Technology & Operations Management
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- November 2021
- Case
Kermit PPI
By: Kyle Myers, Matt Grennan and Sarah MehtaLaunched in 2021, Kermit PPI helped hospitals save money on expensive orthopedic implants and devices by enabling them to renegotiate their contracts with device manufacturers and better monitor compliance. In 2021, as they look to grow, they are entertaining two options: recruiting new customers and expanding their service offerings.
- November 2021
- Case
Kermit PPI
By: Kyle Myers, Matt Grennan and Sarah MehtaLaunched in 2021, Kermit PPI helped hospitals save money on expensive orthopedic implants and devices by enabling them to renegotiate their contracts with device manufacturers and better monitor compliance. In 2021, as they look to grow, they are entertaining two options: recruiting new customers and expanding their service offerings.
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- 2021
- Article
A Prescriptive Analytics Framework for Optimal Policy Deployment Using Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
By: Edward McFowland III, Sandeep Gangarapu, Ravi Bapna and Tianshu SunWe define a prescriptive analytics framework that addresses the needs of a constrained decision-maker facing, ex ante, unknown costs and benefits of multiple policy levers. The framework is general in nature and can be deployed in any utility maximizing context, public or private. It relies on randomized field experiments for causal inference, machine learning for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects, and the optimization of an integer linear program for converting predictions into decisions. The net result is the discovery of individual-level targeting of policy interventions to maximize overall utility under a budget constraint. The framework is set in the context of the four pillars of analytics and is especially valuable for companies that already have an existing practice of running A/B tests. The key contribution in this work is to develop and operationalize a framework to exploit both within- and between-treatment arm heterogeneity in the utility response function, in order to derive benefits from future (optimized) prescriptions. We demonstrate the value of this framework as compared to benchmark practices (i.e., the use of the average treatment effect, uplift modeling, as well as an extension to contextual bandits) in two different settings. Unlike these standard approaches, our framework is able to recognize, adapt to, and exploit the (potential) presence of different subpopulations that experience varying costs and benefits within a treatment arm, while also exhibiting differential costs and benefits across treatment arms. As a result, we find a targeting strategy that produces an order of magnitude improvement in expected total utility, for the case where significant within- and between-treatment arm heterogeneity exists.
- 2021
- Article
A Prescriptive Analytics Framework for Optimal Policy Deployment Using Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
By: Edward McFowland III, Sandeep Gangarapu, Ravi Bapna and Tianshu SunWe define a prescriptive analytics framework that addresses the needs of a constrained decision-maker facing, ex ante, unknown costs and benefits of multiple policy levers. The framework is general in nature and can be deployed in any utility maximizing context, public or private. It relies on randomized field experiments for causal inference,...
About the Unit
As the world of operations has changed, so have interests and priorities within the Unit. Historically, the TOM Unit focused on manufacturing and the development of physical products. Over the past several years, we have expanded our research, course development, and course offerings to encompass new issues in information technology, supply chains, and service industries.
The field of TOM is concerned with the design, management, and improvement of operating systems and processes. As we seek to understand the challenges confronting firms competing in today's demanding environment, the focus of our work has broadened to include the multiple activities comprising a firm's "operating core":
- the multi-function, multi-firm system that includes basic research, design, engineering, product and process development and production of goods and services within individual operating units;
- the networks of information and material flows that tie operating units together and the systems that support these networks;
- the distribution and delivery of goods and services to customers.
Recent Publications
Kermit PPI
- November 2021 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Ant Group (B)
- November 2021 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
EbonyLife Media (B)
- November 2021 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
EbonyLife Media (A)
- November 2021 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
A Prescriptive Analytics Framework for Optimal Policy Deployment Using Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
- 2021 |
- Article |
- MIS Quarterly
Panel Experiments and Dynamic Causal Effects: A Finite Population Perspective
- November 2021 |
- Article |
- Quantitative Economics
Drizly: Managing Supply and Demand through Disruption
- October 2021 |
- Supplement |
- Faculty Research
Potentially Long-Lasting Effects of the Pandemic on Scientists
- Article |
- Nature Communications
Harvard Business Publishing
Seminars & Conferences
There are no upcoming events.