The modern business world regularly forces managers to make decisions of great importance in complex situations and in the face of much uncertainty that involve many possible options for action. Successful decision-making, therefore, requires the ability to structure complex problems, to analyze available options in an uncertain world, and to finally make the best decision given the information available. This course teaches you frameworks for how to formulate managerial decision models that represent real-world problems in a wide range of business areas including operations, marketing, finance, and strategy. You learn how to analyze and ultimately solve such decision models and to understand the managerial interpretations of your model solution. The skills you learn in this course will greatly enhance your analytical problem solving capabilities.
This course develops and uses Excel spreadsheets as a modeling platform, because spreadsheets have become an essential medium of business analysis. You learn how to apply analytical tools including optimization, simulation, and decision trees to examine managerial decision models using Excel commands, functions, and add-ins. You practice good spreadsheet design and presentation principles, and perform comprehensive sensitivity analyses using your spreadsheet models to check the robustness of the proposed decisions. Business applications include those of resource allocation (how to utilize available resources optimally), risk analysis (how to incorporate uncertainty in problem parameters), and sequential decision-making through time. In case discussions you explore the effectiveness of various spreadsheet model designs in informing managerial decision-making.
Any previous or concurrent exposure to statistics at the level of 41000, financial accounting at the level of 30000, and microeconomics at the level of 33001 will be helpful, but not strictly required. Although the example models discussed in this class cross many functions of business, little or no prior background in those areas is required.
It is assumed that students have some familiarity with Excel. However, one does not have to be an Excel expert to benefit from the course. Knowing how to enter and copy simple formulas involving relative and absolute cell addresses, how to use general-purpose Excel functions (for example, the If() function) and how to draw different types of graphs in Excel should be sufficient.
This course involves in-class software demonstrations and "hands-on" practices. Students will be expected to have a computer that they can work with regularly.
Cannot enroll in BUSN 36106 if BUSN 20510 taken previously.
This course will have a Canvas site.
Individual and group homework assignments, final exam, and peer evaluation. The assignments and exam include spreadsheet model building and case analyses. Cannot be taken pass/fail. No auditors. No provisional grades and early final grades.
- Mandatory attendance week 1
- No auditors
- No pass/fail grades
Description and/or course criteria last updated: October 31 2023
