Rather than giving instruction in models and solving problems, this textbook focuses on the process of modeling and the use of models in analyzing various managerial situations. The process of modeling is highly relevant to all business disciplines and is a critical skill for all professionals. The emphasis of this text will be on the integration and development of modeling skills including problem recognition, data collection, model formulation, analysis, and communicating and implementing the results.

Business Modeling and Data Mining demonstrates how real world business problems can be formulated so that data mining can answer them. The concepts and techniques presented in this book are the essential building blocks in understanding what models are and how they can be used practically to reveal hidden assumptions and needs, determine problems, discover data, determine costs, and explore the whole domain of the problem. This book articulately explains how to understand both the strategic and tactical aspects of any business problem, identify where the key leverage points are and determine where quantitative techniques of analysis -- such as data mining -- can yield most benefit. It addresses techniques for discovering how to turn colloquial expression and vague descriptions of a business problem first into qualitative models and then into well-defined quantitative models (using data mining) that can then be used to find a solution. The book completes the process by illustrating how these findings from data mining can be turned into strategic or tactical implementations. · Teaches how to discover, construct and refine models that are useful in business situations· Teaches how to design, discover and develop the data necessary for mining · Provides a practical approach to mining data for all business situations· Provides a comprehensive, easy-to-use, fully interactive methodology for building models and mining data· Provides pointers to supplemental online resources, including a downloadable version of the methodology and software tools.

This book puts numerical methods in action for the purpose of solving practical problems in quantitative finance. The first part develops a toolkit in numerical methods for finance. The second part proposes twenty self-contained cases covering model simulation, asset pricing and hedging, risk management, statistical estimation and model calibration. Each case develops a detailed solution to a concrete problem arising in applied financial management and guides the user towards a computer implementation. The appendices contain "crash courses" in VBA and Matlab programming languages.

An accessible introduction to the essential quantitative methods for making valuable business decisions Quantitative methods-research techniques used to analyze quantitative data-enable professionals to organize and understand numbers and, in turn, to make good decisions. Quantitative Methods: An Introduction for Business Management presents the application of quantitative mathematical modeling to decision making in a business management context and emphasizes not only the role of data in drawing conclusions, but also the pitfalls of undiscerning reliance of software packages that implement standard statistical procedures. With hands-on applications and explanations that are accessible to readers at various levels, the book successfully outlines the necessary tools to make smart and successful business decisions. Progressing from beginner to more advanced material at an easy-to-follow pace, the author utilizes motivating examples throughout to aid readers interested in decision making and also provides critical remarks, intuitive traps, and counterexamples when appropriate. The book begins with a discussion of motivations and foundations related to the topic, with introductory presentations of concepts from calculus to linear algebra. Next, the core ideas of quantitative methods are presented in chapters that explore introductory topics in probability, descriptive and inferential statistics, linear regression, and a discussion of time series that includes both classical topics and more challenging models. The author also discusses linear programming models and decision making under risk as well as less standard topics in the field such as game theory and Bayesian statistics. Finally, the book concludes with a focus on selected tools from multivariate statistics, including advanced regression models and data reduction methods such as principal component analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. The book promotes the importance of an analytical approach, particularly when dealing with a complex system where multiple individuals are involved and have conflicting incentives. A related website features Microsoft Excel® workbooks and MATLAB® scripts to illustrate concepts as well as additional exercises with solutions. Quantitative Methods is an excellent book for courses on the topic at the graduate level. The book also serves as an authoritative reference and self-study guide for financial and business professionals, as well as readers looking to reinforce their analytical skills.

Quantitative Modeling of Derivative Securities demonstrates how to take the basic ideas of arbitrage theory and apply them - in a very concrete way - to the design and analysis of financial products. Based primarily (but not exclusively) on the analysis of derivatives, the book emphasizes relative-value and hedging ideas applied to different financial instruments. Using a ""financial engineering approach,"" the theory is developed progressively, focusing on specific aspects of pricing and hedging and with problems that the technical analyst or trader has to consider in practice. More than just an introductory text, the reader who has mastered the contents of this one book will have breached the gap separating the novice from the technical and research literature.

The author is one of the prominent researchers in the field of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a powerful data analysis tool that can be used in performance evaluation and benchmarking. This book is based upon the author’s years of research and teaching experiences. It is difficult to evaluate an organization’s performance when multiple performance metrics are present. The difficulties are further enhanced when the relationships among the performance metrics are complex and involve unknown tradeoffs. This book introduces Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a multiple-measure performance evaluation and benchmarking tool. The focus of performance evaluation and benchmarking is shifted from characterizing performance in terms of single measures to evaluating performance as a multidimensional systems perspective. Conventional and new DEA approaches are presented and discussed using Excel spreadsheets — one of the most effective ways to analyze and evaluate decision alternatives. The user can easily develop and customize new DEA models based upon these spreadsheets. DEA models and approaches are presented to deal with performance evaluation problems in a variety of contexts. For example, a context-dependent DEA measures the relative attractiveness of similar operations/processes/products. Sensitivity analysis techniques can be easily applied, and used to identify critical performance measures. Two-stage network efficiency models can be utilized to study performance of supply chain. DEA benchmarking models extend DEA’s ability in performance evaluation. Various cross efficiency approaches are presented to provide peer evaluation scores. This book also provides an easy-to-use DEA software — DEAFrontier. This DEAFrontier is an Add-In for Microsoft® Excel and provides a custom menu of DEA approaches. This version of DEAFrontier is for use with Excel 97-2013 under Windows and can solve up to 50 DMUs, subject to the capacity of Excel Solver. It is an extremely powerful tool that can assist decision-makers in benchmarking and analyzing complex operational performance issues in manufacturing organizations as well as evaluating processes in banking, retail, franchising, health care, public services and many other industries.

Quantitative models and computer-based tools are essential for making decisions in today's business environment. These tools are of particular importance in the rapidly growing area of supply chain management. This volume is a unified effort to provide a systematic summary of the large variety of new issues being considered, the new set of models being developed, the new techniques for analysis, and the computational methods that have become available recently. The volume's objective is to provide a self-contained, sophisticated research summary - a snapshot at this point of time - in the area of Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management. While there are some multi-disciplinary aspects of supply chain management not covered here, the Editors and their contributors have captured many important developments in this rapidly expanding field. The 26 chapters can be divided into six categories. Basic Concepts and Technical Material (Chapters 1-6). The chapters in this category focus on introducing basic concepts, providing mathematical background and validating algorithmic tools to solve operational problems in supply chains. Supply Contracts (Chapters 7-10). In this category, the primary focus is on design and evaluation of supply contracts between independent agents in the supply chain. Value of Information (Chapters 11-13). The chapters in this category explicitly model the effect of information on decision-making and on supply chain performance. Managing Product Variety (Chapters 16-19). The chapters in this category analyze the effects of product variety and the different strategies to manage it. International Operations (Chapters 20-22). The three chapters in this category provide an overview of research in the emerging area of International Operations. Conceptual Issues and New Challenges (Chapters 23-27). These chapters outline a variety of frameworks that can be explored and used in future research efforts. This volume can serve as a graduate text, as a reference for researchers and as a guide for further development of this field.