Course Objectives:
i) help students develop analytical skills.
ii) help students develop skills in formulating mathematical models for
business problems.
iii) show how quantitative techniques can be used to assist decision making
in a variety of
functional business areas.
iv) help students develop communication and presentation skills.
v) discuss the use of computers in implementing operations research algorithms.
Particular attention will given to interpretation of computer output.
Student Requirements:
Students will be required to participate in analyzing cases individually
and as a member of a team. Each student will give an oral presentation
of one of their individual projects and also submit a written report containing
the following: an introductory section describing the problem, a
description of the model developed, a list of assumptions made and a rationale
for the assumptions, a solution to the model (typically, but not necessarily,
computer generated), and a non-technical managerial summary containing
recommendations for action. Each team will be assigned four cases
to analyze and submit written reports as described above. Also, each
team will give an oral presentation of one of the team's projects.
In addition to the cases, there will be assigned readings in professional
journals such as INTERFACES, Journal of the Operational Research Society,
and European Journal of Operational Research.
Grading: The final grade will be based on the results of case
study analyses and presentations,
assigned readings, an in-class test, and a final exam case study.
Item weights will be provided in class.
The grading scale is: 90-100% A 80-89% B
70-79% C 60-69% D 0-59% F.
Prerequisites:
At least one previous course in operations research
Link
to additional course materials