News Room

Kansas may spend $50 million to provide residents easier, faster access to coronavirus testing in the months ahead — an expansion that will take place as people grapple with the twin threats of COVID-19 and the flu. Kansas has continued to struggle to establish the kind of quick, broad testing that some states have largely achieved more than six months into the pandemic. Kansas has one of the highest rates of positive tests in the country, a possible sign the state isn’t testing enough.

Researchers from the University of Maryland and Harvard University analyzed the bargaining process between the daily deal platforms Groupon as well as LivingSocial and merchants to identify the trade-offs made by both parties during the transaction to achieve their goals. While merchants may have less leverage and sacrifice certain net profits for the short term when selling their goods or services on the larger platforms, they can win in the long run by adding new customers and creating the opportunity for future sales to a larger customer base.

It’s no secret that we’re all very slow on Mondays, but now a serious study claims that “bad Monday” could negatively affect how long it will take for your next order to arrive from Amazon — or from any other online retailer, for the case. “Monday sickness” is the documented depression that occurs when you resume work after the weekend. It has been shown to have a negative impact on productivity and human psychology, among other things. Now researchers from Lehigh University, the University of Maryland, and the University of California, San Diego, have shown that it also has a negative impact on supply chains and the speed with which your latest shipment of disposable dishwashers will arrive from the nearest warehouse.

In the automotive industry, content decisions ranging from engine selection to the style of seats can affect a vehicle’s market sales. Automakers need to anticipate vehicle trims and options that customers will want to purchase from dealer lots. Failing to deliver the preferred combinations of content features may cause General Motors (GM) to lose customers to competitors or experience delayed purchases.

According to a new research from INFORMS Journal Information Systems Research, better management of customer care on Twitter is responsible for a 19% increase in customer satisfaction. An increase of almost 20% is amazing for any positive business metric. But, when it is in customer satisfaction, it is that much better. The research looked at data from Twitter service accounts among the four big telecommunications firms in the United States. It found out AT&T and Verizon had an edge against Sprint and T-Mobile when it came to customer care online.