Management Science and Decision Technology

The focus of this book is on using data and spreadsheet models effectively for the analysis of business problems and decision making. Included are discussions of building good spreadsheet models; data collection, visualization, and statistical analysis; forecasting; optimization using Excel Solver; decision and risk analysis; and simulation using Crystal Ball add-in for Excel and Arena BE. The principal focus is on gaining insight and intuition for better decisions, with applications in operations planning, finance, and marketing.

Jeffrey D. Camm is Professor of Quantitative Analysis and Head of the Department of Quantitative Analysis and Operations Management at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Camm received his Ph.D. in Management Science from Clemson University. He has been at the University of Cincinnati since 1984, and has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University and a visiting professor of business administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Dr. Camm has published over 30 papers in the general area of optimization applied to problems in operations management, and his research has been funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, The Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. Department of Energy. At the University of Cincinnati, he was named the Dornoff Fellow of Teaching Excellence and he was the 2006 recipient of the INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of Operations Research Practice. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of Interfaces, and is on the editorial board of INFORMS Transactions on Education.

James R. Evans is professor and director of the Center for Performance Excellence at the University of Cincinnati. His service includes president of the Decision Sciences Institute 1997Â-1998, 11 years on the Board of Examiners and Panel of Judges for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and serving as a judge for the Ohio Award for Excellence and Alaska Performance Excellence Award. He is currently Editor of the Quality Management Journal, published by the American Society for Quality. During the annual Quality Congress in May 2004, The American Society for Quality presented Jim and co-author Bill Lindsay with the Philip B. Crosby Medal for writing THE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF QUALITY, 6th edition. The Crosby medal was presented to the authors "for authoring a distinguished book contributing significantly to the extension of the philosophy and application of the principles, methods, and techniques of quality management."