We’ve been corresponding with Per Mengshoel, the Head of Technology Groups at BEKK Consulting, who is pursuing an MBA at the University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. For his thesis project, he has been comparing information gathering via a prediction market with BEKK’s existing process for predicting technology trends in the Norwegian market. Specifically, he’s looking at the use of prediction market tools as an alternative to existing decision making processes (typically expert-based or based on input from a small number of people) in a small- to medium-sized business. In addition to looking at the decision making process, Mengshoel is studying how use of prediction markets affects employee involvement. For his research, we provided him access to our Foresight platform.

His thesis is in progress, but he’s already revealed these findings:

• Prediction markets gather more information and more diverse information compared with BEKK’s existing processes.
• While BEKK’s existing process typically gets information for senior employees and top management only, prediction markets also allow junior employees to express their opinions.
• Prediction markets give feedback from a more diverse set of employees than the existing process.
• Prediction markets seem to be a a good supplement to the existing process — and a lot faster.

We’re excited that our platform can support academic work of this nature, suitable for immediate application in the enterprise. Best of luck to Per on completing his thesis!