Manufacturing & Service Operations Management

'Labubu economics': Game-theoretic model explains why blind box strategies benefit suppliers, retailers, and consumers

'Labubu economics': Game-theoretic model explains why blind box strategies benefit suppliers, retailers, and consumers Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Lead Editor The billion-dollar Labubu phenomenon broke a cardinal rule of retail: Consumers need to know what they're buying before they open their wallet. Most new Labubu sales took the form of "blind boxes," where purchasers found out which type of doll they'd purchased only after the fact. Zhechao Yang, assistant professor of...

Microsoft allows BYOL for Amazon RDS. Repeat, Microsoft allows BYOL for Amazon RDS

Microsoft now lets customers apply existing SQL Server licenses toward SQL Server usage on AWS's managed relational database service (RDS). The move promises to give customers who decided to go with AWS an easier path to consuming their SQL Server systems as a service, rather than in virtual machines. In a blog post, Amazon explained that customers paying with Microsoft’s Software Assurance licensing program could only previously bring their SQL Server licenses to AWS on self-managed Amazon...

A disappearing Service Processor (2025)

One of the considerations in designing our Oxide rack is asking which parts we expect to be accessible and by what means. The Oxide rack is designed to live in a data center with exclusive access via the network. The only reason an engineer should ever need to physically visit a rack is to replace a failing part, such as a disk.

Singapore Kitchen Equipment CEO, ex-CFO charged with fraud, falsification of accounts

Singapore Kitchen Equipment CEO, ex-CFO charged with fraud, falsification of accounts Three women are accused of conspiring to falsify more than 100 payment vouchers related to bonus payments to employees. SINGAPORE: The CEO and executive director of Catalist-listed Singapore Kitchen Equipment Chua Chwee Choo was accused on Wednesday (Jun 2) with falsifying payment vouchers. Chua 58, was charged in the State Courts alongside former chief financial officer Chow Mei Ling, 56, and senior...

What Beijing’s shrinking youth population reveals about its changing appeal

What Beijing’s shrinking youth population reveals about its changing appeal Beijing’s resident adult population aged 20 to 29 has nearly halved over the past decade. CNA explores how young Chinese are recalculating the costs and benefits of life in the capital, even as it remains a magnet for talent. BEIJING: Zhao Haozhe, 20, has never lived anywhere but Beijing.

Trump's trade war has a new target: forced labor. The case behind it is far from simple

Since the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariff plan, the White House has had its eyes set on alternative pathways for carrying out the centerpiece of Trump's trade war agenda. Last week, one of these new pathways was unveiled, with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) proposing new tariffs of up to 12.5% on 59 countries and the European Union based around Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The justification: Widespread failure, the USTR...

Samsung memory workers call off strike and may score six-figure bonuses

Philippines sees surge in EV demand as high fuel prices drive shift

Philippines sees surge in EV demand as high fuel prices drive shift EV sales in the Philippines jumped 36 per cent in the first quarter this year as motorists sought alternatives to soaring petrol prices. For Rommel Aceron, driving is a daily necessity. The Manila resident spends long hours on the road, shuttling from one city to another for work, running errands and acting as his family’s personal chauffeur.

Policy on the AI Exponential

Policy on the AI Exponential In one of the side plots to The Lord of the Rings, two of the Hobbits attempt to rouse Treebeard—a wise but ponderous sentient tree—to defend his forest from an army that is cutting it down. The problem is that Treebeard operates at a very different speed than the Hobbits. It takes him a full day simply to say hello to another tree, so getting him and his peers to act fast enough is nearly impossible.

Autonomous freight trucking company Einride rises sharply in first trade on Nasdaq

Autonomous EV freight trucking company Einride rose sharply in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq. The company went public on Wednesday morning under the ticker symbol "ENRD." Einride shares were higher by as much as 90% during trading on Wednesday morning.