The Executive Strategist: an Armchair Guide to Scientific Decision-making

A classic in its field, The Executive Strategist is a down-to-earth guide to the techniques of scientific decision-making known as operations research or management science for busy executives and managers as well as the general reader. It suggests ways to solve basic problems involving inventory ("When is enough enough?"), competition ("How to tackle a smart opponent"), allocating resources ("Meeting the demand"), waiting lines ("Quicken the queue"), getting things done ("Concepts of control"), and search, information, and replacement ("The needle in the haystack"), plus problems in many other areas. The book begins simply with a case history from mythology (the judgment of Paris), builds gradually, introducing the reader step-by-step to all the complexities of today's management sciences, and concludes with a realistic formula for putting the methods to work. Filled with easy-to-follow charts and diagrams and delightful illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Al Ross, and written with a light touch and an easy-to-understand style, The Executive Strategist has been translated into several languages and been a best-seller overseas as well as in the United States. It is now available for the first time in paperback.