The primary goal of our introductory management science course is to help students develop an improved ability to perform quantitative analysis in support of decision-making across the business spectrum. This goal is achieved through an exploration of problems from the application areas of management, marketing, finance, and operations, such as the following:

  • demand and sales forecasting
  • financial planning
  • staff scheduling
  • resource allocation
  • process design
  • new product development
  • production planning
  • advertising strategy
  • risk analysis

Upon completing COB 291, students should be able to do the following:

  • Abstract the essential quantitative elements and relationships in a variety of business problems.  
  • Construct appropriate quantitative models for these problems in a spreadsheet environment.  
  • Apply management science techniques and spreadsheet tools to derive a set of conclusions from these models.
  • Evaluate conclusions and perform what-if analyses to gain insights about the problem.  
  • Interpret and communicate model conclusions and insights to decision-makers. 

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College of Business - Advising and Support Center
Zane Showker Hall
MSC 0201
421 Bluestone Drive
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807

Hours of operation:
Mon - Fri: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.