OR Forum—Operations Research: A Global Language for Business Strategy

This paper argues that the concepts and vocabulary of operations research have become a pervasive part of the thinking of modern American industrial managers, and that the related models are playing important roles in informing the decisions that they make.

Abstract

Based on the author's observations and experience, this paper argues that the concepts and vocabulary of operations research have become a pervasive part of the thinking of modern American industrial managers, and that the related models are playing important roles in informing the decisions that they make. Since any model is only a partial representation of reality, this fact—and the criticisms that it has evoked—present the operations research and management communities with continuing challenges for improving their work.