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xiv PREFACE

problem. Chapter 9 introduces project scheduling and project management problems.
There is full coverage of PERT/CPM and a short section explaining the use of Gantt
charts in project management and expands the section on crashing a project. There
is also an appendix discussing activity on arrow networks in some detail.
Chapters 10 and 11 look at two common types of business model. Chapter 10
looks at inventory (or stock control) models whilst Chapter 11 looks at queuing
models. The relevance of both types of model to business decision making is
examined and solution techniques developed. Chapter 12 introduces simulation
modelling and shows how such models can be used alongside the other models
developed in the text.
Chapters 13 and 14 look at the area of decision analysis and decision making.
Chapter 13 looks at the principles of decision analysis and introduces decision trees,
expected value and utility. Chapter 14 looks at the topic of multicriteria decision
making with coverage of goal programming, scoring models and the analytic hier-
archy process (AHP) approach.
The textbook closes with discussion of management science in practice, consid-
ering some of the practical issues faced when implementing management science
techniques for real.
In addition there are four slightly more specialized chapters available on the
accompanying online platform. These take exactly the same format and structure as
chapters included in the text.
Chapter 15 introduces integral linear programming both as an extension to linear
programming and as a model in its own right. The chapter looks at the branch and
bound solution method in detail. Chapter 16 looks at business forecasting techniques
and models. Time series models are introduced as well as trend projection models
and there is coverage of regression modelling also. Chapter 17 looks at the topic of
dynamic programming with coverage of the shortest route problem and the knapsack
problem. Finally, Chapter 18 introduces Markov models which can be useful where
we wish to examine behaviour or performance over successive periods of time.
The online platform contains an array of additional resources to aid learning. See
the ‘Digital Resources’ page for further details.

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