B-School Bulletin: Fighting Cancer More Efficiently

How A Good Analytics Strategy Can Become The Victim Of Its Own Success

News from Northwestern Kellogg

“There’s a parable that Eric Anderson, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School, likes to tell, one he’s deemed the ‘Analytics Paradox.’

“The paradox is that the better the firm gets at gleaning insights from analytics — and acting on those insights — the more streamlined their operations become. This in turn makes the data resulting from those operations more homogeneous. But over time, homogeneity becomes a problem: variable data — and, yes, mistakes — allow algorithms to continue to learn and optimize. As the variability in the new data shrinks, the algorithms don’t have much to work with anymore.”

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The Other Way To Make Money Out Of Bitcoin

News from INSEAD

“What does a Bitcoin day trader or an Ethereum miner of the 21^st century have in common with a Californian gold digger of the 19^th century?

“The answer is that they are both looking for gold—digital or physical. Another similarity is that their endeavours will benefit the ecosystem of complementary product or service providers. During the Gold Rush period, Levi Strauss made money selling jeans to the gold diggers. Jeans were part of the gold diggers’ ecosystem at that time. Today, wallets to store coins or computer chips that solve math problems play the same role as the jeans back then.”

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Michigan Ross MBAs Land Three-Peat With Another Victory In National Innovation Challenge

News from University of Michigan Ross School of Business

“A team of three Ross MBA students took home a victory at the recent Accenture MBA Innovation Challenge, continuing a three-year winning streak for Ross MBAs. Ross teams also won the challenge in 2017 and 2016.

“This year, teams were asked to develop innovative solutions to a challenge faced by the Wounded Warriors Project, a national non-profit organization focused on providing aid to U.S. military veterans and service members injured in duty on or after September 11, 2001.

“The winning team, consisting of Fox Herron, Andy Furbush, and Emmeline Cardozo, MBA ‘19, presented their plan to executives at Accenture and the WWP this past weekend, going head-to-head against teams from Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, Chicago Booth, and Duke Fuqua.”

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FinTech Club Launches, Recruits New Members

News from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business 

The Georgetown FinTech club launched this month with an information session. Caroline Kenneally/The Hoya

“Georgetown FinTech, a new student organization that promotes opportunities for students at the intersection of finance and technology, launched this semester with its first information session.

“With graduate and undergraduate branches, Georgetown FinTech aims to expand opportunities for the community to work with FinTech, or financial technology, beyond the business courses newly offered at the university.

“The Jan. 24 launch was intended to introduce the club and articulate its goals for the semester. This semester, Georgetown Fintech plans to recruit new members and offer on-campus and external events. The club also plans to partner with alumni and entrepreneurs to offer a professional perspective about this new field. Other initiatives include a biweekly newsletter and networking events through FinTech workshops available to its members.”

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If The CEO’s High Salary Isn’t Justified To Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

News from HBS

“It’s no surprise that business executives make more money than lower-level employees. But when that pay disparity between a CEO and the average worker is perceived as unfair, the result may be more than unhappy workers: A firm’s performance can deteriorate.

“The gap between the large sums that CEOs take home versus average employee pay is taking on added importance in 2018, as public companies in the United States are mandated for the first time to disclose pay ratios between the CEO and employees. Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ethan Rouen warns that if those disclosures are not made with proper context, they could ignite worker backlash and harm productivity.”

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