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

An algorithm can be simply defined as a set of instructions for solving a problem or accomplishing a task. Within many business domains, algorithms are rapidly taking over the decision-making abilities of humans. However, full automation of business activity is only found in certain industries, such as manufacturing, where robots can work in a well ... Read More

An algorithm can be simply defined as a set of instructions for solving a problem or accomplishing a task. Within many business domains, algorithms are rapidly taking over the decision-making abilities of humans. However, full automation of business activity is only found in certain industries, such as manufacturing, where robots can work in a well ... Read More

When will workers follow algorithm advice? Retailers introduce advanced algorithms to optimize decisions such as pricing, inventory, and product assortments. However, it is not effective if workers do not follow the algorithm. How can we motivate workers following the algorithm? Who is more or less reluctant to follow the algorithmic advice? In the ... Read More

Consumer demographics, product attributes, and purchase history has long been at the heart of marketing communications. That said, with the rise of big data and real-time consumer information, more attention has been paid recently to context-based marketing, in which consumers are shown different types of advertisements depending on environmental factors and ... Read More

This paper develops a new algorithm for increasing the revenue in a dynamic product assortment problem. Then, it identifies the challenges faced by managers in practice and discusses the conditions under which workers follow the algorithm. To do so, I conducted a field experiment with a beverage vending machine business. The experiment shows that, on average ... Read More