Book Selection Quantitative Approaches in Business Studies
(2nd Edition) C. MORRIS Pitman, London, 1989. 403 pp. £10.95 ISBN 0 273 02954 1 In the preface to this, the second edition, Dr Morris informs the reader that the aim of this edition is exactly that of the first, namely 'to recognize that most students on . . . degree courses in business studies-are not mathematicians, never will be mathematicians, and have no wish to be mathematicians'. There can be no doubt that Dr Morris achieves her objective. The book, which is an introductory text, emphasises the application of many differing and various quantitative techniques in providing business solutions, rather than presenting a rigorous mathematical treatment. The author demonstrates how to employ the techniques with little or no explanation of why they work. The book is divided into four sections. The first deals with basic numeracy skills and offers an understanding of very elementary mathematical operations. The second section is concerned with sampling methods and data display. Section three discusses statistical inference, covering the topics of probability, statistical distributions, estimating from samples, hypothesis testing and correlation. Throughout these sections, as with the final section, Dr Morris illustrates the ever increasing role played by information technology in offering solutions to quantitative business problems. A criticism I would offer here is that the notation is rather confusing. 's' is used to denote both the population and sample standard deviation, whilst 'm' is used to represent the population mean; there is no notation for the sample mean. It is of course standard procedure to employ greek and roman letters to differentiate between the population parameters and sample statistics. Section four commences with an extension of correlation and proceeds to include chapters on regression, exponential smoothing and time series analysis, the chapter on time series analysis being of particular merit. The final five chapters are each devoted to a separate topic in OR, each chapter being virtually free-standing. Topics covered are financial mathematics, inventory control, linear programming, network analysis and simulation. All these topics are dealt with at a very elementary level and form only a basic introduction to the OR discipline. Throughout the book, following each chapter, there are exercises to test the student's understanding of the material covered. Answers are provided at the back of the book. Also the author provides hypothetical case study material in order that the reader can experience practical applications of the many different techniques covered. There is also a teacher's manual available free on request. Although this book is aimed at the non-specialist, and thus covers only elementary material, I feel that the author achieves her objectives and directs the book at first-year business studies courses in universities and polytechnics. However, I am of the opinion that the book is better suited to students studying the quantitative elements of professional business courses. J. COUTTS Systems: Concepts, Methodologies and Applications (2nd Edition) BRIAN WILSON
John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1990. xvii ISBN 0 471 92716 3
+ 391 pp. £21.50
The original edition of this text was published in 1984. The structure of this second edition is similar to that of the first, but there is some reorganization of the material and some additions. The overview outlines this structure, of seven chapters and three appendices with the first chapter preceded by a preface, the overview and an introduction. Chapter 1 surveys modelling languages and is supported by Appendix I. Chapter 2 concentrates on a description of human activity systems, while Chapter 3 begins to examine methodology for which Appendix II provides an illustration of the initial Lancaster Systems approach. Chapter 4 discusses systems methodologies and their relations to specific kinds of problem situations. Chapter 5 continues the discussion but 723
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