The overall purpose of the course is to provide students with a set of skills and an understanding of statistical tools and simulation modeling in managerial decision making in the area of supply chain management and product/process improvement.

In this course, students will become familiar with a variety of statistical and simulation tools used in business. Specifically, upon completion of the course students should be able to

• Understand the basic concepts of statistical analysis and simulation modeling
• Develop and analyze results of statistical analysis and simulation models
• Acquire skills to conduct statistical analysis and implement simulation models
• Communicate effectively findings and implication of the results of statistical and simulation models
• Critically assess and question underlying assumptions that guide modeling efforts

Lecture with Discussion, Case Studies, HW Assignments, Term Paper

Mandatory attendance; homework assignments (20 points); case studies (30 points); paper on a topic selected by the student (or a group of up to three students) to be submitted by the end of the summer semester (50 points).

An introduction to statistics that covers discrete and continuous probability distributions and how to work with them, statistical inference including confidence intervals and standard tests of hypotheses, regression analysis, and a working knowledge of statistical software (such as Excel, Minitab, SAS, SPSS, or R). These topics are part of the introductory statistics course.

tina.wakolbinge@wu.ac.at