Undergraduate - UnitETF3480 - Optimisation for managers

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Business and Economics
Organisational Unit	Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Tissa Galagedera

Synopsis

This unit is designed to develop quantitative problem solving skills. The emphasis is on recognising and identifying decision problems, modelling them and generating solutions to them. Various optimisation techniques used in the business decision-making process will be introduced. Topics include benchmarking with data envelopment analysis, game theory, queuing models, Markov chains and simulation modelling. Applications in business, particularly in management, marketing, banking and finance will be used in the demonstration.

Outcomes

The learning goals associated with this unit are to:

understand the complementary nature of the rational and behavioural approaches to decision making
select and apply quantitative modelling concepts to problems arising from business
formulate an appropriate model to analyse various business decision problems
apply tools available in Microsoft Excel and algorithms to generate solutions and appraise the solutions through the use of sensitivity analysis
communicate the analysis and results of business decision problems.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 40%
Examination: 60%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Tissa Galagedera

Prerequisites

ETF2480 or equivalent