This course covers concepts and tools that aid managerial decision making by applying analytic reasoning and computational software to managerial problems that involve quantitative factors. According to Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon, managerial decision-making is synonymous with the whole process of management. The main argument of this course is that every business analyst should have a fundamental understanding of what decision technologies can and cannot do for managerial decision-making. In this course three major topics are covered:

• Data and Risk Analysis - analyzing data and sequential decisions; coping with uncertainty using probabilities; and simulating the future,
• Statistical Inference - how to apply our conclusions based on a manageable size sample to the entire population of interest,
• Simultaneous Decision Problems - optimizing interdependent decisions.

Each topic will be introduced in the context of an operational situation, and appropriate solution approaches will be developed.