Goals and Objectives

TPSS/MBBE 342 and ECON 429 is a spreadsheet modeling course introducing modern management science techniques for economic and business decision analysis. It is an applied management science course for undergraduate students focusing on agribusiness management and is one of the 5 required courses for the Agribusiness Certificate Program. It also provides undergraduate students in economics the use of spreadsheet models for economic analysis. The overall goals are:

1. to provide a one-semester introductory survey of modern management science techniques that can assist economists, agribusiness/business managers and industry analysts to make sound business and economic decisions;
   
2. to develop practical knowledge and hands-on experience in solving common economic and management problems faced by agribusiness/business firms;
   
3. to gain proficiency in formulating and implementing problems in a computer model with emphasis on spreadsheet model;
   
4. to generate information for decision making from computer models and to evaluate the information provided to improve decision making.
   

Business management and economic decision analysis is the essence of this course. Students will come to understand and apply modern management science techniques for sound decision-making in resource allocation, scheduling, logistics, risk analysis, inventory control, and forecasting. Students will learn to formulate and solve problems utilizing several MS Excel decision analysis add-ins. Most examples of the applications of management science concepts and techniques introduced in lectures and utilized in computer assignments will be from scaled-down ‘real world’ case studies. The final class project will also allow students to gain first-hand experience by applying the management science techniques learnt in a ‘real world’ agribusiness/business management and economic situation.

MS Excel, Solver, and Crystal Ball

NREM 220 or Econ 130 or consent

Ragsdale, C.T. Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis, 4th Edition. South-Western, Thomson, 2004.

None

To be announced

None

While the focus of the course is to provide a survey of modern quantitative decision-making methods for effective agribusiness/business management in resource allocation, scheduling, logistics, risk analysis, inventory control, and forecasting , it is organized around the following topics:
(a) modeling approach to decision-making;
(b) model building process;
(c) spreadsheet modeling;
(d) optimization models including linear programming models, network models, integer programming models, and nonlinear optimization models;
(e) multi-objective decision-making;
(f) decision-making under uncertainty;
(g) simulation modeling;
(h) inventory models; and
(i) forecasting.

The sequence of topics follows closely the general outline of the required text Ragsdale, C.T. Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis, 4th Edition. South-Western, Thomson, 2004. Agribusiness/business management applications will be supplemented by materials from several reference texts, other related publications and personal experience of instructors.

Homework Assignments (25%); Midterm (25%); Final (25%); Class Project and Presentation (25%)

PingSun Leung