What's an Oscar worth?

This article examines the impact of an Academy Award nomination and award for best picture, best actor/actress, and best supporting actor/actress on a film's (i) market share of theaters, (ii) average revenue per screen, and (iii) its probability of survival. The model is estimated using weekly box-office data for a matched sample of nominated and non-nominated films. The results indicate substantial financial benefits for a nomination and award for best picture and best actor/actress. The structure of rewards is consistent with that found in two-stage, single-elimination tournaments.     

Is bounded-vision an adequate explanation of strategic decision-making failures

One important area in which Management Science should be involved must surely be in the prevention of corporate failure. In this paper we therefore use a scientific methodology to try to identify the major causes of such failure. Two widely differing systems are examined and a large number of hypotheses considered as explanations of failure. In each case the only hypothesis which we are unable to reject, is that prior to the failure the dominant decision-makers in the system were not prepared to accept facts which were plainly available and which, if acted upon, could have prevented disaster. This allows us to suggest some ways of helping to prevent failure. Nevertheless, we feel that research into the mechanisms generating this phenomenon, which we have called bounded-vision, is required before adequate technologies can be designed.     

Reflections on operational research. A report from the Euro II Congress

The EURO II Congress at Stockholm contained a set of Invited Papers. The set included a group that appeared to be attempting a major review of the role of Operational Research (OR). We try here to give a short summary and a representative selection of extracts from these papers. This is done partly because the papers will not be easily available to all OR workers who are interested, but mainly because of the emphasis they place on the need for truly interdisciplinary OR which recognizes the complex and potentially partisan nature of what we do. Related work in the UK is noted in order to emphasise the beginning of a widespread concern over such issues. The remainder of the Congress demonstrated a distinctly different view of OR, which was characterized by a disregard for the nature of human behaviour and of power in organizations and society. We suggest that the reflections made by the Invited Speakers demonstrate again the need for a fundamental reorientation of OR.