Data & analytics

It’s natural to focus on project completion and work that shows well internally. But high-performing innovation teams need to look beyond vanity metrics and ask the hard questions that spur significant improvement. Here’s how to focus on what matters, define and prioritize customer outcomes, and obtain analytical clarity and actionability.

One pressing concern for pharmaceutical companies is how to effectively allocate scarce resources across projects in R&D pipelines. Professor Panos Markou shares insights on how competitors’ investments in drugs that treat the same disorder may reveal potentially useful information, which senior executives can use to improve chances of success.

With the 2020 presidential election season in full swing, Facebook faces a big test. Will the social media giant repeat the mistakes of 2016, when Russian propagandists used the site to target American voters, and Cambridge Analytica, a political firm with ties to the Trump campaign, obtained millions of users’ data without their knowledge?

The financial statements and supporting disclosures required of public companies have the reputation for being dense, impenetrable documents. But when you reach the point you can “read” the story behind the numbers, you can understand a company’s strategy and its trajectory — not only where it has been, but, potentially, where it is headed.

Darden Professor Robert Carraway, an avid basketball fan who teaches in Darden’s Quantitative Analysis area, offered his thoughts on selection criteria and the power and limits of advanced analytics.

Everything really is better in moderation: Research shows that once a person hits the satiation point, consuming more of something means enjoying it less. A new study by Professor Manel Baucells offers a model charting where that point is and what to do about it — with implications for business as well as optimizing your own personal experiences.

MIT Professor Cynthia Breazeal, a keynote speaker at a recent Psychology of Technology Conference led by Darden Professor Roshni Raveendhran, shares insights about a new generation of social robots and their impact on human flourishing.

Is coding an essential job skill of the future? Should MBA students learn to code? Darden Professor Alex Cowan answers five questions on the building blocks of much of our digital world.

Home entertainment has transformed. In a matter of years, we’ve gone from rabbit ears on the television to — come the November debut of Disney Plus — mouse ears on streaming media. What does that mean for Netflix and other competitors? What will the future bring for these companies and consumers?

Studies show that gender bias in the venture capital (VC) industry hurts both female founders and has negative financial consequences for VC firms. Darden Professors Morela Hernandez and Roshni Raveendhran show how algorithm-aided, data-driven approaches can help investors mitigate bias and make better and more equitable funding decisions.