Welcome to the November/December 2020 issue of Analytics magazine, the last issue of the year in what feels like the longest year in history. This one seemed to have lasted forever, given the coronavirus and the associated loss of lives, jobs and social interaction around the world, and 2020 still has a few months to go as the carnage continues.
New Zealand certainly has some unique advantages when it comes to addressing COVID-19, including geographical isolation, a political system that tends toward governing coalitions, a relatively strong central government, and a population of just under 5 million. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also deserves a great deal of credit for her decision to implement an aggressive “go hard, go early” response to the pandemic, courageously implementing significant restrictions on a nationwide basis even before the country had experienced a single fatality. The results have been impressive.
2020 will be remembered by many as a terrible year in terms of its negative impact on a global scale, a year that shaped the world in profound ways and will perhaps continue to shape it in the coming years or decades. Fortunately, not everything is shrouded in darkness and despair. For the first time in the history of mankind, scientists around the world came together to work tirelessly – and are now very close to finding – vaccines for COVID-19 at unprecedented speed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many risks and uncertainties in supply chains, but pandemics are only one of the potential disruptions businesses face today. Trade conflicts and natural disasters are also becoming more common. Scenario modeling capabilities are increasingly being suggested by analysts as a solution to deal with this rising volatility. How do you apply scenarios during strategic and operational planning? This column explores some example.
INFORMS announces 2020 Impact Prize winner; inaugural Virtual INFORMS Annual Meeting is coming up; deadline to apply for IAAA is Nov. 16; CAP updates and more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented countless individuals with significant financial insecurity and potential layoffs. While the economic reports are often grim, an individual’s probability of a layoff can be relatively low, even if that individual’s company is conducting layoffs. To explore this scenario, we’re going to use Bayes’ theorem to do some sample calculations and observe the result.
INFORMS and the conference organizing committee hope you can take full advantage of the virtual offerings of this year’s Annual Meeting.
