Business & Entrepreneurship

In business, simple loyalty programs can strongly increase customer retention, Washington University in St. Louis researchers have found. These Olin Business School scientists studied a loyalty program at a chain of men’s hair salons, collecting data on more than 5,500 customers. Under the program, for every $100 a customer spends, he gets a $5-off coupon.

As a social psychologist who studies marketing in general and gift-giving in particular, I’ve seen both the joys and the distresses of gift giving firsthand. The pressures involved can be so intense that I’ve even found that about 70% of American adults have at least one relationship in which they’ve intentionally stopped exchanging gifts at all.

Song Yao, associate professor of marketing in Olin Business School, and researchers from UCLA and Northwestern studied the effects of Philadelphia’s soda tax, which took effect in January 2017.

‘Tis the season to shop, and who better to offer advice than a scientist who has studied gift-giving? With the holiday shopping season in full swing, Olin Business School marketing expert Elanor Williams offers four suggestions to keep in mind when buying gifts.

The fifth annual Olin Sports Business Summit convenes Oct. 18 in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. The 2019 lineup features numerous presentations from industry executives at professional basketball, football and soccer teams.

New research from Olin Business School finds that when a video game-making firms change a game’s rewards schedule and how it limits how long gamers can play in a sitting, the firm can actually make more money — and users devote a smaller share of their time on gaming.

Three Olin Business School researchers completed a study of workplace theft among restaurant workers that details, for the first time, how such stealing is contagious — and new restaurant workers are particularly susceptible.

Since Dylan Slaughter laced up his first pair of ice skates at age 3, he has wished for two miracles: he would join the NHL and his beloved St. Louis Blues would play for the Stanley Cup. This season, both dreams came true.

A forthcoming Management Science paper from researchers at Olin Business School draws a direct connection between language translation driven by artificial intelligence and an increase in international trade. Analyzing data from online e-commerce site eBay, the paper is among the earliest tangible signs that AI and machine learning are living up to their promise.

A new business study involving Washington University in St. Louis provides analytical theories showing that such driver-monitoring technology can not only prove beneficial to the bottom lines of some consumers, but also to insurance companies by alleviating moral hazards that affect the risks of accidents.