We have long been concerned that traditional management science textbooks have not taken the best approach in introducing business students to this exciting field. Our goal when initially developing this book during the late 1990s was to break out of the old mold and present new and innovative ways of teaching management science more effectively. We have been gratified by the favorable response to our efforts. Many reviewers and other users of the first four editions of the book have expressed appreciation for its various distinctive features, as well as for its clear presentation at just the right level for their business students.
Our goal for this fifth edition has been to build on the strengths of the first four editions. Coauthor Mark Hillier has won several schoolwide teaching awards for his spreadsheet modeling and management science courses at the University of Washington while using the first four editions, and this experience has led to many improvements in the current edition. We also incorporated many user comments and suggestions. Throughout this process, we took painstaking care to enhance the quality of the preceding edition while maintaining the distinctive orientation of the book.
This distinctive orientation is one that closely follows the recommendations in the 1996 report of the operating subcommittee of the Informs Business School Education Task Force, including the following extract. "There is clear evidence that there must be a major change in the character of the (introductory management science) course in this environment. There is little patience with courses centered on algorithms. Instead, the demand is for courses that focus on business situations, include prominent non-mathematical issues, use spreadsheets, and involve model formulation and assessment more than model structuring. Such a course requires new teaching materials." This book is designed to provide the teaching materials for such a course.
In line with the recommendations of this task force, we believe that a modern introductory management science textbook should have three key elements. As summarized in the subtitle of this book, these elements are a modeling and case studies approach with spreadsheets.
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Linear Programming : Basic Concepts
Chapter 3 Linear Programming : Formulation and Applications
Chapter 4 The Art of Modeling with Spreadsheets
Chapter 5 What-If Analysis for Linear Programming
Chapter 6 Network Optimization Problems
Chapter 7 Using Binary Integer Programming to Deal with Yes-or-No Decisions
Chapter 8 Nonlinear Programming
Chapter 9 Decision Analysis
Chapter 10 Forecasting
, etc.
Chapters on the CD-ROM
- Solution Concepts for Linear Programming
- Transportation and Assignment Problems
- PERT/CPM Models for Project Management
, etc.