Welcome to the field of management science! We think that it is a particularly exciting and interesting field. Exciting because management science is having dramatic impact on the profitability of numerous business firms around the world. Interesing because the methods used to do this are so ingenious. We are looking forward to giving you a guided tour to introduce you to the special features of the field.
Many students approach a course (and textbook) about management science with considerable anxiety and skepticism. The main source of the anxiety is the reputation of the field as being highly mathematical. This reputation then generates skepticism that such a theoretical approach can have much relevance for dealing with practical managerial problems. Most traditional courses (and textbooks) about management science have only reinforced these perceptions by emphasizing the mathematics of the field rater than its practical application.
1. Introduction
2. Linear Programming: Basic Concepts
3. Linear Programming: Formulation and Applications
4. What-If Analysis for Linear programming
5. Transportation and Assingment Problems
6. Network Optimization Problems
7. Project Management with RERT/CPM
8. Beyond Linear Programming
9. Using Binary Integer Programming to Deal with Yes-or-No
Decisions
10. Decision Analysis
etc.