We asked our panel of strategy experts to tell us how strongly they agree with this statement:
Concern over consumer privacy will fundamentally limit businesses’ ability to use big data
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Raw Responses
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Responses weighted by panelists’ level of confidence
| Panelist | Vote | Confidence | Comments | Profile & Vote History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Agarwal, Rajshree
Rajshree AgarwalUniversity of Maryland |
Agree | 8 | “Consumers differ in the value assigned to privacy; policies that ignore differences will result in fundamental limitations to business value creation.” | Profile / Vote History |
Arora, Ashish
Ashish AroraDuke University |
Disagree | 7 | “I am skeptical about how important big data will be for firms, at least in the next five to 10 years.” | Profile / Vote History |
Brown, Jennifer
Jennifer BrownUniversity of Utah |
Strongly Agree | 7 | “Regulators will face pressure unless consumers understand how their own data create value and see how the value is shared with them. Both big hurdles.” | Profile / Vote History |
Brynjolfsson, Erik
Erik BrynjolfssonMIT |
Disagree | 7 | “Effective privacy protections are feasible and can make consumers more willing to share data.” | Profile / Vote History |
Cassiman, Bruno
Bruno CassimanUniversity of Navarra |
Agree | 7 | “It will depend on how this gets legally implemented as it creates some transaction costs which might affect large versus small players differently.” | Profile / Vote History |
Chatterji, Aaron
Aaron ChatterjiDuke University |
Agree | 5 | Profile / Vote History | |
Eisenhardt, Kathleen
Kathleen EisenhardtStanford University |
Did Not Answer | Profile / Vote History | ||
Feldman, Maryann
Maryann FeldmanUniversity of North Carolina |
Agree | 6 | “There is a disconnect between the use of public data, which is heavily restricted and private data, which is currently under-regulated.” | Profile / Vote History |
Gans, Joshua
Joshua GansUniversity of Toronto |
Disagree | 7 | “Privacy is just a right and consumers waive it easily when there is value (or even not). It may create a few frictions. That's all.” | Profile / Vote History |
Gino, Francesca
Francesca GinoHarvard University |
Did Not Answer | Profile / Vote History | ||
Greenstein, Shane
Shane GreensteinHarvard University |
Disagree | 7 | “There are few effective limits on firms selling information to each other.” | Profile / Vote History |
Henderson, Rebecca
Rebecca HendersonHarvard University |
Agree | 2 | “Who can be sure how the political winds will blow on this one?” | Profile / Vote History |
Hochberg, Yael
Yael HochbergRice University |
Disagree | 8 | “Big data encompasses much more than just the type of data that has raised concerns over consumer privacy. But some use cases may wind up restricted.” | Profile / Vote History |
Levinthal, Daniel
Daniel LevinthalUniversity of Pennsylvania |
Did Not Answer | Profile / Vote History | ||
Lyon, Tom
Tom LyonUniversity of Michigan |
Disagree | 6 | “I think the barn door is open and the horse has already left.” | Profile / Vote History |
McAfee, R. Preston
R. Preston McAfeeEconomist |
Disagree | 7 | “Privacy will cause firms to jump through some hoops but will not seriously limit the use of data.” | Profile / Vote History |
Nalebuff, Barry
Barry NalebuffYale University |
Disagree | 3 | Profile / Vote History | |
Roberts, John
John RobertsStanford University |
Agree | 5 | Profile / Vote History | |
Rosenkopf, Lori
Lori RosenkopfUniversity of Pennsylvania |
Disagree | 7 | “Typical ‘opt out’ restrictions won't change the overall character of data much, and more constraining regulations are likely to be nominal.” | Profile / Vote History |
Schilling, Melissa
Melissa SchillingNew York University |
Disagree | 8 | “There are many types of data that will not raise privacy concerns.” | Profile / Vote History |
Shaw, Kathryn
Kathryn ShawStanford University |
Disagree | 8 | Profile / Vote History | |
Simcoe, Timothy
Timothy SimcoeBoston University |
Disagree | 7 | “For most businesses, real constraint is data availability, data quality, and knowing what to do with it. Privacy will not be the binding constraint.” | Profile / Vote History |
Sorenson, Olav
Olav SorensonYale University |
Agree | 6 | “Firms can benefit even from anonymous data, and they will try to skirt regulations, but the EU will probably lead the way in imposing limits.” | Profile / Vote History |
Tadelis, Steve
Steve TadelisUniversity of California, Berkeley |
Agree | 8 | “The recent event of Cambridge Analytica has cause many to fear, maybe more than they should, about data privacy, which is already impacting policy.” | Profile / Vote History |
Van Reenen, John
John Van ReenenMIT |
Agree | 6 | Profile / Vote History | |
McGahan, Anita
Anita McGahanUniversity of Toronto |
Agree | 8 | “A best-case scenario is a relatively early framework on this. The longer we go without resolution, the greater the eventual constraints will be.” | Profile / Vote History |
5 Comments On: Will Consumer Privacy Concerns Limit the Use of Big Data?
Just a minute here…
these are amazing people in their fields – I would take nothing away from them except this: None of them are in an actual business and I would venture to say none of them have ever signed an actual paycheck for an employee who they employed. If I’m dead wrong – please correct me.
Why don’t you create a panel of people with real world business experience who have been in the trenches, instead of theorists who have no accountability to produce revenue for an actual company. I don’t find them credible – and yet, as I said, these are all highly accomplished people in their field. Have they ever had to start a company, generate revenue, or had to sell something to anyone?
Dan Prosser
Best Selling Author: Thirteeners – Why only 13 percent of companies successfully execute their strategy – and how yours can be one of them.
Dan,
Thank you for your comment and the interesting suggestion. We’ll take it under consideration. The experts we invited to join as our inaugural group have deep experience studying and, in some cases, working with a broad range of organizations, often gaining deep access into their operations, strategies, and challenges. They also possess a distance from the day-to-day that allows them to develop valuable perspectives on the types of higher-level questions we’ll tackle in the Forum. Nevertheless, I am grateful for your comment and the suggestion.
Best regards,
Paul
Agree
Certainly The purpose of the big data is to developing consumers in digital business, and this concern can create more effective results in the methods of using the big data and new opportunity in long term.
Somewhat in line with Dan’s observation, I feel that you should also consider the views of people/academics/industrialists outside the US. We all know that while business in Europe and the US have a largely well-aligned thinking in many ways, there is a significant difference with respect to data privacy. This becomes apparent in differnt guises, be it various court orders that are more strict than comparable situations in the US, consumer movements or the requirement/suggestion by various national or EU-bodies not to store data with US companies. Attitudes differ, also within Europe. Nevertheless, I think overall it would make sense to take these differences into account.
Sincerely
Christoph
Provocative comments… However, I think the lack of a generally accepted framework to manage and govern information, coupled with the increasing weight of regulation (GDPR and CCPA) will serve to throttle back momentum for Big Data. While there are opportunities for BD with either truly anonymized (yet still useful and not re-attributable — a very high bar) or non-consumer data (e.g., IoT sensor data), the holy grail for BD is to drive revenue/profit/savings from people-related analytics. Privacy-as-a-basic-right (reflected in legislation) is at odds with consumers waiving those rights on a daily basis, and the resulting high-profile events (breaches or perceived abuses) will cause companies to pull back.