Strategy
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- 2024
- Working Paper
Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions
We investigate whether corporate officers should grant managers discretion to override AI-driven demand forecasts and labor scheduling tools. Analyzing five years of administrative data from a large grocery retailer using such an AI tool, encompassing over 500 stores, 100,000 employees, and 1.5 million store-date observations, we find that managers persistently make overrides, on average 3 weeks in advance of each focal work date, that reallocate labor away from the AI tool's forecasted demand. Fixed effects and instrumental variables regressions reveal that these overrides increase store labor productivity. Supporting the hypothesis that managers' private information about store demand drives these productivity gains, we show that overrides made by managers: (1) positively correlate with foot traffic, with increases (decreases) in labor on a given day following increases (decreases) in foot traffic, (2) have larger effects for customer-interaction-intensive categories like made-to-order foods and tobacco products, (3) increase basket sizes, (4) reduce self-checkout usage, and (5) become more effective with increasing managerial tenure, suggesting accrual of domain knowledge over time. However, overrides consume significant managerial time and lead to less consistent employee work schedules, potentially due to managers aggressively aligning labor with their private beliefs about demand, which may not fully account for its impact on employee welfare.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions
We investigate whether corporate officers should grant managers discretion to override AI-driven demand forecasts and labor scheduling tools. Analyzing five years of administrative data from a large grocery retailer using such an AI tool, encompassing over 500 stores, 100,000 employees, and 1.5 million store-date observations, we find that...
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- 2024
- Working Paper
Business Experiments as Persuasion
By: Orie Shelef, Rebecca Karp and Robert WuebkerMuch of the prior work on experimentation rests upon the assumption that entrepreneurs and managers use—or should optimally adopt—a "scientific approach" to test possible decisions before making them. This paper offers an alternative view of experimental strategy, introducing the possibility that at least some business experiments privilege persuasion over generating unbiased information. In this view, actors may craft experiments designed to gain support for their ideas, even if doing so reduces the informativeness of the experiment. However, decision-makers are not naïve—they are aware that the results they are reviewing may be the product of a curated information environment. Using a formal model, this paper shows that under a wide range of conditions, actors prefer to enact a less than fully informative experiment designed to persuade—even when a fully informative experiment is feasible at the same cost.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Business Experiments as Persuasion
By: Orie Shelef, Rebecca Karp and Robert WuebkerMuch of the prior work on experimentation rests upon the assumption that entrepreneurs and managers use—or should optimally adopt—a "scientific approach" to test possible decisions before making them. This paper offers an alternative view of experimental strategy, introducing the possibility that at least some business experiments privilege...
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About the Unit
The Strategy unit studies firms as competitors in an economic landscape. Key issues include: the development and effectiveness of firm strategy at both a business and corporate level; the analysis of the competitive environment; and the sustainability of strategy over time.
Our research, course development, and teaching draws on multiple disciplines, including economics, sociology, and political science, and focuses on both domestic and global competition. The objective of the work is to generate findings and develop concepts that will help managers improve their strategic decisions while advancing the state of knowledge in the academic study of strategy and related disciplines.
Recent Publications
Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions
- 2024 |
- Working Paper |
- Faculty Research
Business Experiments as Persuasion
- 2024 |
- Working Paper |
- Faculty Research
Ferrari: Shifting to Carbon Neutrality
- April 2024 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
ChatGPT Enters the Voice Wars 2024
- April 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
RHI Magnesita (A-B): Brick by Brick
- April 2024 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
RHI Magnesita (A-B): Brick by Brick
- April 2024 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Case Study: Navigating Labor Unrest
- March–April 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review
RHI Magnesita (A-B): Brick by Brick
- April 2024 |
- Teaching Note |
- Faculty Research
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.