Operations Research

Whatever the economic circumstances and business environment—recession or growth; confident or uncertain—organisations are increasingly calling for better information handling and more informed decision taking. Operational Research (OR) is an essential management tool for understanding and solving the many complex problems that face organisations nowadays. Operational Researchers work to help manage information effectively, cope with uncertainty and provide long and short term strategies for their organisations. Opportunities for OR professionals have never been better. The demand for OR specialists and the variety of work on offer are expanding rapidly. One of the attractions of OR work is its variety. As an Operational Researcher you could have the opportunity of moving around and experiencing many different business environments. Operations Research is concerned with optimal decision-making in, and modeling of, deterministic and probabilistic systems that originate from real life. These applications, which occur in government, business, engineering, economics, and the natural and social sciences, are characterized largely by the need to allocate limited resources. The contribution from the operations research approach stems primarily from: —Structuring the real-life situation into a mathematical model, abstracting the essential elements so that a solution relevant to the decision- maker's objectives can be sought. This involves looking at the problem in the context of the entire system. —Exploring the structure of such solutions and developing systematic procedures for obtaining —Developing a solution, including the mathematical theory, if necessary, that yields an optimal value of the system measure of desirability (or possibly comparing alternative courses of action by evaluating their measure of desirability). OR is a profession where initiative, creativity and enthusiasm are every bit as important as technical ability. If you are thinking of a general management career, there are few better ways of getting an early overview and understanding of how organisations operate. Typically, OR teams are involved in projects which draw on a wide range of business skills and have dealings with anyone from shop-floor to boardroom. Whatever your career aspirations, OR will give you a flying start! OR is an evolving discipline—because the world is ever changing. Over the years, OR has firmly embedded itself in a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, transport, retailing, marketing, the financial and service sectors as well as local and Central government. Because the skills of good OR—an analytical mind with an action orientation and sound people skills—are precisely what are needed in all successful managers, OR is a significant recruiting ground for senior management talent. Some of the varied career opportunities that are available to Operational Research people are: Transport and travel: Growth in the transport sector is often constrained by financial and environmental pressures, government restrictions and the need to maintain safety standards. The result of this is that demands often exceed the capacity of the system and there is always a need to squeeze the maximum possible out of the existing infrastructure, and formulate and debate plans for future improvements. This drive for optimising the use of existing systems, and for forward planning, can be helped by OR. For example, OR developed techniques are  used widely by airlines and other transport operating companies to offer varying fares and make higher revenues by filling more seats at different prices—an OR technique known as Yield Management. Retailing : The analysis of market and consumer information is a major and rapidly growing role for OR in the retail sector. In supermarkets, for example, OR has been used to determine which shelf layouts best suit the shopping habits of customers and, so, maximise the outlet's sales. Data from store loyalty card schemes is also analysed by OR groups in a variety of ways—for example, to advise on stock holding policies and overall profitability improvement. Health: Efficiency enhancements and better patient care are perennial challenges for those providing health services. OR techniques are widely used in the health service. For example, by using OR, appointment systems have been designed that substantially reduce outpatients' waiting times whilst keeping highly qualified medical staff fully occupied. Financial services: OR is very active within the major banks and other financial institutions. Operational Researchers address a very wide range of issues from the planning and analysis of high-street customer services to organisation strategy and international finance. They are widely employed in Credit Risk Management—a vital area for lenders needing to ensure that they find the optimum balance of risk and revenue. The project variety offered to Operational Researchers enables them to develop a wide range of experience at an early stage in their careers. This means that, in banking as in other sectors, OR groups are treated as a source of talent for general management positions. Government: There is a demand from the very top of government for the increased use of analysis and modelling to underpin the 'Modernising Government' initiative. OR is seen as a key contributor assisting in the development of policies that are based on evidence and will work in practice. Universities and research institutions: OR people teach on a variety of university courses: undergraduate and postgraduate management degrees and diplomas, as well as the more specialist OR and mathematics degrees. Staff of universities also specialise in the development of techniques and universities encourage people to pursue consultancy work for outside organisations. In addition to providing a source of income, more importantly, this work helps to strengthen the links between the academic and practical OR environments. Specialist Research institutions, such as those in agriculture and forestry, often employ OR trained people. Depending on the institution's needs, these people could be part of a small OR team or attached to a specialist research team. Defence: As a consequence of the development of very fast, computer controlled, defence systems, computer modelling of attack-defence scenarios has become of paramount importance. This has led to an increased presence of Operational Researchers and there is a strong presence both within the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Research Agency. Consultancy: Consultancy is a strong growth area and many business consulting organisations increasingly have sections that specialise in business modelling, statistics and OR. Consultancies tend to have a very broad client list and, therefore, their consultants tend to be involved in a wide variety of project work. Consultancy projects are often fairly short and intensive with a particular emphasis being put on achieving an agreed timescale. There is also a requirement to deliver results which clients will consider to be value for money. Database marketing: OR techniques have been used to develop programmes which can identify and cluster various customer types. Given the need for companies to target their marketing activities ever more finely, database marketing has become a very important element in many companies' marketing strategies. Having data capture systems in place, that can identify customer behaviour patterns, helps companies to understand which types of customers buy what kind of products or services. The task of matching customer needs to stock holding or product development strategy then becomes very well informed. Clearly, in an operation such as food retailing, millions of transactions can be completed each day. As the point of sale bar-code scanning technology has developed, retailers are now able to capture immense volumes of sales data which, by virtue of loyalty card schemes, they are able to attribute to individual customers. Until recently, it was impossible to analyse such large databases, but new OR techniques have made this achievable. By applying OR methods to such an immense volume of data, it is now possible to use the information to devise precisely targetted communications about products and services which are most likely to appeal to the targetted customer group. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR): The ever greater need for companies to increase profitability has resulted in many BPR initiatives. Since improving business processes is a core OR function, Operational Researchers have become heavily involved in helping companies to re-engineer. Many management consultants have Operational Research Groups that are highly skilled in the techniques and application of business modelling and have the essential expertise in analysis and interpretation to deliver a positive impact on their clients' business processes. Manufacturing Industry: OR has traditionally played a significant role in helping companies to improve efficiency, reduce costs and make the most effective use of capital invest- ment. OR is commonly used to assist with plant logistics, forecasting, planning and scheduling. It also contributes to marketing, personnel and strategic planning work. The types of industry currently using OR are numerous and include brewing, computers, motor manufacture, aerospace, steel production, etc. Water, power, telecommunications and mining: In these business sectors, the cultural changes brought about by privatisation have tended to emphasise the contribution of OR. The scale of operations in such large organisations means that even a small percentage gain in performance can result in very great benefits. Whilst this may always have been important, such benefits are now crucial in the more profit conscious and service enhancement orientated environment. Operational Researchers take a lead role in working with staff at all levels to negotiate and implement working methods. Many projects involve modelling the complex operating logistics of these large operations, striving for continuous improvement. OR projects in this sector can also focus on marketing, finance, personnel and strategic planning matters. Where to Study Graduate and postgraduate courses in Operations Research are offered by almost all leading Universities in India, as also by IIT Bombay and some Management and Engineering Colleges.

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with warm regards


Harish Sati
Fortune Institute of International Business
Plot no. 5, Vasant Gaon, Rao Tula Ram Marg
Opp. R.R. Army Hospitial, New Delhi- 110057
Mobile No:- 09990646343
E-mail:- Harish.sati@gmail.com


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