Data Analytics

Today, artificial intelligence (AI) systems make data-driven decisions in a multitude of applications and industries. Explanations of the reasoning behind these decisions are crucial to the success and acceptance of such systems, say HKUST researcher Carlos Fernández-Loría and colleagues. Rising to this challenge, the authors present and rigorously test a ... Read More

Consumers facing increased time pressure have lower levels of attention, according to HKUST scholar Kohei Kawaguchi and colleagues. The researchers explored how consumers’ attention and utility (a measure of product usefulness) are influenced by time pressure and variables such as the number of recommended products. Ultimately, they concluded that “context ... Read More

Step-down care units (SDUs) are a cost-effective way to treat patients referred from intensive care units (ICUs), but they could be failing patients admitted from emergency departments (EDs). In an important new study, HKUST’s Lijian Lu and co-researchers examine the effectiveness of SDUs and identify stark differences in patient outcomes. ED patients ... Read More

HKUST’s Center for Business and Social Analytics (CBSA) generates quality insights from massive amounts of social data. Chair Professor HUI Kai-Lung, CBSA Director; Associate Professor Allen HUANG, CBSA Associate Director; and Dr LIM Hyungsoo, Postdoctoral Fellow at CBSA British mathematician Clive Humby famously coined the phrase “Data is the new oil” ... Read More

Big data is important for business, and the HKUST Business School is taking note of developments in business analytics and reacting accordingly. Chair Professor Lancelot F. JAMES. Department of ISOM, HKUST Business School In this article I present my views on some challenges faced by the HKUST Business School in this era of big data, how it has been ... Read More

A closer look into three main kinds of data-driven marketing analytics – descriptive, predictive and prescriptive. Assistant Professor LIU Jia Department of Marketing, HKUST Business School Data-driven marketing simply put means using quantitative methods to derive meaning from data to make informed marketing decisions. Thanks to the availability of a ... Read More

Studies show online reviews can improve market efficiency and consumer welfare. Assistant Professor HUANG Yangguang, Department of Economics, HKUST Business School Reputation systems operated by online platforms play an important role in mitigating the problems caused by asymmetric information in internet marketplaces. Successful reputation systems can ... Read More

‘Freemium’, a pricing strategy whereby a firm offers a basic product or service at no cost to the user, has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Having led to the rapid rise of companies such as Skype and Dropbox, countless startups have also adopted freemium as their business model. After all, there are obvious reasons why freemium is ... Read More

Few people leave home without their smartphones or other mobile devices, which now dominate almost every aspect of our personal lives — including shopping. We already know that purchase behavior differs between mobile- and PC-based shopping, but the exciting potential to optimise recommendation systems for mobile channels has been largely untapped—until now ... Read More

Rebate, or money that is returned to the consumer after they have paid for goods or services, is a popular form of sales promotion, with studies showing that 50% of retailers and 48% of manufacturers use rebates as part of their customer loyalty programmes. For example, USD8 billion worth of rebates were issued in the U.S. in 2010. Companies make use of ... Read More