Course Syllabus

In this course students will learn how to approach, analyze, and solve complex problems in a structured way.  Specifically, students will learn to i) view problems through multiple lenses and think across disciplines to understand and define problems; ii) extract important information from a complex situation; iii) develop the ability to model these problems in a quantitative manner using tools in Excel; iv) learn linear optimization techniques for problems with multiple decisions and constraints; v) find out how to examine assumptions and biases that often distort decisions and understand risk in uncertain decision-making environments; and vi) learn how to use decision trees to inform the analysis of situations with uncertainty. The course will survey a variety of management decision problems arising in finance, marketing, operations, and public policy. For certain sessions, students will be asked to bring their laptops to class in order to participate in quantitative exercises.

Please see detailed syllabus here.