BC2405/BC214
Decision Tools for Managers
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Course Description and Scope
In today’s dynamic and hyper-competitive business environment, a key ability for a successful
manager is to use a knowledge-based framework to analyze and make decisions.
Whether it is marketing managers at Singapore Airlines dynamically pricing products in an uncertain
environment, finance managers at Citigroup designing new credit or derivativesbased investment
products, or technology managers at Sony and Cisco rolling out new products, the decisions are
complex and the quality of analysis is a crucial imperative for their success.
This course introduces students to the basic tools in using decision models to make informed
management decisions. The focus of the course will be on model building and analysis. The use of
computer based solution tools will be emphasized throughout the course. Students will be expected
to structure business problems as decision models, solve models using computer software programs
and interpret the computer-generated solutions.
Topics covered in the course include decision making under uncertainty and risk for a single decision
maker, competitive decision making and negotiations, use of optimization models for business
decisions, waiting line management, applications in business processes design and analysis and
inventory control, simulation techniques for making complex management decisions, etc.
Exercises, cases, and examples drawn from accounting, marketing, finance, operations management,
and other management functions will be widely used in the discussion. As part of the course,
students will be required to complete a group project designed to apply the decision tools discussed
in the course to a real life business problem.
Course Assessments
Components
Class Participation
Individual Assignments
Project
Final Examination
Total
Marks
15
15
15
55
100
Textbook
Basic Text
Anderson D., D. Sweeney, T. Williams, and K. Martin (2011): Introduction to Management
Science: Quantitative Approaches to Decision Making, 13th Edition. South-Western
Cengage Learning, Singapore
ISBN: 978-0-538-47565-5
Page 1
Distributed by Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University. All Rights Reserved.
Supplementary Text
Clemen, T. Robert and Terence Reilly (2001): Making Hard Decisions with Decision Tools
(Chapters 1-4). Duxbury, Singapore.
ISBN 0-534-36597-3 (HD30.23 C625)
Proposed Weekly Schedule
Week
1
Topic
The Arts and Sciences of Managerial Decision Making
2-5
Linear Programming
6-7
Decision Analysis
8
Managing Waiting Lines
9
Simulation
10-12
Managing Inventory
13
Project Presentation
Page 2
Distributed by Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University. All Rights Reserved.