Basic knowledge of mathematics (linear algebra)
Quantitative models are widely used in management science: in many cases their application has been so
successful that their use has become an accepted routine planning tool. Constructing a quantitative model of an organization provides one of the best methods of understanding that organization: indeed, a deep understanding of the complex interconnections between different facets of an organization is forced upon anybody who realistically attempts to model that organization. Considerable attention has been paid in the literature to formulating and building quantitative models for those practical problems to which they are applicable. The course aim is to provide students with a solid foundation in the principles of model building as well as practical exercises in problem formulation.
Problems from widely different contexts are considered (manufacturing industry, transport and distribution, finance, health, manpower planning, energy, supply chain, static and dynamic economic models, network models). The focus is on the building and interpreting of models, while solutions are computed by commercial package programs.
By formulating models, solving them with the aid of a computer and interpret their solutions, the students may learn how to formulate and validate a model. Moreover, they learn to recognize situations in which quantitative models may be successfully applied. The computational experience enables the students to observe the computational difficulty of solving particular types of models.
Oral exam: discussion of cases presented during the lectures; develop and code a model for a given practical problem, compute the solution by a computer package, interpret the obtained solution.
The course matherial will be provided on the e-learing platform.
If the teaching activity will be mixed or in remote mode, changes can be done compared to what stated in the syllabus, to make the course and the exams available also in these modalities.