algorithms

Splitting complex problems into parts simplifies and greatly speeds the task

Illustration of a man pushing a shopping cart Research Brief / Corporate Investment

How to Spur Capital Spending: Plan for Failure

Companies might invest more in new ventures if they could see in advance how to redeploy the assets if things don’t pan out

A graphic with text above that reads, "World has entered a polycrisis era and SDG progress is threatened by" and underneath the text are a series of graphics Research Brief / Supply Chain

How to Speed Progress on U.N. Sustainable Development Goals

Operations management research identifies synergies for more efficient action

A woman hands off cases of drinks to a male volunteer. Research Brief / Management

How Nonprofits Can Better Engage Volunteers

When to allow unpaid workers to call dibs on recurring tasks — and when not to

Building in ruble while emergency workers recover a body Research Brief / Manufacturing

How Fashion Brands Can Best Ensure Worker Safety in Developing Nations

Collective action, rather than each brand working alone, appears more effective and costs less