Strategic Business Decisions: A Quantitative Approach

This book presents the essential concepts of operations research and engineering management in a structured manner. Starting with the basic functions of management - planning, organizing, leading and controlling - it introduces the reader to the process of strategic decision-making, covering the essentials of technological invention management, innovation and entrepreneurship, with ample examples of decision-making under certainty, uncertainty and risk conditions. It also exposes the reader to the fundamentals of managing projects and professional communication. In order to reinforce the theory used, practical case studies taken from relevant disciplines are introduced. For instance, case studies from the retail sector have been appended to the assignment problem and cases related to traffic have been introduced for queuing formulation. The concept of game theory is discussed in greater detail with an introduction to topics such as incentive compatibility, Bayesian representations for different games, budget balance, auctions and a broad coverage of mechanism design. While a few of these problems have been solved in the book, a few others have been left un-solved to promote readers’ understanding. The mix of theoretical and practical examples reveals to the reader the underlying complexities and highlights the challenges entailed by field implementation.

R. Srinivasan is a professor at the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He holds a doctoral degree in Management (Fellowship Program) from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, after completing post-graduation in Engineering. He had his post-doctoral training from the University of Leeds, UK. He has more than 33 years of experience in both academia and industry, having served in some of the reputed organizations in the country like Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE), New Delhi, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad, and National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai. He serves as a visiting faculty and examiner in many reputed institutions in the country. His papers have been published in leading international and national journals and he has authored six books. He is also a recipient of a number of awards, notably the International Statistical Institute Award (1983) and the Colombo Plan Award (1989). He has been invited to serve on the panel to develop International Technology Indicators by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, for 2002-2004, 2005-2006 and again for 2007-2008. His interest in infrastructure development field has influenced his work on a number of assignments of societal and national interest like the socio-economic impact analysis of the Bedthi hydel project and more recently, an estimation of the demand for solar photovoltaic (SPV) cells in Gundlupet, a drought-prone area in the Karnataka, India. The Indian Journal of Transport Management has rated the research article Intermodal Choice in Passenger Transportation: Some Empirical Evidence as the best research article in 2001. His research on Dimensional Identification of International Positioning Process for Defence systems won the European Aeronautical Defence and space Systems Award in 2009. He was invited in 2006 to share his thoughts and expertise in the European Masters Programme in Management at Madrid, Spain. He is consulted regularly by well known Indian national bodies including the Public Service Commission (UPSC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Ministry of Defence. His current research interests are in developing strategic policy initiatives and strategic marketing.