Optimal decision making in a complex business simulation

The author provides insights into the possibility of inculcating the next generation of management with a commitment to consider optimization of management decision models. The approach used was to integrate the Business Management Laboratory/Systems Laboratory for Information Management (BML/SLIM) and the Interactive Financial Planning System/Optimum (IFPS/Optimum) in a semester-long course on decision support and expert systems. Eight groups of three second-year MBA students participated for a series of three trial decisions and 12 `real´ decisions with the conceptual goal of optimizing the firm´s operations. The research method was a complex case-study approach modified to fit a classroom situation. One insight indicates that optimization may follow a similar trend in usage as discounted cash-flow techniques experienced in financial analysis